DRY: The first six months of 2008 have included not only fresh all-time highs for the Baltic Exchange Dry Index and Baltic Capesize Index, but also the most volatile six months on record for the Capesize market. The BDI climbed to a new record high of 11,793 points on 20 May. The gains were powered to a large extent by the booming Capesize market. The BCI hit 19,687 points on 5 June, with average earnings at $233,988/day, more than 20% above the November 2007 peak.
Volatility reached new heights in the 1h08. The Capesize 4TC moved by an astonishing 15% in one day on two occasions (30 January and 12 June), while daily movements of 5%+ have occurred 21 times since the turn of the year. The average daily movement during the 1h08 to date was 2.86%, virtually double the 1.46% average daily movement in 2004-07 inclusive.
Although the Baltic Panamax and Supramax Indices did not climb to record levels, both markets experienced volatility: the Panamax 4TC ranged between $44,363/day and $91,710/day, with the Supramax 5TC moving between a low of $39,976/day and high of $70,507/day.
TANKERS: Crude tanker markets for the first half of 2008 traded at very firm levels on average – particularly the VLCC market through the second quarter. The BITR quoted TD3 edged towards the high of W252 seen at the start of the year and reached W241 at the end of June. Buoyant crude import demand from the Asia Pacific at a time of only modest net fleet growth for the VLCC sector was the major driver of this expansion. China has raised its refinery throughput ahead of the Beijing Olympic Games leading to record crude import volumes and Japan is increasingly using alternative sources of energy (including fuel oil and crude) to help meet the shortfall in electricity generation as its nuclear power sector falls short.
Downside pressure on the clean markets was evident in the first part of 2008, but in the second quarter, rates were supported by a rise in tonne-mile in the Atlantic due to a surge in US product exports as import demand for gasoil in Europe and Latin America expanded. BITR quoted TC2 rose to W286.25 in late June. In Asian trades, a more recent rise in rates followed the ramping up of product imports into China ahead of the August Games, plus a pick up in Australian gasoil imports and naphtha into the East Asian market.
News
China Set Caps On Coal Prices
24-07-2008
Due to tight coal supply, China is temporarily putting a cap on domestic thermal coal prices used by power plants to prevent costs rising and ease power shortages, the National Development and Reform ... [more]
Japan GDP Growth Forecast Falls
23-07-2008
Japan’s government has revised its GDP growth forecast for the fiscal year to next March down from 2% to 1.3%. The inflation rate in Japan likely rose to a 10-Year high. Core inflation climbed 1.9% ... [more]
US Crude Stocks Fell, Gasoline and Distillate Rise
23-07-2008
US crude stocks fell 1.6m bbl to 295.3m bbl, 16% lower y-o-y, as imports dropped 985k b/d to 10.79m b/d, according to the latest data from the US Department of Energy. Gasoline inventories grew 2.9m ... [more]
Low Coal Stockpiles in China
22-07-2008
The thermal coal inventories in China’s power plants across the country fell 8.1% from 34.6 Mt two weeks ago to 31.8 Mt on 20th July, said a spokesman from the power supplier State Grid Corp of ... [more]
S. Korea’s Crude Imports Fall In June
22-07-2008
S. Korea’s crude imports fell 4.4% y-o-y in June to 2.26m b/d, as refiners were encouraged to use up inventory rather than import new supply due to high prices, reports Reuters. Exports of oil ... [more]
Events
Biofuels: A New Shipping Market
25-06-2008 - 25-06-2008
Thor Emil Brandrud from SSY’s Bioenergy department spoke at the inaugural "Biofuels: A New Shipping Market" conference on 25th June in London, organised by Lloyd’s List Events. He presented on Biomass from a Dry Bulk ... [more]
Coaltrans Asia
01-06-2008 - 04-06-2008
Derek Langston, Research Manager at SSY Consultancy & Research in Singapore, gave a paper at the 14th Coaltrans Asia on 3 June in Bali, Indonesia. His presentation posed the question “Any Relief for Charterers?” from high freight rates and ... [more]
McCloskeys European Coal Outlook Conference
20-05-2008 - 21-05-2008
In a paper entitled "When Will it End?" John Kearsey of SSY Consultancy & Research first examined the factors behind this year’s unprecedented strength and volatility in coal freight rates, before looking at the potential impact on ... [more]
Markets
Sale & Purchase
21-07-2008
There has been a continued focus this week for larger tankers with the Baltic VLCC index increasing once again and now standing at US$ 159,850 for a 5 year old unit.The ... [more]
Dry Cargo
Capesize
18-07-2008
For the first time in many weeks the Cape market was directionless, closing within USD 1,000 of where it closed last week. The market was ... [more]
Atlantic Panamax
18-07-2008
On the back of a reasonably steady start to the week, the Atlantic market took a noticeable hit which saw the TransAtlantic round voyage ... [more]
Pacific Panamax
18-07-2008
Another quiet week passed by with very little Japanese activity yet again with tonnage certainly outweighing the supply of cargo. Rates ... [more]
Atlantic Handysize
18-07-2008
One of the features of the week was the number of vessel securing short term period fixtures of 3-5 months or 4-6 months mainly from the ... [more]
Pacific Handysize
18-07-2008
The Far East and South East Asia market has been flat this week, despite reasonably healthy levels of activity. It could be that the fixing ... [more]
Tankers
21-07-2008
Oil prices marked steep falls last week as weaker demand data emerged, political pressures with Iran eased and US crude inventories rose. ... [more]
Chemicals
21-07-2008
Americas: USG/Caribs trades have been quite busy with small parcels of VAM, normal olefins, vegoils, oxo-alcohols and sulphuric acid noted. ... [more]
Gas
LNG
18-07-2008
Golar LNG and Bluewater Energy Services have purchased the LNGC "Hoegh Gandria" (123,512cbm, blt 1977), for a reported US$50m. ... [more]
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