Ocean Freight Comments
Transportation and Export Report: Jay O’Neil, O’Neil Commodity Consulting:
It has been a very slow and soft start for 2014 ocean freight markets. If you are freight buyer; you are in the driver’s seat. Vessel owners are not getting the love they need from this market yet. Not mention that we still have the Lunar New Year holidays to go through in Asia.
There have been very few reported grain fixtures over the last ten days, so it is difficult to pinpoint any exact fair rates other than to say that things are generally lower with no support in sight.
In thin markets whoever needs to force something to happen will always pay the price and push the market one way or the other.
Below is a recent history of freight values for Capesize vessels of iron ore from Western Australia to China:
The charts below represent January-December 2011 and January-December 2012 annual totals versus January-September 2013 year-to-date container shipments for Taiwan.
