Fearnleys Weekly Report

Capesize After a slow week where China was off on holiday, the expectations was that activity and freight rates would pick up this week. Something that did not happen, as China's return to the market only brought more tonnage to the market. The number of cargoes have picked up, but an oversupply of tonnage has made the market drop this week. WC Aussie to China route has gone from high USD 5 pmt level to very close to USD 5 pmt at the mid of this week. The fronthaul market from Brazil to China has been fairly steady at mid USD 11.50 pmt, but rates now also droppping on this route. We are already well into Q4 which market had strong expectations for, but which so far has been extremely disappointing. Panamax We had positive start to the week with rates increasing lead by a positive sentiment. This came to a quick stop on Tuesday when rates came off across both hemispheres. We see an increased amount of fronthaul orders and owners ballasting from COGH to USG and upping their ideas. There seems to be a standoff between bid/offer and we expect an upstick in fronthaul rates for the short term. In the eastern hemisphere rounds are being fixed in region of USD 6-7k depending on trade and commodity. The period market is still there but on small volumes. 1 year periods are being done in region of USD 7-8k depending on vessels specs and delivery. Handy We see more fixing activity this week and especially in the western hemisphere. Rates are firming in the East Med lead by more volume and a decreasing fleet-list. West Africa market has come off on activity and the USG market is acting positional mid week. USG/Far East are fixed in region of USD 13k + 300k. In the eastern hemisphere we see rates coming off in SE Asia and NoPac while decent rates are achieved ex MEG to India at around USD 7k. The period market is next to non-existing as owners are not willing to lock in below 7k for 1 year ad rather wait for a possible upswing later this year.