SSG No 10 - Shipgaz

MARKET REPORTS
Tank – volatile markets continue
❯
North Europe remains a very volatile
and unpredictable market for owners
of crude loader. The tanker surplus, particularly
of aframax and suezmax, is beginning
to tell. Admittedly aframax freight
firmed as we went to press, but there is little
prospect f more than WS 160 – WS 170
on the Primorsk and North Sea routes. The
past four weeks have been particularly for
owners of aframax tonnage.
A brief look at the headlines of our
weekly reports says it all. They read as follows:
Week 16 – “Volatile for crude loaders”,
week 17 – “Aframax/suezmax firmer”,
week 18 – “Aframax down in patchy trading”
and week 19 ended with firmer aframax
freight in both the North Sea and the
Baltic.
In our last report we made the point that
the order book for aframax tonnage of 29.6
million dwt is bound to have an effect on
the prospects. The bulk of the current aframax
order book is for delivery in 2008 (8.6
million dwt) and in 2009 (10.1 million
dwt). The suezmax order book is slightly
smaller. In any case, demand for suezmax
tonnage in the North Sea and the Baltic is
too patchy to influence the market.
Medium Range (MR) clean tonnage
breached the WS 300 mark in the past fortnight
to end up around WS280 on the
Trans-Atlantic (TA) westbound leg. Again
the MR order book in excess of 19.0 mil-
Wet bulk freight development
Worldscale ■ Suezmax North Sea–TA ■ Aframax NS– UKCont
600
500
400
300
200
100
0
Jul ’05
Oct ’05
lion dwt and for handysize 4,2 million dwt.
With this downturn the daily earning have
dripped below USD 30,000 per day. Other
relevant rates are WS 280 for 22,000 tonnes
Inter UK/Continent and WS 255 for
30,000 tonnes Baltic for UK/Continent.
Rates could fall further on slack demand.
94 SCANDINAVIAN SHIPPING GAZETTE • MAY 21, 2007
Jan ’06
Apr ’06
Dry – capesize at all-time high
❯
Capesize freight has continued
upwards into unknown territory mainly
thanks to continued congestion in Australian
ports and firm Chinese demand for
ore tonnage. 172,000-tonner was booked
Brazil for China at USD 130,000 per day,
which is an all-time high. The voyage market
for iron ore from Brazil to China passed
through USD 51,00 per tonne. On the
Tubarao to Rotterdam iron ore route the
rate was close to USD 30.00 per tonne, an
improvement of USD 10.00 so far this year.
The Atlantic remained the stronger of the
main freight areas. The time charter equivalent
(TCE) of the Atlantic round voyage
rate improved USD 5,000 per day since
April to USD 110,000 per day. Similar tonnage
booked for an Australian round voyage
at a TCE of USD 106,000 per day.
The time charter market for panamax
dry bulkers reached record heights in May
and breached USD 60,000 per day for a
trip from Turkish Black Sea to Southeast
Asia. There was also talk of even higher
rates, for a kamsarmax from the Atlantic
for Asian destinations at USD 62,000 per
■ Aframax Primorsk–UKCont ■ Clean MR UKCont–TA ■ Clean Baltic–UKCont
day. Firmer rates were mainly due to
demand exceeding the supply, particularly
in the Atlantic, where Trans-Atlantic round
voyage rate improved to USD 52,000 per
day. Handy/handymax tonnage is in
chronic in short supply and freight keeps
firming. The Atlantic round voyage just
120,000
100,000
80,000
60,000
40,000
20,000
0
Jul ’06
Oct ’06
Jan ’07
Apr ’07
Source: SSG, May 10, 2007
breached the USD 50,000 per day mark,
up nearly USD 20,000 per day so far this
year. Good rates have been seen in the Far
East with USD 53,000 paid from Singapore
to India. India to China saw rates
close to USD 47,000 per day.
petter arentz
Dry bulk freight development
Atlantic round voyage,USD/day ■ Capesize ■ Panamax ■ Handymax
Jul ’05
Oct ’05
Jan ’06
Apr ’06
Jul ’06
Oct ’06
Jan ’07
Apr '07
Source: Fearnleys/SSG, May 10, 2007