The buoyant capesize bulker market took a leap on Monday to reach its highest level since mid-October as tonnage supply in the Atlantic ran thin.
The Baltic Exchange’s Capesize 5TC set of spot-rate averages across five key routes jumped 12.8% to $31,700 per day on Monday to cross the $31,000-per-day threshold for the first time since 18 October.
The spot rate spike was reflected in recent capesize fixtures that have been reported by the exchange.
BHP hired an unnamed capesize at $11.65 per tonne to ship 160,000 tonnes of iron ore from Port Hedland in Western Australia, to Qingdao, China, with loading between 12 and 14 December.
That is considerably higher than the $11 per tonne that the Australian miner paid on Friday to send the same amount of ore on the route. Loading for that fixture was from 10 to 12 December.
Monday’s leap came during a recent strong upward trend for the segment, during which the 5TC has risen 58% since Wednesday.
The futures market for capesizes also pounced on Monday as December contracts rose a bullish 7.4% to nearly $23,300 per day.
“A lack of tonnage supply in the Atlantic combined with healthy enquiry has been a key driving force of the recent uptick in cape rates,” Clarksons Securities analyst Frode Morkedal wrote in a note on Monday.
“Ballasting vessels from Singapore to the South Atlantic has slipped to a 7-week low, which could continue to support the cape market in the short term.”
He noted that tight supply in the Atlantic basin has improved sentiment in the Pacific basin over the past few trading days as the roundtrip C10 voyage between Australia and China improved 79% since Wednesday to just under $29,000 per day on Monday.
