Rates Hold

Panamax Rates Hold Steady

Freight rates in the Atlantic Panamax sector held steady on Wednesday amid signs that recent rises may be stalling, brokers said. "The Atlantic is holding up well, but the question is not whether the Panamax market will rally further, but when the Atlantic will come off," one said. Until then, Atlantic and Pacific Panamax rates were expected to remain steady. Signs that the market was reaching its pinnacle were heralded by the Baltic Panamax Index (BPI) on Monday, when rises in both the Atlantic and Pacific were noticeably smaller. The trend persisted on Tuesday, and by Wednesday the BPI rose just two points to 1,436. Freight rates remained high enough, however, to encourage charterers to continue with timecharter deals. A grain house has taken the 1990 built 69,637 dwt Torm Marina for an east coast of South America round voyage. Redelivery is scheduled for the Skaw-Passero range and the rate of the charter is said to be a steady $11,000 daily. Cargill is reported to have chartered the 1998 built 71,671 dwt Giant Pescadores for early-July Aden delivery and two to three laden legs at a rate of $10,100 daily. The 1986 built 70,653 dwt Alexandraki has been chartered for a trip to Brazil and Iran, with redelivery agreed as passing Muscat outwards at a rate of $11,100 daily. - (Reuters)

Panamax Freights Rise, Pacific Rates Hold

Panamax freight orders picked up for Atlantic tonnage on Tuesday while Pacific rates continued to hold strong, shipbrokers said. In the short-period market, the 75,000 dwt newbuilding APJ Jit was chartered for June 20-25 South Korea delivery, booked for 3-5 months trading at a rate of $9,750 daily, they said. Brokers reported the chartering of North Friendship, a 1999-built 74,732 dwt panamax, was chartered for end-June U.S. Gulf delivery

Tanker Trends

Rates Steady Despite Strong VLCC Demand Strong demand for VLCC tankers in the Middle East failed to create a massive breakout in rates, but owners were happy as bunker fuel prices continued to fall, brokers said early last week. Expectations that a lack of modern tonnage would hike rates for mid-April oil major-approved vessels failed to come true. An Exxon cargo for Singapore lifting from three Mideast ports finally got done at the going rate of W77.5 (about $5

Moody’s Reviews Rating of Midland Enterprises

Moody's Investors Service placed the debt rating of Midland Enterprises debt under review for potential downgrade following the announcement by its parent company, KeySpan Corporation, of KeySpan's intent to sell Midland to Ingram Industries. According to KeySpan, the transaction contemplates that Ingram Industries would assume approximately $135 million of Midland debt in a transaction expected to close during the second quarter of 2002

Analyst Cuts Oil Tankers

According to an analyst speaking with the Associated Press for a Feb. 9 report, a flood of new crude oil tankers being delivered this year will bring down vessel rates in the spot market and he has cut his ratings on two companies. Jefferies & Co. analyst Douglas Mavrinac downgraded Overseas Shipholding Group to "Underperform" from "Hold" and lowered Teekay Corp. to "Hold" from "Buy

Seaport Real Estate Continues to Outperform Overall Industrial Market

Jones Lang LaSalle’s Port Index reveals stellar year for port property Jones Lang LaSalle’s third annual Port, Airport and Global Infrastructure (PAGI) report published today, reveals that even amid economic volatility, real estate in the markets surrounding the country’s seaports is leading the U.S. industrial real estate recovery. Overall vacancy rates for seaports have dropped from last year by 1.4 percent to 8.5 percent, outperforming the 9

VLCCs Wait For Iraqi Oil, Suezmaxes Poised For Flurry

The expected return of Iraqi oil dominated the 250,000 ton tanker market in the Middle East toward the end of the week, shipping brokers said on Dec. 10. But rates were unlikely to move drastically as there were plenty of VLCCs waiting in the Middle East to find cargoes, they said. However, Mediterranean million barrel Suezmax tankers were likely to be in strong demand once it was known when Iraqi exports could restart from the Turkish port of Ceyhan.

Oversupply, Limited Cargoes Contribute To Weakening Panamax Rates

Panamax rates continued to weaken due to oversupply and limited cargoes on Monday, but owners were hopeful that the market was finding a floor, brokers said. The physical market remained in decline, but the forward freight agreement market was holding steady. Buying interest on the Biffex futures market on Friday had suggested a potential bounce this week, brokers said. Panamaxes struggled to find employment and charterers were still using their advantage to push rates lower.

Hapag-Lloyd In 2011 First Quarter

In the traditionally weak first quarter Hapag-Lloyd managed to boost revenues by comparison with the same period of the previous year by 16.5 percent to 1.483 million euros. The main reason for this achievement was a ten percent rise to 1,563 USD/TEU in the average freight rate. Transport volume was two percent up on the 2010 first quarter at 1.2 million TEU. Active yield management enabled Hapag-Lloyd to concentrate successfully on profitable cargo

BW Group's 1H Performance Better than Expected

Moody's Investors Service says that operating results of BW Group (Ba2 negative) in 1H 2012 were better than expected, largely because of the higher charter rates achieved by the company for its vessels. "We had expected BW Group's performance to weaken, as many of its vessels were coming off profitable time-charters in 1H and it was increasingly exposed to deteriorating spot-market rates. However, spot rates, especially in the gas carrier segments, either held up or improved