Dry Bulk FFA market: BDI soars to a five-year high

On Wednesday, the BDI hit 2,267 points, up 2.44% on-day and witnessed the Capesize 5 time charter average at $32,182, up $1,066 on-day.

Strong Physical Capesize Market

Market participants were enthused by miners and traders’ enquiries and seeking of Capesize vessels.

For instance, Cargill was heard to be seeking for vessels out of the West Coast of Australia during the week.

In the meantime, Brazil’s Vale had taken lots of ships in market and prompted higher support of freight rates for the Brazil-to-China route.

Even the South Africa market benefited from the bullish Atlantic market as well, with Anglo American came seeking for a Capesize vessel from Saldanha Bay to Qingdao for Sep 12-16 laycan.

Panamax receives good support from Cape’s rally

Panamax paper market was pushed to high levels during the week, thanks to strong support from the Capesize market.

Initially, the Panamax FFA market experienced a slow start to the week due to the absence of trade participants from UK Bank holiday on Monday.

Later, the Panamax market began to gain momentum and by Wednesday, the Panamax time charter average recorded $17,897, up $137 on-day, driven by the Cape-led rally in the morning session before heading lower in the afternoon session.

Meanwhile, some gains were seen in the smaller vessels as well with the Supramax time charter average recorded at $14,768 on Wednesday, up $261 on-day, while Handysize time charter average posted at $9,393, up $143 on-day.