Bulk Carrier Rates News

The Baltic Exchange's main sea freight index on Wednesday climbed to a near 1-1/2-year high as panamax rates scaled a more than 10-year peak on China grain demand.The Baltic dry index, which tracks rates for capesize, panamax and supramax vessels ferrying dry bulk commodities, rose 88 points, or 4.4%, to 2,105, a peak since September 2019.The panamax index gained 211 points, or 8.9%, at 2,583, its highest since September 2010.Average daily earnings for panamaxes, which usually carry coal or grain cargoes of about 60,000 tonnes to 70,000 tonnes, rose $1,896 at $23,245."It seems to be a perfect storm for the dry bulk shipping market at the moment…

According to a report on Bloomberg, Brazil’s VALE may have made a very bad investment in one of the most heralded shipbuilding ventures of a generation. About three years ago the Brazilian mining giant announced its plan to build an impressive new fleet of up to 19 of the biggest bulk carriers in the world, signin a contact with Rongsheng Shipbuilding and Heavy Industries of China to build 12 carries valued at $ 1.6b to transport iron ore to China. The very large ore carriers (VLOC) each are designed to carry 400…