Coaster segment softened in North Europe

摘要

During the holiday period, owners operating in the Baltic & Continent have been more readily making concessions to charterers,agreeing to rates below the booming Dec levels. The pace of cargo traffic is slowly recovering in early Jan. Official holidays will continuein Russia until Jan 11, which also affects activity in the basin. Charterers continue pushing rates down, but owners try to keep levels high.Over 2 weeks, most rates have dropped by about €1-3/t. Players report that the tonnage list is already looking a bit more promising tocharterers. At the same time, charterers report some difficulties finding tonnage for shipments ex Gulf of Finland ports. Despite the factthat ice restrictions are not yet in effect, many owners of fleet without an ice class are no longer ready to work from this part of the basin,which slightly limits the tonnage supply in the area.