Ocean Freight Comments
Transportation and Export Report: Jay O’Neil, O’Neil Commodity Consulting: Are we just playing the beach game of Limbo now, where we try to see how low everyone can go before falling to the ground? I’m thinking that this is how the global ocean freight industry feels at the moment. Capesize vessel daily hire rates are currently $10,300/day while Panamax daily earnings are only $5,600/day. The one-year Capesize time-charter rate is even lower at $8,100/day. With demurrage rates higher than this the best situation for a vessel owner is to sit on demurrage somewhere. I know I have said this before but it does feel like we have found, or are finding, a bottom in this market. At least things seem to have stabilized for the moment.
Below is a recent history of freight values for Capesize vessels of iron ore from Western Australia to China:
The charts below represent year-to-date 2015 versus January-December 2014 annual totals for container shipments to the Philippines.
