Ocean Freight Comments
Transportation and Export Report: Jay O’Neil, O’Neil Commodity Consulting: It was another quiet week in dry-bulk freight markets. Baltic Indices and rates traveled in circles and pretty much ended up back where they started the week. Traders and vessel owners want the market to rally but are not finding enough physical demand to support such a rally.
Singapore, Europe and some U.S. ports have banned open loop scrubbers on ships and this will leave vessel owners with fewer, and more expensive, options to meet the 2020 lower CO2 emissions requirement. Increased operating cost is not good for an industry struggling to improve profitability. Did you notice the 75 containers of soybeans in this week’s export inspection report? Perhaps something is starting to change.
The charts below represent 2018 YTD totals versus 2017 annual totals for container shipments to Thailand.
