Freight rates for hauling grains from North America to Asia and Europe surged higher on Thursday due to strong interest in long-term ship charters and the buoyant Capesize market, brokers said.
Rates for a modern double-hulled Panamax vessel sailing from North America to Asia were pegged at about $45,000 to $46,000 a day, with a hefty ballast bonus, compared with $43,000-44,000 one week ago.
Stronger demand was seen in the Pacific market compared with the Atlantic, they said. This could be due to the wide spread between the US Gulf Coast and the Pacific Northwest. Grain freight for US Gulf Coast loading was pegged at $60 a tonne, $15 higher than the freight for Pacific Northwest loading.
The April dry bulk derivatives contract for the Panamax route 2A rose $1,000 to $47,500 a day on Wednesday, according to freight broker IMAREX. The May contract was up by $750 to $44,500 a day. The Baltic Exchange Panamax Index rose by 51 points from Wednesday to 5,148 points, erasing the previous high for 2007 at 5,097 points.
The record high for the Panamax index was pegged at 6,110 points set on December 1, 2004. "We are also seeing chartering interest from Shadab for two to three Panamax ships to load grains in the US Gulf and the Black Sea for delivery to Iraq," a second broker said. Shadab is a Middle Eastern ship operator, according to brokers.