2003 'One of The worst Years We Have Had'

摘要

Of course it depends on your business. The headline comes from the Falmouth Harbour Master's report that complains, "this has been probably one of the worst years that we have had with only three laid up vessels during the year. There really does not appear to be any rhyme or reason to why we have this reduction". But there is every rhyme and reason. 2003 was a truly great year for shipping. The markets (see table) performed better than could have been hoped for a year ago. Bulkers were the stars with earnings more than double the previous year. The Capesize progression was remarkable. From 10,000 dollars/day in September 2002, they reached 25,000 dollars /day in January 2003, 35,000 dollars /day in July and 80,000 dollars /day in September. The year average was 41,265 dollars /day, compared with 13,382 dollars /day in 2002, so the extreme rates were mainly earned in the last quarter. Of course this reflects the mad dash for iron ore by the Chinese which started early in the year, and was then reinforced by port congestion and increasing ton-miles.