On the 52nd week there is still the trend for a sharp reduction in freight rates in the Azov sea region. During the week, the rates on average dropped by another $ 16, decreasing to the level of USD 30 pmt for a shipment of 3,000 tons of wheat from Azov to the Marmara Sea ports. There is a very large number of spot vessels on the market. At the same time, the economic situation in Turkey remains quite difficult, despite some stabilization of the national currency in the last week. One of the main reasons for the almost complete absence of sales contracts is the incapacity of Turkish grain storage facilities to receive more cargo. Some companies hope to resume activity from the first week of next year, however, due to the New Year holidays, many traders plan to return to work only from the 10th January. Contracts for long-distance destinations are also practically not concluded this week, among other things, in connection with the Christmas holidays in European countries.
In the Caspian region, the number of open vessels continues to increase. Most of the charterers are not planning shipments yet, expecting a decrease in the cost of freight from the beginning of next year.
The cost of shipments from Astrakhan is the same, since the 3k vessels can take only 2400-2500 mts of dot cargo due to temporary water level decrease. Thus, the cost of freight from Astrakhan to Northern Iran ports is USD 48 pmt.
In the Baltic region, there is no strong decrease in freight for shipments from St. Petersburg, since the largest number of ships open in the lower part of the Baltic.
There are significantly more open positions in the fleet with a tonnage of 4500k.
There is a large amount of spot tonnage on the market, which indicates reduced demand this week, as the Christmas holidays have heavily affected the cargo amount in the region.