The U.S. market is not quite as over-tonnaged as it used to be, which has allowed rates to stabilise, but it is still fairly slow across most trade lanes. European markets are unchanged for the most part. Asia continues to flourish both domestically as well as on the export market.
U.S. Gulf of Mexico
Activity in the Gulf to Caribbean market is slow, both for chemicals as well as in clean petroleum. Space is a touch tighter, but has little impact on freight rates. The Gulf to the East Coast of South America is flat. There is some prompt space that requires some final finishing touches. Other than that, it is mostly contractual volumes moving into Brazil and Argentina.
Transatlantic eastbound is busier. Plant shutdowns in Europe have stimulated demand for benzene and styrene and several shipments have been confirmed. Paraxylene and mixed xylenes have also been seen, with one cargo of 17,000 ton mixed xylenes being booked from the Gulf to Antwerp-Rotterdam-Amsterdam in the low $30s/t. With ethanol and biodiesel still present, rates are seen to be increasing, and 5,000 ton parcels from Houston to Antwerp-Rotterdam-Amsterdam are being talked into the high $40s/t, though in some instances, rates in the $50s and into low $60s/t have been done for date-specific cargoes.
Rates on the Gulf to Far East run are stable for now. There has not been a huge amount of spot activity, aside from some specialised chemical parcels. The Gulf Coast to India and the Middle East Gulf is slow, and there is still some prompt space available. Rates are soft and levels being talked are sub $80/t for 10,000 ton cargoes from Houston to the West Coast of India.
Europe
It has been a poorer week for intra-North and Baltic seas cargoes, with only around half the number of enquiries quoted during this week as there were during the previous week. Prompt tonnage is fairly well employed, but without an influx of new business the fleet may struggle to remain fixed ahead.
Southbound into the Mediterranean remains strong with a wide selection of chemicals, biodiesel and base oils seen around.
Northbound is steady and rates are unchanged. The intra-Mediterranean routes have been quiet in places and a bit more space has opened up in the West Mediterranean. The Black Sea and East Mediterranean has bucked the trend and more business has been quoted, such as vegetable oil, acetic acid, methanol, ethanol and caustic, but not in enough volume to alter base oil freights out of the region.
Transatlantic westbound is a touch busier with cargoes such as caustic, sulphuric acid, pyrolosis gas and urea ammonia nitrate. There is some base oils traffic to Mexico at the moment.
Europe to the Far East is steady. September space remains tight, but demand is muted and there is no upwards pressure on rates.
Europe to India and the Middle East Gulf is slow, and phosphoric acid is the main commodity quoted.
Asia
Domestic Asia markets remain busy.
Intra-Far East is producing a lot of benzene/toluene/xylene, styrene, glycols, ethanol, MTBE and some base oils. Rates are firm as space is very tight for the remainder of September.
Southbound is also fairly busy and little space remains for the balance of the month. Northbound is steady and rates are unchanged.
Intra-South East Asia is tight on a prompt basis but there is a bit of space opening up later in the month and into early October, especially from Indonesia-Malaysia back towards Spore.
Asia export business has picked up further. Palm oils are taking out a substantial amount of space, the rates for which have increased into the $80s/t for 15,000 to 20,000 ton cargoes from the Malacca Straits to the Black Sea. Chemical business too is more varied. Again, because of the high product prices in Europe, arbitrages have opened up for products such as styrene, paraxylene and benzene. In addition, there are cargoes such as wax, sulphuric acid, phosphoric acid, reformate and MTBE looking to ship to the Americas.
The India and Middle East Gulf region is active into Asia. Typical cargoes include methanol, MTBE, paraxylene, orthoxylene, styrene and ethanol. Bits and pieces of space remain for September and it should be possible to fix 5,000 ton cargoes from the Middle East Gulf to South East Asia for around $40/t. Westbound is not that busy, but ships are gradually filling. Numbers for 5,000 ton lots from the Middle East Gulf to Eastern Mediterranean range in the $65-70/t region.
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.