Midsize bulkers have seen a flurry of period fixtures of at least a year at rates well above the spot market.

Three panamaxes, including two kamsarmaxes, were hired on 12 to 15-month time charters on Friday and an ultramax was fixed on Monday, according to the Baltic Exchange.

On Friday, Athena Shipping chartered Nisshin Shipping’s 82,300-dwt kamsarmax Sunrise Trader (built 2023) for one year at 117.5% to the Panamax 5TC spot market route basket, which came in at $9,543 per day on Monday.

Athena took delivery of the newbuilding off South Korea and can redeliver it anywhere in the world at the end of the charter.

In another kamsarmax deal, Cargill fixed Diana Shipping’s 81,300-dwt Leto (built 2010) for between 13 months and 15 months at $14,500 per day on Friday, the Baltic Exchange data showed.

The agricultural giant, which loaded the ship on 26 January, took delivery off Dangjin, South Korea, and may redeliver it anywhere.

Cargill Ocean Transportation president Jan Dieleman told TradeWinds that one charter is not an indication of what a company with a fleet of more than 700 vessels thinks about the market.

“If you see us fixing long-term, it normally means that the paper market and physical markets are more aligned. And over the last two weeks, we have seen the FFA [forward freight agreement] market improve, and we’ve seen the spot market come down,” he said.

“So in a way, where we were looking at quite a gap at what physical was trading and paper was trading, that’s more in line … I wouldn’t take that as a signal that Cargill is getting extremely bullish at panamax or kamsarmaxes.”

But he said the panamax and kamsarmax market looks “pretty solid” as it waits to see if China will implement stimulus measures that boost fixture activity.

“We do know that they’re quite low on commodity stocks in general, so we know that probably demand is going to be better, not worse, than the last six months,” he said.

Jan Dieleman says the FFA market improved and the spot market has come down. Photo: Eric Priante Martin

Kamsarmaxes are also poised to benefit from the upcoming Brazilian grain harvest.

“But the reality is also we still have quite a lot of ships in the spot market that we have to get through before we can see better market,” Dieleman said.

Aquavita International hired Diana’s 77,500-dwt Atalandi (built 2014) at $13,250 per day for 13 months to 15 months on Friday, according to Diana and the Baltic Exchange.

Aquavita, a Ukrainian operator that is now headquartered in Greece, will take delivery of the vessel at Japan’s Nadahama Kobe Port from 13 to 15 February and redeliver between China and western Japan.

On Monday, Diana said it took delivery of the 60,300-dwt DSI Aquarius (built 2016) from Sea Trade Holdings as one of nine modern ultramaxes that it bought from Sea Trade last August.

Athens-based Diana has put that ship on a period charter that will last from 11 months to 13 months at $14,200 per day with Engelhart CTP Freight.

The shipowner expects to make about $4.81m in revenue off the minimum period of the fixture.