Ocean Freight Comments
Transportation and Export Report: Jay O’Neil, O’Neil Commodity Consulting: Weakness in the Capesize physical market is making life difficult for paper index traders who would like to see things go up. Despite the drop in China iron ore stockpiles, the Capesize vessel market is not yet finding significant cargo demand to support higher values. Dry-bulk Panamax markets are experiencing much the same dilemma. Panamax daily hire rates for June have slipped to $9,500/day while July is currently trading at $9,900/day and August-September at $10,000/day. The carry in this market simply shows the weakness in spot positions which does not bode well for the forward months.
