Ocean Freight Comments
Transportation and Export Report: Jay O’Neil, O’Neil Commodity Consulting: Global dry-bulk freight markets are starting to be like watching paint dry. For the past month they have been slowly steaming nowhere in particular. 2018 has certainly not been the continuation of the Q3-Q4 2017 market recovery that vessel owners were expecting. Rates have largely remained stagnant for much of the year and the outlook remains uncertain.
The common belief is that things will pick up and rates will gradually improve as we head into the last quarter of 2018. However, uncertainties regarding the growth of global trade due to the tariff situation is keeping a lid on things for the time being.
The charts below represent 2018 YTD totals versus 2017 annual totals for container shipments to China.
