Ocean Freight Comments
Transportation and Export Report: Jay O’Neil, O’Neil Commodity Consulting: The dry-bulk markets started the week on a continued soft note before they rallied slightly in an attempt to recover some of last week’s losses. The Capes were again the market leader and helped to pull the Panamax sector up from its lows. However – unlike the Capes – the the Panamax and smaller dry-bulk vessel markets were not able to fully recover.
The biggest excitement of the week was the Russian/Ukrainian naval dispute/blockade at the Kerch Strait in the Black Sea. The strait handles about 40 percent of Russian grain exports but only 2-3 percent of Ukrainian grain exports. Therefore, if the Russians wish to block Ukrainian ships transiting the strait it should not have a big impact on export volumes from the Black Sea. Nevertheless, this is a significant geopolitical development. Vessel owners tried to increase shipping rates through that area but have not found buyers willing to pay up.
The charts below represent 2018 YTD totals versus 2017 annual totals for container shipments to the Philippines.
