9. Ocean Freight Comments
Transportation and Export Report: Jay O’Neil, O’Neil Commodity Consulting: If you are following this report closely and or watching any of the Dry-Bulk freight charts, you will notice that bulk freight has been volatile over the past few months. The market is moving up and down like the tide. However, the overall long-term direction has been to the up side. So, the message here is to pick your moment to buy and not be too greedy. This week had buying support from those covering needs prior to the Lunar (Chinese) New Year. This is common during this period each year. The next issue for the freight markets is, what kind of cargo interest develops after the Lunar New Year Holiday? I would expect to see another short period of soft demand before we trend back up in Q2-Q3 of 2018. So, be careful in picking your entry point.
The charts below represent 2017 annual totals versus 2016 annual totals for container shipments to Japan.
