Ocean Freight Comments
Transportation and Export Report: Jay O’Neil, O’Neil Commodity Consulting: It was a bullish week in paper and physical Dry-Bulk freight markets. The Capesize market saw an uptick in iron ore demand and the rest of the market is feeling the heat from the increased costs of IMO2020 compliance. This week’s rate jump was on top of the market increases of the last two weeks, so freight buyers are now feeling the pain of increased transportation costs. It looks like dry-bulk rate increases will outpace those of the container shipping sector. This should provide an opportunity for containerized grain markets to pick up some additional market share in export channels. Container rates from the Mid-west to Asia are close to $1,000/TEU and U.S. East Coast rates to Asia remain at $300 or less/TEU.
