Average rate estimates for handysize bulkers climbed to their highest level since late March as positive sentiment in the Americas lifted the spot market.
The Baltic Exchange’s assessment of average spot rates rose to nearly $12,400 per day on Friday for the first time in six months, which represented a one-week gain of just 1.8% but a rise of 14.1% in the past month.
The indicator of handysize spot market strength has been rising, barring a dip last week, since a year low of $7,007 per day in early August.
The activity was muted in Asia as brokers and the Baltic Exchange pointed to market strength in the Americas, including the key export regions on the US Gulf Coast and South America’s east.
“The overall sentiment in the handy sector became positive, but visible activity in Asia remained minimal,” Baltic Exchange analysts said in a weekly report on Friday.
Analysts at the Baltic Exchange said in the report that a large handysize vessel was rumoured to have won a fixture from Recalada, Uruguay, to the west coast of South America at a rate in the low $20,000s per day.
They described it as reflecting improved demand in the South Atlantic and rising rates.
Operator Falcon Maritime was also reported to have chartered Nordic Hamburg’s 35,900-dwt Nordic Oslo (built 2012) on Thursday for a voyage from Cuba to Bacarena in northern Brazil and then on to Corinto in Nicaragua for $16,500 per day.
On Thursday, shipbroker Braemar described a market of two halves in the Atlantic, with softening rates for handysizes in the Mediterranean and continental Europe and stronger sentiment in the Americas.
Handysize average spot rate on 13 October: $12,361 per day
Day change: +0.4%
Week change: +1.8%
Month change: +14.1%
Year change: -32.7%
“Tonnage lists have grown longer in the Continent and Med with less fresh enquiry for the second half of October,” the firm said in a weekly report.
“East coast South America began to pick up again with tonnage list tight and more grain cargoes available.”
For example, Braemar pointed to a 38,000-dwt vessel that scored a charter at $16,000 daily from Santos, Brazil, to Morocco.
The broker said US Gulf Coast fixtures for voyages to Europe were fetching rates in the $14,000s.
In the Black Sea, data compiled by the Baltic Exchange showed that bulker operator Weco Shipping fixed the 36,200-dwt Foxtrot (built 2012), which is owned by Greece’s Load Line, for a voyage from the Bulgarian port of Varna to Romania and then on to Continent — typically a reference to ports in western and northern Europe outside of the Mediterranean.
But there were few similar fixtures to compare against the $14,000-per-day rate on the deal.
