Capesize (Atlantic and Pacific)
Very quick progress in the Capesize market since the beginning of the week brought the market to a positive growth of 657 points or plus $ 8,172 on the 4 T/C routes. Tubarao/Rotterdan gained more than 2 dollars as well as the Brazil/China. In the Far East the West Australia/China close the week with Pacific rounds at $ 38,375 and the corresponding voyage rate at $ 12.00. Atlantic market remained very tight of tonnage and Vale has to take Panamax tonnage in the market to supply to the lack of available Capes in position. There were long holidays in China, but the market remained quite active and the Far Eastern Market make some progress albeit not as much as in the Atlantic.
Panamax (Atlantic and Pacific)
A very slow week with Chinese market still closed, the Atlantic showed tighter number for tonnage, but this was essentially the bright spot in a market where ships in the US Gulf and Mediterranean continued to struggle in October. Owners were looking forward with November being more active. In Pacific, there was a North/South divide with North Asia tonnage having bit better chances to get enough good rate while South Asia tonnage were struggling to find short duration business and giving good discounts on rates. Period business was in good levels especially for grain houses fixing 1 year candidates.
Handy (Far East/Pacific)
Even if China has been off almost the whole week to celebrate their holidays, market stayed active enough and a number of fixtures were concluded. The North Pacific round voyage for Supramaxes showed to stabilize on the US$ 19,000 daily levels, rumors of a boat fetching $ 20,000 at the end of the week was not confirmed so far. The rest of the Supramax activity concentrated on business loading out of South East Asia, either nickel ore into China or coal into India. Reported concluded fixtures show acceptable enough daily levels but the tonnage delivering very near to the actual loading port and a premium is still required to induce owners go into the Indian Ocean.
So actual levels achievable by owners are no as good as they show. There were still some talks for 3/5 months employment on the larger units, initial levels kept in the low $ 20,000's daily (in line with previous week), afterwards decreased to $19/19.500 daily and then recover into $ 21/21,500 before the weekend. Smaller Handies enjoyed a nice start of the week but ended up same into a more depressed market.
Handy (North Europe/Mediterranean)
The persisting difficulty in securing tonnage willing to trade through the Gulf of Aden in connection with the considerable premium which owners of the better tonnage are asking for, have caused fertilizer charterers to cover east bound stems to chase worse tonnage. That resulted in some savings for them, even considering vessels are more expensive in consumption. Activity was otherwise extremely quiet all around the rest of Europe. Some scrap enquiries were still quoted out of the Continent but it could not manage to keep this market active enough.
Handy (USA/N.Atlantic/Lakes/S.America)
Smaller Handies enjoyed the best rates for Trans-Atlantic runs. For larger sizes the market looked weaker both in the U.S. Gulf and in South America, where prompt tonnage is facing lower levels and the forward postpone are only worth a little premium. Owners may suffer additional pressure due to a piling up of tonnage in these areas, and South American market was still weakened by the Indian Ocean ballasters. Nice rates were still agreed for trips and voyages into the Far East and a great rate was paid for a Supra delivering in northern Europe to load grains ex Saint Laurence River into the Persian Gulf.
Handy (Indian Ocean/South Africa)
The smaller demand for tonnage to load ex South America has made owners more reluctant to ballast their tonnage that direction, which ended up in a larger number of India/China iron ore trips concluded at low money. The S. Africa round voyage with coal back to India managed to fix even lower money while a rate fixed from the Persian Gulf into India showed owners were asking for a premium to get redelivered there. Larger Handies showed to achieve similar levels of the pacific market for short period commitment.
Banchero Costa and Co Spa
Mail: research@bancosta.it
Web: www.bancosta.it