Dry bulk FFA market: BDI stays above 2,000 points

By Wednesday, the BDI stood at 2,061, up 2 points day-on-day, but slightly down from Monday’s reading at 2,067.

The slight decline reflected a slow start of Capesize activity in the week, after chalking with much gains seen in the previous week.

Supply glut in the Pacific

Vessels affected by typhoon off China were back to the market this week, and most of them were made available for the September 1-10 period.

Due to the sudden spike in ship supply, the freight rates had dropped as many vessels opened for employment nearly at the same time.

Later, the freight rates started to stabilize after the miners like Rio Tinto and BHP came seeking for vessels out of west coast Australia.

A Day of two halves

The volatile physical market was reflected in the paper market as well, where on Tuesday the Capesize paper market saw a selloff in the morning session, only to have to a flurry of purchases near market closing at the afternoon.

By Wednesday, the Capesize paper market saw more stability as the Capesize 5 Time Charter average recorded at $28,431, down $160 on-day, but down $450 as compared to Monday’s rate at $28,881.

Panamax paper market had a sluggish start as well before stabilizing later in the week. As such, the Panamax Time Charter Average posted $17,309 on Wednesday, up $10 on-day, but down $93 as compared to Monday’s rate at $17,402.