Tag: freight rates

Ocean freight rates for cargoes moving under contracts on major East-West routes decreased by 7% in the fourth quarter of 2018, which is mostly driven by moderate fall in the Asia-Europe rates, according to Drewry. The latest reduction in average East-West contract rates is the largest quarterly fall since the end of 2016.

Drewry presented a positive outlook on the dry bulk market, as it expects charter rates to improve, driven by moderate increases in vessel demand and low growth in vessel supply. This is caused by restrained new ordering and a thin orderbook, according to Drewry's latest edition of the Dry Bulk Forecaster.

The UK Department for Transport published its Annual UK Port Freight statistics for 2017 which shows that overall total freight tonnages handled by UK ports were stable, totalling 482mt. The figures confirm that there was a continued but modest growth in Roll-on Roll-off traffic.

Despite moderating perishable seaborne trade growth, continued modal shift will sustain expansion in the containerised reefer trade and freight rate development as well, Drewry’s latest Reefer Shipping Annual Review and Forecast 2018/19 report, noted. Perishable reefer trade is expected to moderate slightly over the next five years to near 3% a year.

After a new pattern at the start of the year, July saw a modest realignment between charter and freight markets. This comes as liner operators react to cost pressures and the industry awaits the affects of the potential trade war between the US and China, the latest Container Shipping Forecaster from MSI noted.

Freight forwarders will be keeping a close eye on tariff developments, which will be worrying for US importers and logistics providers, as they could be hit hard should President Trump come through with his threats, according to online freight forwarder iContainers.

Crude oil tanker earnings have never been this bad. Earnings for Very Large Crude Carriers in the first half of 2018 were as low at USD 6,001 per day, with a Suezmax tanker earning USD 10,908 per day and an Aframax making USD 9,614 per day. In addition, the total crude oil tanker fleet has not increased at all in 2018.

The growing imports of loaded containers into the US East Coast continue to be a focal point for the container shipping industry, according to a recent research analysis by BIMCO. Growing by 10.4% in Q1-2018, the first three months saw 215,000 TEU more entering the USEC than in Q1-2017.

The freight market for S/R (Handysize) vessels will remain under pressure throughout 2018, on account of strong fleet growth and weak olefin trade, according to Drewry. The market has been under pressure since 2017, but olefin trade growth has averaged 3.1% annually over 2012-17, down from 4.0% during 2007-12.

The Baltic Exchange announced introduction of a modernised code of conduct for shipowners, charterers and shipbrokers using the physical shipping and freight derivatives markets, in line with today's greater focus on fairness & competition, anti-bribery & corruption and benchmarking related issues than before.