There has not been a great deal of fixing over the past week in the Americas.

Some attribute this to a lack of vessels in the area, but in fact, there have been the usual owners with pretty much an unchanged fleet program. It is simply that the level of contractual demand picked up in a gradual fashion, along with some spot market activity, but not to the extent that it eclipsed tonnage supply.

U.S. Gulf-to-Far East has finally sold out with the last ship filling out on paraxylene and cumene, with rates reported to be in the high $60s/per metric ton for 10,000 tons. The majority of charterers have not much left to ship, but if they were to require December loading, then they might have to pay a substantial premium to entice an outsider on berth. A major is thought to be considering this for 10,000 tons of base oils to Singapore, in combination with 10,000 tons of paraxylene to China.

Transatlantic eastbound is in a similar situation. There is only one vessel left with December space, all else having filled with styrene mainly. Rates are essentially low $50s/t for 5,000 tons from Houston to Rotterdam. A couple of phenol parcels, biodiesel and acetic acid remain, but charterers are already willing to entertain January loading instead.

U.S. Gulf-to-Brazil has been rather quiet this week.

U.S. Gulf-to-Caribbean had a few possibilities, but again, no space remains.

Europe

As with the U.S. market, there has been no great fanfare. Both charterers and owners have finished the year with more or less everything covered.

The European coastal markets have been making steady progress for some time. The past week has seen some freight levels increase, notably on the southbound route into the Mediterranean where space has been tight for a while. Base oils are among the mix of cargoes moving but are mostly in-house company transfers rather than spot sales.

The West Mediterranean is especially tight on space and some charterers have found it necessary to pay a slight increase in order to get ships to ballast in from the East Mediterranean or northern Spain in order to pick up their cargoes. Some base oil activity has been observed in the Black Sea and due to the difficulty in finding vessels to load in the Mediterranean for the U.S., some charterers have been looking at transshipping their base oils via Antwerp-Rotterdam-Amsterdam instead.

Transatlantic space, however, is limited, even from Antwerp-Rotterdam-Amsterdam. There seems to be only one or two scheduled carriers with December space, and they are being wooed with cargoes of benzene, pyrolysis gasoline, paraxylene, sulfuric acid and urea ammonia nitrate. Rates are essentially firm, with 10,000 tons fetching low $50s/t, which is virtually the same rate as for 5,000-ton parcels. Some base oils are still looking at shipping to Mexico as well as into the U.S. Gulf.

Europe-to-Far East is calm. Scheduled ships are largely full, but there are some outsiders which are on berth. Parcels in the amount of 2,000 tons going from Rotterdam to Yangtze have been paying close to $120/t.

Europe-to-India- Middle East Gulf is also fairly busy with parcels of ethanol, aromatics, vegetable oil and acid. There have also been some base oil movements, with 5,000-ton parcels pegged in the mid $80s/t.

Asia

It has been a mixed week on the Asian market. The past week has seen a lot of prompt enquiries on the domestic Asia market, in particular for benzene, toluene and paraxylene into China and Taiwan. Some prompt base oil requirements from Korea are lingering too. Small tonnage is mostly covered in the intra-Far East area, but there are a number of larger ships which still have both northbound and southbound completion space available within December. There have been reports of some higher numbers being paid, as well as reports of southbound base oils and caustic that have been covered at more competitive rates than before.

Asia export markets have seen a number of benzene, caustic, urea ammonia nitrate and biodiesel cargoes being fixed to the U.S. with rates seemingly unchanged.

Asia-to-Europe is also commanding stable rates. Some benzene and cyclohexane has been booked, and there was an unusual requirement for 10,000 tons of paraxylene from Singapore-Antwerp-Rotterdam-Amsterdam.

The Middle East Gulf-to-India region has been fairly busy with owners generally able to find employment and at rate levels that favor the owners. Westbound space is limited, while enquiries include caustic, styrene, methanol, glycols, ethanol, benzene, vinyl acetate monomer and cyclohexane. Eastbound trades are stable. Several ships are coming open end of December and early January but on the face of it, there is ample choice of cargo available.

Palm oil demand seems to be recovering into India but it is still a little calm into China.

Adrian Brown is a senior market analyst for chemicals and base oils with SSY Shipbrokers, London. Information about SSY can be found atwww.ssyonline.com. Adrian Brown, in the U.K., can be reached atfix@ssychems.comor by phone at +44 1207-507507. In the London office SSYs Panos Giannoulis can be reached atfix@ssychems.comor +44 20 7977 7538 and in Singapore Jordi Maymi at +65 6854 7127.