Panamax coal freight rates on established routes from South Africa's Richards Bay and Indonesia to India ended the week higher Friday, helped by robust activity in the Atlantic basin.
"The Atlantic basin is firm for both Supramaxes and Panamaxes and rates at the east coast of South America are surprisingly holding high," a Hong Kong-based source said.
A Singapore-based source said vessels in the Atlantic basin were getting at least $3,000-$4,000/day higher than those in the Pacific.
"It is encouraging to see a more active start to the summer season than last year, especially in the Atlantic where the market has been picking up over the last week," broker Fearnleys said in its weekly note on Wednesday.
"We see more trans-Atlantic cargoes coming out and we see more and more charterers having to pay up to cover their requirements," the broker added.
The trans-Atlantic round now pays around $10,000 daily, up around $2,000 from last week, while a voyage in the Pacific is fetching only about $6,000/day, Fearnleys said.
"It remains to be seen if the current positive trend will extend into August as many head charterers share the view that the current spike appears more sentiment-driven rather than a shift in market fundamentals," broker Braemar Seascope said in its weekly note on Thursday.
"The Pacific remained patchy, with a shortage of cargoes from [North Pacific] NoPac and [east coast] EC Australia and activity mainly sustained by Indonesian coal," the broker said.
Platts assessed the daily Panamax freight rates from Richards Bay to India's west coast at $14.60/mt and to the east coast at $14.90/mt, both unchanged from Thursday but up 40 cents on-week.
Platts also assessed the daily Panamax freight rates from South Kalimantan to India's west coast at $9.80/mt, unchanged from Thursday but up 40 cents on-week, and to the east coast at $8.25/mt, up 10 cents on-day and up 50 cents on-week.
CAPESIZE, SUPRAMAX FIRM
Capesize vessels strengthened significantly in the past week as tonnage tightness set in, sources said.
"There is an improvement in Capesize freight rates this week as the Chinese are restocking iron ore as they were low on stocks," the Hong Kong-based source said.
Capesize vessels carrying iron ore on the Brazil-Qingdao route were fixed above $20/mt, after months of trading in the upper teens, Fearnleys said.
"It took half of 2013 for the Capesize market to go back to levels that make economic sense for owners, and we need to wait until the end of the summer season to conclude whether this recent rally is based on fundamentals," Greek shipbroker Intermodal said in its weekly note on Tuesday.
The average Capesize freight rates had climbed to $11,000/day this week, up from about $5,300/day a month ago.
Activity for Supramaxes also firmed up, helped by an availability of coal cargoes to the west coast of India from Indonesia, sources said.
"Supramax freight rates are holding up and surprisingly there are a lot of coal cargoes to the west coast of India even during the monsoon, coming in mostly coming from Indonesia," the Hong Kong-based source said.
"I have not seen so much activity on the west coast of India in the past 20 years [during the monsoon season]," he added.
He said charterers were aiming to fix Supramax vessels from Indonesia to the west coast of India at $14.25/mt and added that he would "not be surprised" if fixtures were reported at $14.50/mt also for the first half of July.
The Singapore-based source said that some vessel owners were, however, still reluctant to go to the west coast of India due to the ongoing monsoon season, which typically runs from May to September.
