Ocean Freight Comments
Transportation and Export Report: Jay O’Neil, O’Neil Commodity Consulting: It is the Lunar/Chinese New Year holiday period and all is quiet on the ocean freight front. Markets are thin and a bit soft, “sluggish” is a term commonly heard. The Baltic indices are a little lower with most physical markets unchanged and doing their best to resist selling the lower bids. Spot Panamax daily hire rates are trading at $8,000/day with February at $9,700/day. Vessel owners are still waiting and hoping for a robust reopening in China after the holiday.
