Transatlantic eastbound is perhaps the next busiest route, though with a large handful of fully open vessels in the U.S. Gulf it is perhaps not best described as busy. It is just that there is some movement, compared to the other routes such as U.S. Gulf-to-Caribbean or U.S. Gulf-to-Brazil that are totally calm.

Ethanol is undoubtedly the main product moving to Europe and responsible for filling a number of prompt ships. There is also ethanol quoted to Brazil and Nigeria for instance, and perhaps some base oils are going into the Mediterranean. Rates from U.S. Gulf to Rotterdam are flat at around $50/t for 5,000-ton quantities.

Europe
Business within Europe is just a little bit thinner over the past week, and a few more prompt open positions have popped up. Here and there, rates have gone down by a dollar or so, but on the whole they are bumping along with no real change.

The Mediterranean is not quite as busy as before, chiefly because of fewer vegetable oil quotations, although base oil demand into Turkey has picked up with greater interest being seen to move cargoes from the Baltic, Northwest Europe and the Black Sea. Transatlantic westbound is very slow. Urea ammonia nitrate is perhaps one of the most consistent cargoes these days, demand for aromatics and caustic having waned. Rates are notionally around $35/t for 5,000 ton parcels basis owners berth on ships from Rotterdam to Houston. Mediterranean-to-U.S. Gulf is equally slow.

Europe-to-Far East has not seen much action over the course of the past week. A few aromatics parcels have been noted, along with the occasional base oil order. However, it may be that Chinas appetite for gasoline blendstocks is about to restart, with reports of 37,000 tons fixed from Europe to China at just over $50/t.

Asia
Domestic Asian markets are steady. Aromatics dominate the intra-Far East trade, along with styrene and some caustic. Rates appear steady across most of the regional routes. Export business continues to thrive however, with a high percentage of the fleet involved in palm oil shipments, whether to China, India or to Europe and the Americas. Space is therefore hard to secure for other parcels such as sulfuric acid, caustic, molasses, biodiesel and base oil. Parcel-tankers occasionally have a spare tank from the Korea-to-Taiwan area, with rates anywhere from $85 to $100/t for 5,000 ton parcels.

It is trickier from Southeast Asia, especially if an unscheduled port is involved, which could see rates easily add a further $20 to $30/t. There has not been that much new business recorded in the Middle East Gulf-to-India market for a second successive week. Ramadan will be partly responsible, and there have been local holidays in India and Pakistan too.

The audacious hijacking of a chemical tanker anchored off Salalah, a major port in Oman has caused a lot of nervousness in the region. It would appear the monsoons in the Indian Ocean have forced the pirates to operate closer to the shore, but few were expecting them to take a ship within the territorial waters of a busy port.

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 at fix@ssychems.com or by phone at +44 1207-507507. In the London office SSYs Jordi Maymi can be reached at fix@ssychems.com or +44 20 7977 7560.