Shipping Report
TANKERS Last week’s firmness of the market in N. Sea seems be coming to an end. Rates of latest fixtures at W/S 145. However, the lack of inquiry would suggest discounted future rates. – Med. seems to be holding, mainly due to Bosphorous delays with modern Aframax units at W/S 125. Tamoil for end-April dates out of Libya has fixed M/T «Iran Amol» at W/S 130. – Caribs at W/S 142.5 for the 70,000 tons of cargo liftings while W. Africa at W/S 72.5 for 130,000 tons of cargo with USAC destination. – In the Med., Tamoil has fixed M/T «Kalymnos» for 80,000 tons of cargo, loading April 25 Libya, discharging UKC / Med. at W/S 110. – In Caribs, Exxonmobil for 70,000 tons of cargo, loading April 26 East Coast Mexico, discharging US Gulf, has fixed M/T «Strimon» at W/S 142.5. – In W. Africa, Valero for 130,000 tons of cargo, loading May 11, discharging US Gulf, has fixed M/T «Genmar Zoe» at W/S 72.5. – In Arabian Gulf, Nippon for 260,000 tons of cargo, loading May 9, discharging Japan, has fixed M/T «Ural» at W/S 28. DRY CARGO Capers market very quiet with Aframax only in the Atlantic keeping present high levels. US Gulf to Japan grain trade route seems to have stabilised at USD 21.25 per ton. There are reports that Cargill has also taken M/V «Espania Garcia» for delivery Rotterdam for a trip out at USD 10,100 daily. – Brazilian market keeps providing grain cargoes, owners of a 37,000 dwt bulker built 1984 stopped trading a timecharter trip to S. Africa for which they were offered USD 7,500 daily plus a BB of USD 50,000. Owners want to see more than USD 8,000 daily and more sophisticated BB. – The Black Sea area remains a two tier-market. The lack of modern 40,000 dwt bulkers in the area is forcing charterers to look for tonnage from even as far as Gibraltar. – Panamax in Far East Daeyang has fixed M/V «K. Fortune,» 70,135 dwt, built 1995, delivery end-April China redelivery S. Korea at USD 6,500 daily. – In Atlantic, Hanjin has fixed M/V «Tai Profit,» 73,100 dwt, built 2001, delivery US Gulf May 7-14, redelivery Japan, at USD 9,500 daily and USD 250,000 ballast bonus. – On smaller sizes, Star has fixed M/V «Alicahue,» 46,570 dwt, built 1998, delivery May 1-7 Thailand, redelivery US Gulf at USD 5,900 daily. – On grain cargoes, WJ Grain, for 55,000 tons of cargo, loading May 3-8 Novorossisk, discharging Jeddah (S. Arabia) has fixed at USD 14.60 per ton with 5,000 tons load and 3,000 tons discharge. Nevertheless, it would be wrong to conclude that this only applies to areas far from the larger towns. Even near Attica, villages are dying out.
