There are a couple of additional vessels that may or may not enter this service, and we know of a couple of ships that are being quietly marketed, but those operators are asking far in excess of the $55 to $60/t that was being concluded at the end of last week for 5,000 ton cargoes from Houston to Rotterdam. We suspect that many parcels will be deferred to February when there is a wider choice of tonnage available.

U.S. Gulf-to-east coast South America has also been tight on space, and levels have nudged upwards again, with a largish cargo of base oils being worked from the Gulf to Brazil for around $60/t. Elsewhere, it has been a bit quieter with no major changes seen in the Caribbean.

Freights on the U.S. Gulf-to-Far East routes have declined as demand has waned. Owners remain bullish in general on this route, which means that for a 5,000 ton cargo from the Gulf to Far East main ports a level of mid-to-high $50s/t may work for one position, but another owner may want high $70s/t for the same cargo. Unless volumes do improve, which seems unlikely this side of the Lunar New Year in China, freights may gradually settle lower as we go into February.

Europe
Business has been a bit thin on most European coastal routes. The Mediterranean has been particularly slow and open tonnage is plentiful. It is probably only the high cost of bunkers that is stopping the rates from sliding further.

Northbound from the Mediterranean is slack too, although southbound can at least muster some cargoes such as MTBE, base oil, benzene, caustic and acrylonitrile.

Rates are steady in the North Sea and Baltic regions, where sustained contractual work, bad weather and industrial action have ensured a fairly tight space situation.

Deep-sea business is perhaps busier from Europe. It is not exactly buzzing, but ships are getting fixed away. Transatlantic westbound offers little joy, though more cargoes have been seen than in the previous week, such as caustic and sulphuric acid. Business to South America has been more active too. Again, base oils feature, along with methanol, styrene, caustic and alkylate.

Europe-to-Far East remains tight on January space, and freights have strengthened further. Some of the numbers heard have been extremely high, such as base oils from the Mediterranean to China in the low $90s/t, but for scheduled ports such as Rotterdam to Ulsan, levels are in the upper $70s/t for 5,000 ton cargoes.

Europe-to-India too has seen freights lift slightly. From Rotterdam to Mumbai, 5,000 ton lots are probably in the mid $60s/t now.

Asia
Demand has fallen across the majority of Asian domestic routes, knocking a couple of U.S. dollars from freights. For instance 3,000 ton parcels from Singapore to Shanghai are now seeing figures in the low $30s/t instead of mid $30s/t. Similar reductions have been seen across all of the Far East.

Export business however is reasonably solid, and no changes have occurred on these services. Benzene still pops up periodically, as do sulphuric acid and slack wax. Palm oil exports are fairly robust to places like Africa and the Mediterranean, although Indian demand may be flattening.

Cargo volumes are up again out of India and the Middle East Gulf. Westbound sees an increased amount of caustic, benzene, sulphuric acid, methanol, MTBE and canola oil. Eastbound is busier with methanol and styrene in particular, with paraxylene, orthoxylene, MTBE and glycols adding extra bulk.

Adrian Brown is senior market analyst for chemicals and base oils with SSY Shipbrokers, London. Information about SSY can be found at www.ssyonline.com. Adrian Brown, in the U.K., can be reached directly at research@ssy.co.uk or by phone at +44 1207-507507. In the U.S., SSYs Steve Rosenthal can be reached at fix@ssychems.com or +1 203-961-1566.