In general activity was still seen but in a more measured way, as charterers took a step back, due to the UK holiday on Monday to see if they could ease the firm trend.
For now they have managed to slow things down and shave a couple of points off the rates, Fearnleys said in its weekly report.
Owners’ optimism for the next couple of months has not changed and this slowdown is merely seen as a ‘pit-stop’ before activity starts up again.
In the MEG, we are not even at the half-way-mark for the month, whilst the Brazilians are steadily coming into the market for Brazil/East cargoes. Activity in West Africa and US Gulf remains slow but is also expected to see increased activity.
Moving on to the Suezmax market, this segment was still going strong, despite less activity thus far this week. Monday’s UK bank holiday explained some of the fall off, but charterers were also doing their best to hold back to kill the momentum.
This could backfire as Fearnleys said it believed the activity will be strong for the rest of the week, with WS70 already being agreed for a West Africa/UK-Cont trip.
In the East, we saw the same situation as last week - decent activity with the 30-day count being lower than normal, which pointed towards a better market for owners going forward.
Meanwhile, the North Sea and Baltic Aframax market moved sideways during the past week again as rate levels ex Baltic (TD17) stood steady at WS55.
Although we have seen a small rush of cargoes coming into the market in the last couple of days, it has not been enough to satisfy the available tonnage in the area, and therefore rate levels did not pick up.
However, the cargo programme ex Baltic looks healthier for the second half of September and it will be interesting to see if the market finally moves during the week to come.
In the Mediterranean and Black Sea, we saw an upward correction this week with benchmark routes (cross-Med and Black Sea/Med) picking up around 10 points over the past seven days.
TD19 currently stands at WS85 and there are still cargoes in the market yet to be fixed. It is expected that this market will stay firm in the week to come, Fearnleys concluded.
In the period market, Alibra Shipping said that rates moved more or less sideways. However, the clean segment was fairly active this week, particularly for MRs.
In the MR segment, the average12-month charter rate is estimated at $14,375 per day.
Oil prices rose mid-week, as industry data indicated a fall in US crude inventories, easing demand concerns, due to the US/China trade spat, Alibra concluded.
Elsewhere, it has been reported that Klaveness Combination Carriers (KCC) has instigated a wet/dry cargo switch, the first for one of its new CLEANBU combination carriers.
The company’s 83,600 dwt ‘Baru’, made the switch. She transported a full cargo of petroleum products (CPP) from India to Argentina. After discharging,she completed cleaning and conversion from tanker mode (as an LR1) to drybulk mode (as a Kamsarmax), loaded a grain cargo and is now sailing back to Asia.
KCC claimed that the vessel passed all the strict cleaning inspections from the grain cargo surveyors prior to its loading. The cleaning result was available for digital inspection on the Klaveness and DNV-GL Veracity created inspection platform for the first time, the company said.
In the charter market, brokers reported that Koch fixed the 2016-built VLCC ‘Desirade’ for 12 months at $37,500 per day and the 2019-delivered Aframax ‘Arizona Lady’ for 15 months at $22,000 per day.
NORDEN’s 2015-built MR sisters ‘Nord Sustainable’ and ‘Nord Superior’ were said to be fixed for three years each to Union Maritime and Trafigura at a rate reported to be $17,950 per day.
In the S&P sector, Hellenic Tankers was thought to have splashed out $28 mill for the 2004-built VLCC ‘Oriental Jade’.
TORM was believed to have sold the 2016-built MR sisters, ‘Torm Torino’ and ‘Torm Titan’ to a leasing company for $26 mill each on the basis of a five year timecharter back plus purchase options.
Centrofin was also said to have picked up the 2009-built MR ‘FPMC 19’ for about $11.25 mill.
Okeanis Eco Tankers has taken delivery of the fifth in a series of eight VLCCs from Hyundai Heavy Industries.
The ‘Nissos Donoussa’ has already commenced trading on the spot market.
Swedish shipping company Thun Tankers has placed an order for a 4,250 dwt product tanker at the Dutch Ferus Smit shipyard.
Scheduled for delivery in October, 2020, the ship will enter into a long term agreement with the UK-based Geos Group.
The small vessel will feature a ‘Not Always Afloat But Safely Aground’ (NAABSA) design.
“We have identified the demand for improved niche size tankers with increased performance and cargo capacity. This NAABSA-Max tanker will be built to the absolutely latest design, enabling Geos Group and their clients’ access to the most efficient transport solution available in this size of shipments,” Joakim Lund, CCO of Thun Tankers claimed.
“The NAABSA vessel being built by Thun Tankers for our own requirements will help strengthen our Northwest Europe physical market position. The new vessel will allow us to focus on enhancing our position … in our market by bringing in additional ship-to-ship capability, as well as the option of supplying more niche ports,” Barry Newton, Geos Group managing director, said.