Chartering - Handy
We have seen the TA spot market come down this week lead by limited trading and an oversupply of tonnage in the USG. The signals are mixed but less petcoke out of USG causing rates to slip together with owners wanting to fix out their positions before the Christmas holidays. Trans Atlantic’s are down some USD 1,000 w-o-w while the Front Hauls bassis Continent delivery are fixing at pretty much the same levels as last week, ie low USD 13,000. In the Pacific we see a much more balanced market with about the same levels as last week. Indo/India coal are beeing fixed in region of USD 13,000 while the South East Asia rounds are seeing around USD 9,000. The short period market is still fairly active and Supramaxes are being fixed at around USD 10-11k depending on delivery while the bigger Ultras are being fixed at 12k.
Chartering - Panamax
The Panamax market has continued its slow sliding tendency since last week. Still not a dramatic decrease in rates, but we see the Trans Atlantic market being fixed in region of Usd low USD 10,000 which is down some Usd 200 w-o-w. The breaching of INL season International Navigating Limits (INL), formerly Institute Warranty Limits (IWL) is approaching and we see charterers with such cargoes already now have to pay up a bit as a premium to owners willing/able to do same. We do see fresh cargoes entering the market and it seems pretty well balanced with tonnage in the Atlantic, so the reason for rates sliding could be caused by the bigger Capes which have seen rates coming off hard. Some Cape ows are even offering in on Pmax stems which again putting pressure on the rates. In the Eastern hemisphere we noted that India is importing record amounts of coal and building up congestion in the ports. This has not put pressure on the rates and with lack of other Pacific cargoes, the Pacific round rates has come off some 7-800k w-o-w. The period market is very quiet and the gap between bid/ask is too big too conclude deals. With the FFA’s values still below the 8k mark for 2015, it is not giving support to the period market.
Chartering - Capesize
Imploding on a close to total absence of prompt demand, with coal as commodity and Atlantic as region being the most painful spots . An abundance of Owners falling over each other to secure the very few available cargoes coming almost exclusively ex Australia, with resultant rate levels in free fall. W-o-w, freight for the conference trade Continent/Far East is down 25% to usd 18500/day, pacific rounds down 45% to usd 6800 and average earnings down some 40% to come in at usd 7300/day. What little period is being concluded is on index-linked basis, as neither present/predicted coal/ore volumes nor FFA values are even close to support necessary fixed levels.
Imploding on a close to total absence of prompt demand, with coal as commodity and Atlantic as region being the most painful spots . An abundance of Owners falling over each other to secure the very few available cargoes coming almost exclusively ex Australia, with resultant rate levels in free fall. W-o-w, freight for the conference trade Continent/Far East is down 25% to usd 18500/day, pacific rounds down 45% to usd 6800 and average earnings down some 40% to come in at usd 7300/day. What little period is being concluded is on index-linked basis, as neither present/predicted coal/ore volumes nor FFA values are even close to support necessary fixed levels.