Cement News tagged under: Freight Markets
Markets still under pressure01 September 2004, Published under Cement NewsWhile the iron ore & steel groups are building up their production capacities and stabilising their supplies through long term contracts, all dry bulk shipping markets remain under pressure with rate levels failing to ease despite a rather low volume of business last week. All Capes and Panamax indexes have maintained almost the same sky-high positions as last week. In the East Handymaxes were up again despite few to report, while the Atlantic market remained flat. The only negative news of... |
Markets somewhat in limbo late-August24 August 2004, Published under Cement NewsWith Panamaxes having been very much in the centre of attention during the past week, the market as a whole seems to have taken on a stroll along the beach. Without direction or a real pace, the market is awaiting a post-holiday revival. Panamax operations in the Pacific though seem to be more impulsive than those on the Atlantic basin, suggesting increasing market stability on the latter. This is more or less confirmed by the Capesizes, who are still being strongly triggered by the... |
Relax its summertime11 August 2004, Published under Cement NewsThe heat that took the market up a little last week didn’t last long and rates started to level out or even decline over the last trading days. However the average daily returns remain very high despite a very limited fixing activity to report. Capes and especially Panamaxes suffered last week from a lack of business in both basins while Handysize owners benefited from a quite strong grain export trend in the Northern Europe / Black Sea areas. In such a context it has not been a surpri... |
Bulk rates look for direction27 July 2004, Published under Cement NewsDespite that rates ended the week with figures lower than seven days before, the market showed that it can still be prompt to react to any tiny signal coming from demand. It has especially been the case for Capes last week with a few charterers back in the race in both basins. Panamax rates have been prevented from a further fall thanks to some more grain business arising from ECSA. As for Panamaxes the HandyMax market remains oversupply in the East, but a rebound of grain activity from the ... |
Rates now on the rise19 July 2004, Published under Cement NewsDespite the announcement that Chinese industrial production is feeling the first effects of the credit squeeze organised by local authorities to avoid overheating, dry bulk markets have again experienced a very nervous week gaining between 15 to 30% (depending on ships’ sizes) in only five working days… Rates are now back to the levels they were three months ago or in the autumn 2003, just before things were at fever pitch… The "stars" of the week have definitely been Panamaxes in both basin... |
Rocket-style take-off14 July 2004, Published under Cement NewsDespite the announcement that Chinese industrial production is feeling the first effects of the credit squeeze organised by local authorities to avoid overheating, dry bulk markets have again experienced a very nervous week gaining between 15 to 30 per cent (depending on ships’ sizes) in only five working days… Rates are now back to the levels they were three months ago or in the autumn 2003, just before things were at fever pitch… The "stars" of the week have definitely been Panamaxes in bo... |
Start summer scale-down22 June 2004, Published under Cement NewsWith spring coming to an end and the summer to commence, business is starting to scale down to summer levels as could be expected. All bulk rates continued to be under pressure and slipping gradually due to a decreasing cargo volume. Last weeks big loser were the Handymax rates, almost freefalling although still at quite historical levels. The Atlantic basin being still more favourable than the Pacific, which can be not yet be attributed to the strategic ’ease down’ of the Chinese economy. A... |
Navigating in troubled waters08 June 2004, Published under Cement NewsWhile charterers are now firmly back on the Cape market especially in the East with a higher number of fixtures reported and rates at least stabilised, Panamaxes and Handies are navigating into troubled waters. The grain market for Panamax units is deeply affected by the Chinese ban on soybean imports from Brazil and no settlement of the situation has surfaced yet, but the Atlantic market remains busy with iron ore cargoes which allow rates to stabilize. Despite some dispersed grain fixtures... |
Markets continue to fall08 June 2004, Published under Cement NewsThe firmer trend that started to push up Capesize rates last week continued throughout most of the week however ended on a weaker note. The Panamax market remained similar to last week with still a lot of prompt vessels to fix in the Atlantic and only a few mineral stems to cover. Handies were slow with some pockets of activity in the Med/Atlantic area but not enough to balance the lack of business in the Pacific and the now badly missing grain stems out of the US Gulf and WCSA ports. ... |
Downward pressures deepens26 May 2004, Published under Cement NewsHuge import stockpiles in China, linked with less port congestion, and the first effects of credit tightening measures taken by the government have badly affected the markets this week, despite the still enthusiastic medium term prospects announced by mining companies in Australia and Brazil. Figures remain globally high but the list of Capesize vessels open in the East becomes longer and less congestion in ports does not help to ease the situation. The still awaited start of the South Ameri... |