At 36th week, the situation on the freight market continues to improve.
In the Azov region, freight rates continue their rapid growth. Shipowners are considering cargo already from the level of USD 22 PMT for a 3000 wheat shipment from Azov to Marmara sea port. The freight for shipments from the river ports of Russia is growing even more actively, as the lack of run flag fleet allows shipowners to ask for higher rates. Despite the increase in freight rates and the number of shipments, a significant number of market participants still state the fact of strong price discrepancies with buyers and the impossibility of concluding beneficial deals for both parties.
It is also worth noting not only the growth of grain shipments, but the demand for tonnage for coal shipments from the ports of the Azov-Black Sea region to Romania, Egypt and China.
In the Caspian region, there are not a lot of shipments. There is a slight increase in requests for grain shipments to the NIP, but it is still quite small and freight rates remain at the same level, USD 21 for the corn shipment from Astrakhan to Iran. The growth of demand for tonnage for cabotage shipments from the ports of Ulyanovsk, Samara, Saratov and Kamyshin continues. The main cargo flow goes to the port of Kavkaz, as well as to Astrakhan. However, in cabotage shipments, the issue of shortage of the fleet is acute, since most of the vessels are closed until mid or even the end of September.
In the Baltic region, there is also an improvement in the freight market for both short sea and deep sea market. There is an increase in coal shipments to Europe ports and grain from Poland. However, due to the fact that previously a significant part of the fleet left the Baltic region, without expecting an improvement in the market, there were quite few vessels left, which led to an increase in rates on the coasters market. Many charterers expect that by the end of September there will be another drop in cargo flow and prefer to schedule their shipments for this period, when there will be more open fleet and rates will become more profitable for them again.
Unfortunately, the deep sea market in the Black and Mediterranean Seas doesn’t show such positive dynamics. Despite the fact that the new harvest is already actively being sent, many companies are not ready to buy grain from the Russian Federation even on the FOB basis due to the very high purchase price, as well as high freight rates for handy / supra / ultramax vessels.