Seanergy Maritime Holdings has chartered one of its capesize bulkers to move a panamax-sized load of coal across the Mediterranean Sea.
The New York-listed pureplay owner of 17 capesizes recently fixed the 170,018-dwt Squireship (built 2010) to transport 85,000 dwt of coal from the Black Sea to western Europe.
He would not disclose the rate for the fixture or charterer’s name.
Chief executive Stamatis Tsantanis told TradeWinds that Seanergy has not penned any similar deals for now, but other owners are doing the same because capesize rates are so low.
“This is happening,” he told TradeWinds.
The capesize 5TC, a spot-rate average across five key routes, improved 16% to $6,780 per day on Thursday but was still less than half what panamaxes are getting.
The panamax 5TC came in at $16,615 per day after losing $609 per day, according to Baltic Exchange data.
Giuseppe Rosano, director at broking house Alibra Shipping, has also caught rumour of such deals but is still looking to confirm names of owners and traders.
“I have heard of a few traders fixing their capes on panamax stems, so I feel there are quite a few,” he told TradeWinds.
Cargo splits do happen under the right market conditions, but it does not happen often, said John Kartsonas, founder of dry bulk ETF-trading platform Breakwave Advisors.
“The cape market has bottomed, as rates are effectively zero,” he told TradeWinds.
“The question is whether there is a significant upward move from here, or more of a drifting type of market.
“Seasonality says that it is a bit early to see a move up in rates. On the other hand, with Chinese New Year just around the corner, there might be some urgency to cover some cargoes.”
