With September space fully covered into the Far East, traders have been working their way through Octobers list of ships, which is steadily getting smaller as more cargoes are fixed. Owners and charterers alike seem quite happy at fixing at unchanged levels, namely $54-56 per metric ton for 5,000 tons to Korea for example. Ethylene dichloride, ethanol, styrene and phenol seem to be the current hot favorites.

Demand is still rather patchy along the transatlantic route. Styrene came and went, came back for another push and has since disappeared as European prices came off. Traders are having a shot at sending cyclohexane and glycol to Antwerp-Rotterdam-Amsterdam, and there was some possible caustic to Ireland. 16,000 tons of tall oil was fixed from the U.S. Gulf to the Baltic, and there has been an enquiry for 11,000 tons of technical corn oil to Antwerp-Rotterdam-Amsterdam. It appears that up to 15,000 tons of base oils were indeed fixed from the U.S. Gulf to Lagos, Nigeria, after all.

There has been quite a lot of movement within the Caribbean over the past week, comprised of a mix of chemicals, vegetable oil and clean petroleum. Prompt space for commodities such as vegetable oil, base oil and clean petroleum is readily available, but for more specialized grades there is less choice of tonnage. Rates have been steadily firming into Mexico over the past couple of weeks, with new levels epitomised by the 4,000 tons of styrene that got fixed from Lake Charles, Louisiana, in the high $20s/t.

Ethanol continues to be fixed into Brazil from the U.S. Gulf, and this week 10,000 of tons paraxylene was booked from Houston to Suape, Brazil, the levels for which are believed to have been in the low $40s/t. Several shipments of caustic have been seen into Munguba, Paranagua, and Santos, Brazil, and there was another urea ammonia nitrate fixture into Argentina.

Europe

There is a little bit of forwards momentum in the North Sea and Baltic region, meaning the majority of vessels are not stuck without anything to do, but it rarely extends beyond one or two voyages. Freight levels are therefore still pretty competitive. A couple of base oil fixtures have been recorded this week out of the Baltic, with a couple of shipments still pending.

The southbound route isnt exactly heaving with cargoes, yet most prompt ships have either managed to fix something down into the Mediterranean, or else they have taken some interim business that gives them a little wriggle room. Some base oils are still mentioned, with a small cargo to Egypt noted, for example, and a rather peculiar enquiry for 7,500 tons from St. Petersburg to Turkey.

The pace of aromatics fixing picked up over the past week, with benzene being seen again from Sarroch, Italy, and Constanza, Romania, while 4,000 tons of toluene may ship from Priolo, Italy, to Antwerp-Rotterdam-Amsterdam. 9,000 tons of pyrolysis gasoline was spotted from Lavera, France, to Antwerp-Rotterdam-Amsterdam, while 2,600 tons of pyrolysis gasoline fixed from Augusta, Sicily, to Rotterdam. 8,000 tons of cumene was covered from Priolo, Italy, to Antwerp-Rotterdam-Amsterdam for usual 40s/t. In addition, there has been caustic fixed from Lavera to the UK, and 13,000 tons to 15,000 tons of biodiesel was booked from Venice to Antwerp-Rotterdam-Amsterdam for around $400,000.

Cargo volumes along the inter-Mediterranean route have started to come off during the past few days, much to the owners chagrin. Most ships have at least one voyage in hand, but ideally would want to have a minimum of 10 days forwards employment or more. Biodiesel activity has been a little busier, and the odd cargo of methyl tertiarybutyl ether, caustic and methanol has given a bit of a boost. Base oils are running reasonably well, with more shipments from Spain, Greece and the Black Sea.

The end of September could even be described as a little tight on vessel space westbound, but this has not provided any impetus for rates to swing upwards because there is already quite a lot of open space in October. Several cargoes of paraxylene have been circulated, and two traders are studying large cargoes of pyrolysis gasoline and/or benzene to the U.S. Gulf. Acetone and biodiesel cargoes have been noted too. A cargo of base oils was apparently booked from northwestern Europe to Cartagena, Colombia, and traders have been trying find prompt space to take 4,000 tons to 6,000 tons of base oils from Aghio, Greece, to the U.S. Gulf.

The majority of parcels being quoted to Asia are of small, specialty grades, although traders did quote 20,000 tons of methanol from Rotterdam to China for October shipment. Rates are pretty much unchanged since outsiders cannot get a foothold in this market.

Things are fairly slow to India and the Middle East Gulf from Continental Europe. Several ships are interested to go on berth, but are deterred by an absence of firm cargoes. One ship was able to take a cargo of aromatics from Haifa, Israel, to Kandla, India, and Karachi, Pakistan, but 5,000 tons to 6,000 tons of methanol that was quoted from Libya to the west coast of India now looks to have been sold into the Mediterranean instead.

Asia

There was an expectation that the Golden Week holiday in China at the beginning of October would seriously dampen demand, and when news broke about the restrictions that would be in place during the China Congress later in October, it all started to look rather ominous for the Asian market. However, it was actually quite a busy week overall, especially on the intra-Far East routes, where numerous cargoes were quoted. More importantly, many of those requirements are for loading all the way through October. Base oils have been quite busy throughout the region, with several cargoes remaining unfixed a week later. Northbound too was active, with a lot of the usual grades of aromatics, methanol, MTBE, phenol, acetone and base oils quoted. It may still go flat at the end of this week, but the majority of ships will have been covered for the first half of October at least.

It transpires that there was even more paraxylene fixed from transpacific to the Americas over the past 10 days, with Mexico and Brazil accounting for a number of these shipments. Benzene, caustic and acetone are among some of the main requirements, but base oils too have recorded quite some action, with cargoes going to the U.S., Mexico and Brazil. Rates are still very mixed, with some of the cheaper deals being mid $40s/t, while others have been in the $60s/t. The market to Europe is very strong, with hardly any space left. There are too many fixtures to list, but suffice to say that rates range between $100 and $135 for the majority of cargoes between 2,000 tons and 8,000 tons. Base oils are in demand here too, with some interesting fixtures noted, including a small parcel to Egypt.

The past couple of weeks have seen a great deal of activity on all the routes out India and the Middle East Gulf. Regional markets are no exception, with multiple cargoes quoted and space being tight for the first half of October. Base oils are firmly present, with movements from the Red Sea, Al Ruwais, U.A.E. and Iran recorded. Eastbound markets are registering increased freight levels due to tighter space availability and improved demand from India, the Middle East Gulf and the Red Sea. Westbound numbers are mostly firm too, with the exceptions being some nave outsiders. All sorts of relet possibilities have been quoted due to contractual ships being unable to perform, with some cargoes of just 7,000 tons to 8,000 tons quoted, while others of 10,000 tons, 15,000 tons, 20,000 tons and 25,000 tons have been noted. Paraxylene volumes are significant, from Al Jubail, Saudi Arabia, Mangalore, India, and Yanbu, Saudi Arabia, while benzene is another major grade. Base oils and drilling fluid have been very active to both Europe and the U.S.

Adrian Brown is a senior market analyst for chemicals and base oils with SSY Shipbrokers, London, can be reached atfix@ssychems.comor +44 12 0750 7507. Information about SSY can be found atwww.ssyonline.com. In the Houston office,Steve Rosenthalof SSY’s Chemical Tanker Department can be reached directly at +1 (713) 652-2700 and Jordi Maymi in Singapore can be reached at +65 6854-7127.