Buoyant chartering demand drives H2 December freight rates up

09 December 2010 10:04  [Source: ICIS news]

SINGAPORE (ICIS)--Freight rates for the southeast and northeast Asia routes are rising amid strong demand and limited vessel space for spot tonnage, industry sources said on Thursday.

Freights for cargoes of 3,000-5,000 tonnes gained as much as $3-4/tonne (€2-3/tonne) for shipment from southeast Asia to eastern Chinese ports, a shipbroker said.

Freights for a 1,000-tonne cargo from southeast Asia to eastern China was heard fixed at $52-53/tonne for end-December loading, up from last week’s $48-49/tonne, a second shipbroker said.

Vessel space for spot tonnage was running out fast amid the rising freight rates, and some vessel owners had started discussing January shipments, the industry sources said.

“For second half December, we are now left with 1,000-2,000 tonnes (of) balance space but (this) is likely to be booked soon,” said a Singapore-based vessel owner.

 “For second half December, we’re now booked solid and have started looking at cargoes for January,” a Japanese vessel owner said.

The tight availability of vessel space was partly due to the long turnaround time in eastern China, a charterer said.

Turnaround time, or the period of time a vessel spends at a port loading or discharging cargoes, is currently estimated at two to three days at eastern Chinese ports.

“The turnaround depends largely on the weather in (east) China,” a vessel owner said.

Spot enquiries for the southeast and northeast Asia routes*

Products	Total Quantity
Aromatics	26,000 tonnes
Methanol	21,000 tonnes
Styrenes	22,000 tonnes
Base oils	15,000 tonnes

*Each enquiry is for cargo sizes ranging from 1,000-5,000 tonnes, depending on the products

($1 = €0.75)

To discuss issues facing the chemical industry go to ICIS connect

By: Lester Teo

For the latest chemical news, data and analysis that directly impacts your business sign up for a free trial to ICIS news - the breaking online news service for the global chemical industry.

Get the facts and analysis behind the headlines from our market leading weekly magazine: sign up to a free trial to ICIS Chemical Business.

Printer Friendly