Coal news and updates

Capesize: period interest remained strong for a second week-Intermodal

Following those depressive last six months, the BDI closed off on last Friday noting a substantial weekly increase, which pushed the index back to levels last visited at the end of 2014, says, Intermodal in its latest weekly report. Led mainly by the impressive jump in rates for the bigger size segments, market sentiment has further improved, with gains noted across the board. The broker further noted that, at the same time, period activity also increased further, with owners benefitting from the improved levels offered by charterers and the latter looking to fix longer contracts ahead of a possible additional market improvement in the following weeks.

Commenting on Capesize, the Greece based broker said that, the Capesize segment proved to be the strongest link last week on the back of substantially improved enquiry across both basins, while period interest remained strong for a second week in a row with numbers reported being at levels well off last dones. The average rate for the segment was today (22 June 2015) reported by the Baltic at $ 9,134/day, which is a 140% increase from the low of $3,793/day noted back in March and which certainly gives some much needed confidence to Cape owners.

Broker also noted that, charterers in the Atlantic made a great effort to keep rates for Panamaxes at levels favourable to themselves, but improved sentiment across the market allowed overall stable numbers with some increases noted positionally, while the Pacific Panamax was admittedly more active compared to what we have been used to in the past months.

Activity for the geared sizes once more concentrated in the North Atlantic, while things in the Continent finally improved in terms of both enquiry and earnings following a few very disappointing weeks, said Intermodal.

source: http://www.coalspot.com