Ocean Freight Comments
Transportation and Export Report: Jay O’Neil, O’Neil Commodity Consulting: Paper traders tried their best to support the markets and reverse the downward trend of the last two weeks, but a reluctance to bid up on the part of physical buyers and global economic news thwarted their efforts. The U.S.-China trade war and the newly imposed tariffs was an economic bucket of cold water on freight markets and rates sank further down.
This is not a healthy situation for either the global economic outlook or vessel owners who are incurring substantial expenses to comply with the IMO2020 CO2 regulations. September daily hire rates for Panamax vessels in the Pacific are now around $14,100/day. Q4 traded at $13,500/day. Traders are hoping for a bottoming out of the market very soon.
