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May 30th 2014 Week 22

HIGHLIGHTS

Capesize: C5 rates

seem to have hit

bottom for now

Panamax: Owners

continue to keep their

vessels idle rather

than accepting current

rates

L&S INDEX OF DRY

BULK STOCKS*

A predictably slow start to the

week. Of the West Australian

majors RTS was marketing a

window 16-20 February, the

level being talked about was

around US$4-4.15/mt. Rates

for West Australia/Qingdao

seemed to hit bottom mid

week, with numbers moving up

at a tick to US$4.30-4.40/mt,

although spot activity in the

Pacific is still slow. Newcastle/

China coal cargoes are being

marketed for first half of March

dates, leaving ships that would

have February ETA waiting. On

a positive note for owners of

modern tonnage there has

been active scrapping of older

150 000 dwt ships that have

been the staple for Newcastle

cargoes. Spot East Coast Aus-

tralia rates are US$4/mt for

Gladstone/Qingdao and US$6/

mt for Newcastle/Zhoushan.

Cargoes for Saldanha Bay/

Qingdao are limited to a LDC

relet currently bidding

US$7.25/mt. Vale came to the

market on Tuesday for a couple

of ships, one was the Houheng

2 ETA Tubarao 28 Feb fixed at

US$10.20/mt for C3.

Week 6

CAPESIZE

-Shipbrokers and consultants since 1919-

Weekly Dry Bulk Report

Although a number of owners

continued to idle vessels ra-

ther than accepting current

levels, rates continued to de-

cline. In the Pacific, Indonesian

coal continued to feature but

rates eased further. A 75 000

dwt vessel was fixed from Indo-

nesia to South China at US$3

500/day plus ballast bonus of

US$35 000. A Kamsarmax was

reported fixed from Singapore

via West Coast Australia to Chi-

na at a rate below US$4 000/

day. In the Atlantic, Transatlan-

tic cargoes remained scarce.

One deal reported was a 75

000 dwt vessel for a trip from

the US Gulf to France with pet

coke at US$9 000/day. From

East Coast South America,

many charterers turned their

attention to fixing basis DOP

Indian Ocean rather than APS.

A 73 000 dwt ship was reported

to have fixed basis delivery

Tuticorin for a trip via East

Coast South America to the

East at US$4 900/day. The peri-

od market was subdued, how-

ever a Kamsarmax type was

taken from the Continent for

10-14 months in direct continu-

ation at US$8 250/day.

PANAMAX

*Basket of stocks for L&S Index includes: Golden Ocean Group Ltd., Western Bulk ASA, Scorpio Bulkers Inc., Paragon Shipping Inc., Baltic

Trading Ltd., Diana Shipping Inc., DryShips Inc., Safe Bulkers Inc., and Star Bulk Carriers Corp.

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Capesize Timecharter Average (TCA)

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Index 2014 Index 2015

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Supramax/Handy:

Rates continue to

decline

-Shipbrokers and consultants since 1919-

In the Pacific, fundamentals con-

tinued to drag down rates from

last week. Rain hampered coal

output from Indonesia and port

congestion was insufficient to

absorb the extra tonnage. Rates

declined throughout the week

and few coal cargoes sought ves-

sels in the Indian Ocean. Coal

from Richards Bay was also quiet.

In the Atlantic, a 57 000 dwt ves-

sel was fixed from US Gulf to the

eastern Mediterranean at ap-

proximately US$10 500/day.

Oldendorff took a 52 000 dwt

with sugar from Santos to Jeddah

at about US$7 000/day.

SUPRAMAX/HANDY

The Baltic Exchange Dry Index Last Week This Week Trend

Weekly Baltic Average BCI (US$/day) 6291 5566 Softening

Weekly Baltic Average BPI (US$/day) 4784 3589 Softening

Weekly Baltic Average BSI (US$/day) 6435 5768 Softening

Weekly Baltic Average BHI (US$/day) 5378 4870 Softening

Weekly BDI Average (US$/day) 659 575 Softening

FFA Last Week This Week Trend

Calendar 16 BCI (US$/day) 12581 12582 Firming

Calendar 16 BPI (US$/day) 8183 8045 Softening

Calendar 16 BSI (US$/day) 8448 8429 Softening

5TC+Q1 (Cape) (US$/day) 9382 9469 Firming

5TC+Q2 (Cape) (US$/day) 11340 11372 Firming

5TC+Q3 (Cape) (US$/day) 15290 15264 Softening

5TC+Q4 (Cape) (US$/day) 9558 9539 Softening

Bunker Prices Last Week This Week Trend

Rotterdam IFO 380 (US$/mt) 246 279 Firming

Rotterdam MGO (US$/mt) 472 515 Firming

Singapore IFO 380 (US$/mt) 283 319 Firming

Singapore MGO (US$/mt) 493 530 Firming

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Iron Ore

-Shipbrokers and consultants since 1919-

Iron Ore: Futures re-

bounded Tuesday

Chinese iron ore futures re-

bounded on Tuesday to

US$77/mt and were on

course for their second big-

gest gain this year. Traders

are saying certain steel mills

have made a surprising re-

turn to market, proving that

ore prices might have hit

bottom. Despite the upcom-

ing Chinese New Year in mid-

February some mills have

started restocking.

One of China’s largest ferrous

commodity traders, Sinosteel

is in the process of merging

three of its units to handle all

raw materials and steel. The

company has previously been

active in the spot trading of

iron ore from India, Australia

and Brazil and has been

mostly absent from the mar-

ket since 2013. Iron ore han-

dled by the company last

year mainly came from its

Channar joint venture with

Rio Tinto in Western Austral-

ia.

Coal

Grain Other Bulks

Coal: China Imports up 30

per cent from December

Corn and wheat futures in the US

climbed 4 per cent on Tuesday as the US

dollar slipped to a two week low, caused

by weak economic data domestically.

Soybeans were also strong, reaching a

three week high. March corn was closing

up 4.3 per cent at US$3.85 a bushel, the

biggest jump in a year. Wheat prices also

ended 4.3 per cent up at US$5.13 a

bushel while March soybean prices

closed 2.9 per cent higher at US$9.87.

After Indonesia’s banning of bauxite ex-

ports in January, Chinese importers are

desperately trying to find alternative

sources of the raw material. Australia has

been pointed out as the most promising

source, and December saw imports rise by

75 per cent. In the second half of 2014 Chi-

na imported 8.9 million tons of bauxite

from Australia.

China imported about 2.2

million metric tons of coal in

January, up 30 per cent from

December 2014. This was the

third month of increasing

coal import from Australia,

despite the imports tax of 6

per cent on coal sourced

from the country. South Ko-

rea saw a 15 per cent in-

crease in import from De-

cember. The increasing im-

ports have made prices rise

to US$54/mt (FOB) from an

average December price of

US$53.17/mt.

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-Shipbrokers and consultants since 1919-

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2013 2014

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-Shipbrokers and consultants since 1919-

Office Address

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China

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United States of America

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