February 29, 2016–Marhc 4, 2016 Weekly market report.. Banchero Costa

Market continued to be weak for Capesize due to the chronic tonnage oversupply. In Pacific basin all the miners were in the market and kept on fixing same levels of previous week, around $2.95/3.00/mt bss mid March onwards dates. Only few fixtures were reported out of Saldanha Bay with $4/mt done with 1.25 pct TTL commission for end March. Fronthaul rates from Brazil stood at mid/low $5/mt whilst trades from Brazil to UKC were agreed in the mid $2/mt bss Tubarao/Rotterdam. In Atlantic some activity was registered for fronthaul via East Coast Canada with $8.75/mt fixed for Seven Islands to Japan with 16.50 m draft at discharge. The usual lack of fresh enquiries forced owners to fix cargoes from Brazil to F East with their vessels open UKC with a very low timecharter equivalent of $4,500/d.  Little activity was registered for short periods.

The market maintained a positive trend through all the week with ECSA still being the main area of loading where owners were looking at levels around mid $6,000/d plus $150,000 bb for front haul business as seen reported on a 82,000 dwt which was fixed by ADMI at $6,500/d + $150,000 bb via ECS Am to F East. Vessels were already been fixing at $6,750/d + $175,000 for fronthaul towards the end of the week, while for trip Atlantic an 82,000 dwt have been reported being fixed at $4,250/d at the beginning of the week with levels now close to $5,000/d for redely Skaw/Passero. In USG levels maintain stable with Panamax still looking at around $5,000/d for trip Atlantic and $8,000/d + $100,000 bb for fronthaul, while vessels opening in Gibraltar are asking mid/high $6,000/d for fronthaul business via USG taking into account the possibility of ballasting towards ECS Am. In the F East levels have also increased slightly with owners now able to fix at $4,350/d for NoPac round as was report on an 82,000 dwt unit bss dely Tianjing, similar levels can also be seen for trip via Australia to India/China bss Indo delivery. Period wise 82,000 dwt are being fixed for 12-15 months around $5,500/d redely worldwide.

Supramax rates for spot west bound trade improved; whilst there was a smaller increase for inter Pacific business. Two Supramaxes were done at $5,000/d from N China to India and another one delivering S Korea fixed a backhaul to the Med at $2,900/d for the first 70 days and $4,500/d for the balance. Coal from Indo to India was heard being fixed at well over $5,000/d. Near to the end of the week a 57,000 dwt delivering Spore got a less attractive $3,300/d bss Pakistan redely. There was increased interest loading larger sizes from Australia. Two Supramaxes were done at $3,250/d with redely F East and $3,000/d basis redely Indo. Both vessels were fixed with dely passing Spore. An Ultramax Indo dely was reported done at $5,000/d via Australia to EC India. A Handysize delivering SKorea booked a trip via NoPac to Vietnam at $4,000/d. A 33,000 dwt Spore dely got $3,000/d for a trip via Indo with bauxite to N China and another one with the same delivery fixed $4,500/d for 2 laden legs with redely Spore/Japan range.

Improved rates were seen for fronthaul trips from N Europe. A Supramax delivering UK, fixed a trip via the Baltic to India and a Handysize with similar dely performed via the same loading range into the F East at a daily rate in the very high $7,000s. A slightly smaller vessel got $4,250/d to move a grain cargo from the Cont to Spain. Bss B Sea loading, a 55,000 dwt fixed $6,000/d bss dely Egyptian Med, for a trip into the R Sea. A smaller Supramax fetched $4,000/d delivering S Spain to carry clinkers into W Africa.

The previous week's optimism for Supramax rates cooled down, bringing rates back to lower levels. Stems loaded from S America suffered the most. After an extraordinary $10,500/d was seen for a large Ultramax loading a spot cargo from Atlantic Colombia to Pakistan, the market changed quite a bit for owners basis loading USG/NCS America. An initial $6,875/d was agreed on a Supramax for petcoke USG/Med, followed by a slightly smaller unit getting $5,500/d to the Spanish Med. From the same loading range, a similar sized vessel fixed $8,250/d for a trip to Pakistan and a 66,000 dwt Ultramax got just $8,500/d for the same trip. Fronthaul loading out of S America showed Supramaxes fixed around $7,000/d plus $70,000 bb. Trips to Europe for similar sizes were getting daily rates between $5,000- $5,800/d according to size and specification.

Chartering interest dried up again for anything loading out of India or the MEG and no concluded fixtures were reported at all. There was a similar atmosphere from S Africa, where the talks of a Supramax fixing at $7,500/d to move coal to the R Sea were probably related to a fixture already concluded the week before.

Banchero Costa and Co Spa 

Email: research@bancosta.it 

Internet: www.bancosta.it