Ocean Freight Comments
Transportation and Export Report: Jay O’Neil, O’Neil Commodity Consulting: China is just back from the Golden Week holiday and freight markets are struggling to sort out what should, or will, happen next. The market confusion will be very evident when you review the market rate changes for the week. I’m not seeing many freight fixtures and that is certainly adding to the lack of clarity in this week’s market. I am, however, picking up an unusually wide range of market opinions from vessel brokers, operators and traders; hence, the up and down moves noted in the rate quotes this week. The North American harvest is in full swing and vessel lineups at U.S. ports are growing. Additionally, we are seeing a temporary return of U.S. wheat shipments to routes like North Africa, which haven’t been in play over the past couple of years. Hopefully some of the freight market murkiness will abate next week and I’ll be able to better sort out the rates and spreads.
Below is a recent history of freight values for Capesize vessels of iron ore from Western Australia to China:
The charts below represent year-to-date 2016 versus January-December 2015 annual totals for container shipments to Taiwan.
