Cement News tagged: Freight Markets
Steel mergers to impact on shipping?
The now approved Arcelor-Mittal merger has provoked a wave of reactions amongst steelmakers; the Chinese ones of course but also the Japanese who are now pushed towards consolidation to be able to pla
Market fundementals promote rate gains
As freight rates are still improving, rumours and discussion are multiplying about long term time charter deals, but further to this seasonal movement another question has arisen: is it the right tim
Time for quiet reflection
While a clear direction seems still to be hard to find on the freight market, things have at least stabilised last week with very quiet activity. On the news front nothing has arisen concerning the ir
Handy trades influenced by in-bound US cement traffic
“Different companies, different minds, different moods” seems to be the weeks’ characteristic. Within all sectors of the bulk market, companies seem to be looking in different directions, triggering d
All quiet on the western front
World crude steel production topped 1.1bn tonnes for the full year 2005 and according to the first 2006 results this figure, despite a limited slow down, could reach 1.2bn tonnes by the end of the yea
Markets tending to firm up once again
Tension mounted last week between iron ore suppliers, particularly Australia, and their main client, China, which does not help to clear the view about which direction the market could take for the re
Handies and Panamax sectors start to climb
Steel, then iron ore and now coal… this week has been widely animated by the coal sector with the disclosure of the long term Chinese government program to shut-down 70 per cent of small-sized mines b
Some signs of rate improvements
In a week where the dry bulk market has proven that freight rates can react quite quickly to a come back of charterers, all the minds seem to be occupied by one word: “consolidation”. From the steel i
Rates still being held down
Is it the start of a new merger wave? Many things tend to prove that our dry bulk markets have already entered into an M&A cycle. This state of facts is even reinforced by the downward trend recorded
Some falls but outlook remains fair
Despite a start to the year that was not as "red hot" as last year on dry bulk shipping markets, optimism still seems to be prevailing among raw material producers. Last week some good prospects have
Looking ahead in 2006
Will 2006 be the year for coal? Since 2003 the dry bulk market has been mainly driven by the Chinese iron ore boom which is not finished but will certainly know a more moderate growth. Higher oil pric
As the holiday season approaches...
The dry bulk market seems to be steadying in this end-of-year period. In these rather still waters and approaching the end of the year it’s a good time to make a point on the fleet evolution. Th
Some good signs in Panamax and Handy sectors
Despite the fact that Cape rates fell last week, there is so far no sign of a global and harsh collapse of the market as Panamax and Handymax rates did not take the same direction. The "war of informa
Stronger signs in Panamax sector
Difficult to see where the market is going with mixed signals still the order of the day, unusual times, particularly in the heart of the winter period when things are usually a bit more obvious. In t
Dry bulk stability despite rate falls
While most rates had taken a southbound direction by mid week, pessimism does not seem to have spread out as far as the whole industry. One significant announcement has been made this week by a major
Markets still lack direction
Despite some improvement on the Capesize front the dry bulk market is still lacking direction particularly if we compare it to last year during the same period when rates were rocketing towards unprec