Ocean Freight Comments
Transportation and Export Report: Jay O’Neil, O’Neil Commodity Consulting: To answer the biggest question asked by both kids on a long car trip and dry bulk vessel owners: no, we are not there yet. In fact, we seem to be going in reverse. It was another week of market corrections and lower values in both FFA paper markets and physical markets. North American grain export volumes appear to be slowing, especially from the West Coast and markets are still waiting for Chinese government stimulus funds to generate more import cargo demand.
U.S. containerized grain shipments showed strong volumes again this week and seem to be creating a positive trend with attractive rates in place. Low water conditions remain in the Mississippi River but the outlook for November is improving. There is, however, no positive improvement yet in the Panama Canal water situation. I expect to see increases in U.S. grain rail rates in 2024. The labor strike in the St. Lawrence seaway has been settled.
