On the 41st week in the Azov sea region the decline in freight rates continues. The rather high activity of the market, which was observed in August-September, it’s tailing off. On this week charterers are already offering USD 18-19 for the 3k wheat shipment from Azov to Marmara sea ports.
The rise in prices on the domestic market and the growth of the dollar against the lira significantly reduced the purchasing power of the Turkish side. It has led to a significant decrease in the amount of cargo in this region and in freight rates.
Shipments of sunflower seeds from the ports of the Azov Sea to Bulgaria are actively carried out, which brings more attractive freight levels to some shipowners.
Russian river market is still highly active. Grain cargo is actively sent from the ports of Samara, Saratov, Kazan to the port Kavkaz. Due to very high demand, rates continue to rise and the level of freight from Samara to the Kavkaz this week has already reached USD 40 pmt.
Caspian Sea region still shows no improvement. The collapse of the currency in Iran does not allow the Iranian side to buy grain, so there are practically no shipments. More active trading is on Turkmenbashi – Black/Marmara sea direction. A lot of fertilisers cargo are send by river vessels. Freight rates remain at the level of the previous week.
On the 41st week in the Baltic region, freight rates began to grow actively. This is due to the appearance of more cargoes on the market, as well as the resumption of contract shipments. Many shipowners are also not eager to send their vessels to the continent, as they are kept by regular shipments and a growing market gives them a chance to make good profits.
On the deep sea market in the Mediterranean / Black and Red Seas, shipowners have quite different attitudes.
Some are in no hurry to go further than Gibraltar, and prefer to take grain cargoes from the Black Sea region.
At the same time, some shipowners prefer to consider cargo to the Persian Gulf region, as there is a fairly large number of cargo, with a good freight level.
It is also worth noting that amid the fact that the Time charter equivalent for Capesize vessels increased by 11%, many Handy / Supra / Panamax shipowners sent their vessels to the Baltic and the Continent regions, hoping for better freight rates. Their actions are also justified by the fact that over the last 1,5 weeks the Baltic dry index has only a positive growth.