Chartering market at hand // week 16

摘要

After several weeks of a gradual slackening, the small-tonnage shipping market has finally stabilized, and even perked up slightly on April 19 forward. This is particularly true for the Black Sea region where brisker grain shipments from Ukraine, Bulgaria and Romania to the Mediterranean area (in particular, to Italy) allowed owners to achieve a $0.5/t growth of corresponding freight rates. As before, however, demand for tonnage in the Black Sea ports is mainly fed by strong offer of steel products, while owners in the Mediterranean Sea are supported by fertilizers, minerals and steel scrap in addition to steel products.