Ocean Freight Comments
Transportation and Export Report: Jay O’Neil, O’Neil Commodity Consulting: It is the Golden Week festival in China and many people are on holiday. However, we did witness a flurry of activity early in the week and markets were firmer in the U.S. Gulf-Atlantic, especially in the Handymax and Panamax sectors. Overall, we continue to see freight markets moving in a teeter-totter motion from week to week without really showing any conviction yet to any particular direction.
The U.S. PNW Panamax rates to Asia did not truly decline in value this week, but I had to adjust the below rates lower to correct for an earlier over estimate on the high side.
The Capesize market gained a few cents, but was losing some ground it had made by week’s end.
For another week the only freight markets on fire are the North American rail car and river barge markets. Barge freight on the Mississippi River system is trading at over 1,000 percent of tariff. The corn and soybean harvests are progressing well and shippers are paying big premiums for interior transportation.
Below is a recent history of freight values for Capesize vessels of iron ore from Western Australia to China:
The charts below represent January-December 2013 annual totals versus year-to-date 2014 container shipments to Thailand.
