Capesize spot rates increased sharply on Friday, leading several dry bulk market watchers to describe the leap with rocket ship emojis.
The Baltic Exchangeâs assessment of average spot rates in the large bulker sector jumped to more than $27,400 per day on Friday, a one-day gain of 11% and the highest level since May of 2022.
The figure also represents a one-week surge 33.7% in the route basket, an average of time-charter equivalent rates on five key routes.
Even Oslo-listed bulker owner 2020 Bulkers used an emoji to describe the year-to-date high.
âWe believe itâs appropriate to dig out the rocketđ,â the company said on X, formerly Twitter.
Average capesize rates have been rising, but for a few small dips along the way, since touching a six-month low on 5 September.
2020 Bulkers, which owns a fleet of newcastlemax bulkers, said it is difficult to know how the spot marketâs story will play out, but it sees fundamental support that could fuel a few more weeks of gains.
Movements on the futures market appeared to agree with that assessment but implied the capesize rocket would not take long before returning to Earth.
Forward freight agreements for the current month on the 5TC gained $1,178 on Friday to near $25,000 per day.
And while contracts for subsequent months made modest gains for the day, they still showed a futures curve that points steadily downward until reaching $8,870 per day for February contracts.
Baltic Exchange analysts tied the gains on Friday to stronger fixtures in both the Atlantic and Pacific Basins.
In the Atlantic, Adani Shippingâs 175,000-dwt Vidyut (built 2011) scored a contract from in the âhigh $24sâ per tonne for an iron ore run from the Brazilian port of Tuburao to Qingdao, China, the exchange said.
K Lineâs 181,000-dwt Cape Sampagita (built 2011) was fixed on the same route at $25 per tonne.
Similar fixtures were worth $23.15 to $23.50 per tonne on a week earlier.
And the gains came even though the Brazil market lacked its biggest charterer on Friday.
âDespite Vale not being in the market, operators and some other Brazil miners appeared active with various loading dates,â Baltic Exchange analysts wrote.
The week also saw strong North Atlantic chartering activity in a tight market.
In the Pacific, Fortescue Metals Group fixed an unnamed capesize vessel for a voyage from Port Hedland in Western Australia to Qingdao at $11.05 per tonne on Friday. At the same time, German operator Oldendorff Carriers grabbed Diana Shippingâs 179,000-dwt Santa Barbara (built 2015) for $11 per tonne on the same route, the analysts said.
Seven days earlier, similar fixtures were reported at just $9.85 to $9.90 per tonne, but activity was strong at the start of this week.
The gains came despite holidays in China that traditionally lead to a slowdown in capesize chartering activity.
âThroughout the week, the cape market has displayed remarkable resilience and positivity, defying challenges such as holidays in the Far East,â the Baltic Exchange said.
