On the 53th week in the Azov sea region the freight rate for 3k wheat shipment from Azov to Marmara sea ports has established on the USD 25 level.
Against the backdrop of a significant gap between producer prices and buyers’ offers, as well as Christmas holiday is coming up, the number of new contracts has decreased significantly. Thus, freight rates are expected to decrease in the beginning of 2021.
Some traders have become more involved in trade of such crops as wheat bran pellets and safflower to avoid all possible problems with wheat export which can arrise at the moment
Most of the current shipments from Azov sea ports are to Turkish ports, but a small number of them are to Spain, Italy and Israel. The freight rates for main directions remain on the previous week level
In the Baltic region, there has been a slight activity decline on the short sea market. The main part of the charterers had time to ship cargo before the New Year’s Eve. The resumption of shipments by European charterers is planned for next week, while Russian companies are likely to become active only after January,10.
Due to the sharp drop in the demand for tonnage in the Baltic Sea ports, a lot of fleet is in a spot position now, which has led to a drop in freight rates of EUR 1-1,5 per main directions. This situation may help charterers who have not been able to close their cargo in time to do so at a better rate.
On the final week of 2020, in the Black, Mediterranean and Baltic Sea region, shipowners split into two camps. Some owners are keen to fix their fleet as soon as possible on January dates and take no risks (as market behavior is unpredictable). Others prefer to wait until spot dates, expecting the market to be on the shipowners side and the freight rates will go up. This mainly concerns mini-bulk vessels.
On the deep sea market, shipowners, due to the drop in the time-charter equivalent of Panamax vessels in the Pacific, prefer to leave their fleet in the Atlantic, looking for more profitable cargo. In other areas, this week’s freight rates have remained unchanged.