Cement News tagged under: Freight Markets

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Easter makes for quiet markets

23 April 2012, Published under Cement News

With most of Europe away for the Easter holidays, the freight markets were in for a quiet week. The Baltic Dry Index gained 18 points WoW, reaching 944 on 11 April and in the run-up to 17 April, it climbed to its highest level since January, rising to 989. "While we continue to expect dry bulk rate volatility, we continue to expect the oversupply of tonnage to keep rates in check through the majority of 2012," Wells Fargo senior analyst Michael Webber said in a note.    The improved demand...

Smaller vessels lead recovery

05 April 2012, Published under Cement News

Although low rates were persisting in the capesize market, higher rates for smaller vessels and an improving Atlantic basin environment pushed up the Baltic Exchange’s main sea freight index by six points or 0.67% to 908 on Friday, 23 March and further to 922 points by Wednesday, 28 March. "The BDI has been slowly climbing higher over the past two months, but even 2000 points seems like a mountainous journey given that it took 35 trading days to go from 650 points to 900," Arctic Securities ...

Freight market remains subdued

28 February 2012, Published under Cement News

After hitting a 25-year low of 647 on 3 February, the Baltic Dry Index (BDI) slowly recovered somewhat but in the past week or so the index has been bumping along the bottom. On 22 February 2012, the Baltic Dry Index (BDI) fell to 704 from 731 a week earlier on the back of sharply lower panamax rates. This year to date, the BDI is down 59% and lower global steel production and a bearish outlook for Chinese coal did little to improve the index over the past week. The Baltic Panamax Index (...

Freight market remains subdued

28 February 2012, Published under Cement News

After hitting a 25-year low of 647 on 3 February, the Baltic Dry Index (BDI) slowly recovered somewhat but in the past week or so the index has been bumping along the bottom. On 22 February 2012, the Baltic Dry Index (BDI) fell to 704 from 731 a week earlier on the back of sharply lower panamax rates. This year to date, the BDI is down 59% and lower global steel production and a bearish outlook for Chinese coal did little to improve the index over the past week. The Baltic Panamax Index (...

Ethiopia to sign port agreement with Djibouti to aid coal imports

25 October 2011, Published under Cement News

Ethiopia is to sign an agreement with Djibouti next month for the use of its port to import coal that the Ethiopian Petroleum Enterprise (EPE) intends direct to cement plants. EPE has been seeking to replace the heavy furnace oil currently in use. The initial plan to use petcoke was unsuccessful due to supply and cost issues. As a result, the search continued and 6300kcal South African coal has been deemed suitable for cement works. The imported coal will cost US$207.30/t, according to a d...

Markets drift downwards in July’s seasonal lull

31 July 2011, Published under Cement News

A generally downward trend in rates for much of July throughout all sizes with the Bulk Dry Index being particularly affected by rate declines in the larger Capesize units  – reportedly due to a general lack of cargo availability on the main routes. The increasing availability of Panamax tonnage in the Atlantic basin has been a feature of late-July with a number of ballasters arriving from the Pacific hopeful of picking up cargoes but in reality pushing down rate expectations, while at the ...

Steady gains in larger sizes: mixed signals at lower end??

05 June 2011, Published under Cement News

In the news late-May, the OECD released a new report confirming strong expansion in world steel markets and forecasting 6% growth for both 2011 and 2012. World steel output growth slowed in the second half of 2010 but, on the back of Chinese demand, rose nearly 10% in the first quarter of 2011 QoQ. However Chinese growth is expected to fall to around 5% in 2011 and again in 2012 report analysts at shipbrokers Barry Rogliano. Overall the world economy had seen strong recovery in automotive ma...

Easter break brings little respite for owners

27 April 2011, Published under Cement News

The Easter break has had an impact on market rates with the Baltic Dry Index (BDI) down again to 1250 points by Tuesday 26 April. The Panamax segment once again suffered the bulk of the losses and over the course of the last week the Baltic Panamax Index eased by an equivalent US$1000 in all basins which represented a significant loss of around 10% on prevailing market levels. A lack of cargoes worldwide is seen as the main culprit with a large number of vessels looking for spot business re...

Dry bulk markets improve against backdrop of Middle East conflicts

05 March 2011, Published under Cement News

With markets understandably rather unpredictable as a result of the continuing Middle East troubles, shipowners will be cheered by the upward swing in rates for all dry bulk sectors over recent days. In fact, the Bulk Dry Index has moved up by about eight per cent over the last week as charterers have rushed to fix tonnage over the coming month. Stronger demand out of South America lifted the smaller sizes, while better transatlantic demand pushed Cape rates up. In the iron ore segment, a sh...

Let’s hope for a better 2011 but...??

25 January 2011, Published under Cement News

The past month has been characterised by falling rates in most sectors, the only bright spot being a slight resurgence in the Supramex sectors over the past week, but apart from that note of optimism markets have generally been affected by weather-related problems while longer-term worries centre around the continual drip-feeding of new bulk tonnage from the major yards. Taking a moment to review the past year, the Baltic Dry Index BDI has fallen by an alarming 57 per cent in 12 months wit...