After a bull run that has lasted since November, rates for shipping to the Far East have been gradually softening. By no means is it totally quiet on this route, and there is a sense that many charterers are deliberately holding off for as long as possible before entering the market in order to keep the downwards momentum going.

Styrene has definitely been missing, but there is a good chance it will return – the question is whether it will be in time for those owners who still have June space. Ethanol is a good alternative, but it requires having the right last-cargo history as well as going to places such as the Philippines, which are not regular ports of call.

Base oils have not been apparent, and instead there are cargoes of methanol, ethylene dichloride, phenol and acrylonitrile to assist in filling ships. Rates for 5,000-ton parcels from Houston to China are between $74 and $78 per metric ton.

The transatlantic eastbound picture is somewhat confused. On the face of it, there are several ships that have pockets of prompt space, and there are a couple of outsiders that do not necessarily have all the approvals needed, but which are interested on coming on berth.

This has had the effect of causing rates to slide, with 3,000-ton parcels workable at $57/t-$58/t. Yet there is still a considerable amount of material looking to move to Europe and should these enquiries not match the dates of the ships that still have space, there is a possibility that levels could hit the mid $60s/t instead.

Styrene has faded, but there are cargos of methanol, caustic, phenol, glycol, biodiesel, cyclohexane, acrylonitrile, nonene, orthoxylene and vinyl acetate monomer. Base oils only feature on this route as internal transfers.

Over the past couple of weeks there have been sporadic attempts to ship parcels of around 3,000-4,000 tons of base oils to India. There have also been opportunities to move ethylene dichloride and ethanol, but demand for all these grades appears to have been quelled over the past week. Rates are still in the low- to mid $80s/t for 5,000-ton parcels to Kandla or Mumbai, but these numbers may come off a bit unless fresh enquiry is forthcoming.

Little scheduled space to the Caribbean remains for the rest of June, which translates into unchanged freight rates at the moment. An amount of 1,500 tons of base oils was booked from Houston to Rio Haina for early July, and 3,000 tons of base oils are understood to have been fixed from Houston to Cartagena, Colombia, for end-of-June shipment. Some small parcels of base oils have been noted into Mexico, too.

Freight rates continue to go down on the route into Brazil and Argentina, with plenty of vessels around for June and July. Chemicals demand is limited to the occasional caustic parcel, or glycol or acetone. A small cargo of base oils has been booked into Rio, with levels of around $105/t claimed.

Europe

After a couple of weeks of rather dull and uninspiring demand, there has been a touch more new business quoted around the North Sea and the Baltic, which has seen the number of prompt idle ships gradually thin out. Rates, however, are still very competitive as owners want to build up as much of a forwards schedule as possible, knowing that summer can produce lean times.

Chemical demand has been below average for the time of year, but clean petroleum has been especially busy, while base oil activity has been moderate. Widespread industrial action in France continues, but the major strikes at the refineries and ports have almost come to an end, which should see more product flowing.

Southbound demand remains lackluster in general. Some base oils have been looking to move, including material from the Baltic to North Africa. Space is freely available in June and rates are soft.

Northbound traffic has been relatively slow this week. Large cargoes of FAME have not been moving for several weeks and owners have been snapping up what alternative bits there have been, such as caustic, ethanol, styrene, pyrolysis gasoline, toluene, wax and a few base oil shipments. Rates remain competitive.

Strikes in France have disrupted the usual pattern of trade in the Mediterranean, with alternative supplies being needed for some products while others have not seen any demand at all. FAME is especially slow, which has meant that most regular owners have had space to offer on all other cargo possibilities. Fortunately for owners, Morocco continues to buy in much of its oil needs, including base oils, and this gives work to a small flotilla of vessels.

Base oils have been reasonably active throughout the Mediterranean, although not so much material has been detected moving out of the Black Sea to Mediterranean destinations. Owners have become more aggressive in chasing down cargoes and are usually more willing to offer rates closer to charterers ideas.

Transatlantic trade has been extremely quiet on the westbound route. Paraxylene has been attempted from the Mediterranean, Baltic and Antwerp-Rotterdam-Amsterdam, but traders have had difficulty in finalizing sales into the U.S. and have looked to place the material in other areas such as Brazil, Mexico or India.

MTBE in the amount of 21,000 tons from Antwerp-Rotterdam-Amsterdam to the U.S. Gulf was being worked in the low $20s/t, compared to the mid $20s/t for the previous lifting a couple of weeks back.

There is not much evidence of base oil activity in this direction. Rates are down into the mid $30s/t for 5,000-ton cargoes.

Europe-to-Far East demand has been very poor again, and it is really only base oils that are quoted on a fairly regular basis. Just about all the other usual grades have disappeared, and owners with June space are becoming nervous. It should be possible to fix 5,000-ton cargoes from Antwerp-Rotterdam-Amsterdam to Singapore for mid $70s/t, or even a touch lower.

There is quite a long list of requirements quoted to India and the Middle East Gulf, but because there are so few exports to other areas, there is also quite a long list of owners interested in sending their ships to the Indian Ocean. Moreover, there are a couple of 10,000-ton slugs of ethylene dichloride to India which could easily pull in outsider tonnage and which would then have fairly competitive rates. Some of the smaller parcels in the 3,000-tons range are talking levels in the low $90s/t to Mumbai or Kandla, whereas the 10,000-ton lots are expected to go as low as $72/t-$73/t.

Asia

Despite public holidays in China at the end of last week, things have been slightly busier on the routes from Korea and Japan into China and Taiwan. Some larger lots of aromatics have been noted, and base oils also displayed some activity. Rates have nudged upwards for 3,000-ton parcels from Ulsan to mid China, into the $24/t-$26/t region.

Southbound, however, has been very poor, with numbers on some of the caustic shipments from China to Southeast Asia talked in the $19/t-$21/t region.

Northbound is stable but could be given a boost once the idled Jurong Aromatics complex restarts production.

Better demand has been recorded on the inter-Southeast Asia routes, particularly for July.

Export benzene has been fixing steadily from Japan and Korea into the U.S. Gulf. Rates are essentially unchanged at $40/t-$42/t. A few more chemicals parcels have been detected from Asia to Europe, although the majority of parcels are between 1,000 and 2,000 tons. Rates here are also unchanged – expect to pay $135/t-$155/t for parcels between 1,000 and 1,500 tons from Korea to Turkey. Some traders have been looking at base oils in this volume. There are bits and pieces of space from Korea into the Middle East Gulf/India area through the end of June and these rates will probably be in the $49/t-$52/t region for 4,000- to 5,000-ton cargoes.

In itself, demand to India and the Middle East Gulf is relatively good, with quite a few cargoes quoted both eastbound and westbound, but thanks to the oversupply of ships locally, rates are depressed. A couple of base oil shipments have taken place from Ruwais, United Arab Emirates, to India, whereas there have only been a couple of recent movements out of Iran to India. Rates are understood to be in the $21/t-$23/t region from Ruwais.