The supramax bulker market reached a 10-month high on Thursday as the supply remained tight against high demand in the Black and Mediterranean seas, according to brokers.
The Baltic Exchange’s Supramax 10TC gained 2% in a day to reach more than $14,900 per day, the highest point for the route basket in more than 10 months, when it came in at $14,600 per day on 2 November.
Thursday’s gains were a continuation of a rally that has seen supramax rates rise nearly every day since 7 August, when the average earnings had slumped to $7,967 per day.
“The Black Sea and Mediterranean are very hot,” BRS Shipbrokers wrote in a report on Thursday.
“The tonnage list is rather short, and the number of cargoes in the area relative to the supply is noticeable.”
BRS noted “quite strong levels on the coal front” for coal from Indonesia to India and China, and “inexplicably strong numbers” due to tight tonnage lists off the North Pacific and Eastern Australia.
“Several ultramaxes around the Korea-Japan range were heard fixing around $15,000 to $16,000 per day for NoPac [North America’s Pacific coast] rounds back to the Pacific [in Asia],” the broking house said.
A busy Asia market saw the 57,300-dwt Zhe Hai 525 (built 2011) score a fixture from an unnamed charterer on a round-trip voyage from China to Indonesia and back at $16,000 per day, according to Baltic Exchange data.
A similar fixture on 8 September was worth a far lower $7,600 per day.
Supramaxes are also fetching $22,000 per day for fronthaul trips from West Africa, while ultramaxes are getting as high as $26,000 per day, BRS said.
The futures market for supramaxes lost some ground on Thursday, as October contracts dipped $254 per day but still remained in contango to the spot market at $15,100 per day.
