TANKERS
CHARTERING
Crude
The VLCC market in MEG appears quiet on the surface, but charterers are working off the market picking their preferred targets in an attempt to keep rates from  increasing.  With  about  30  deals  done  for  July,  the  supply  of VLCC tonnage in MEG seems to be balanced for the month and rates are expected to  stay  fairly  flat.  There  was  little  or  no  change  in  rates  for Suezmax in the Atlantic Basin the past week. In spite of brisk activity in West Africa, there was more than sufficient tonnage available to absorb the increase for transportation needs. The MED/Black Sea Suezmax market remains inactive and the rates are under pressure. Aframax rates in the Nsea/ Baltic and Caribs remained unchanged last week with what can only be described as a dull market. It was only in the Med/Bsea we saw more steady fixing activity and as a result rates did increase in this area.
Product
WEST: Since last week´s report, we have seen a firming market across the board for the smaller vessels. On the MR Transatlantic fixtures, rates have increased steadily each day, and are now fixing at WS 185 for UKC/USAC basis 37kt. On the bigger vessels, there are still too much available tonnage. Activity  seems  to  pick  up,  but  rates  have  been  moving  sideways;  LR1s trading  Baltic/USAC  are  fixing  at  WS110  basis  60kt.  Tonnage  wise,  the story is similar on the smaller vessels, however rates have been moving up slightly  with  Handies  trading  across  NWEurope  fixing  at  WS157.5  basis 30kt, and Flexis at WS200 basis 22kt. Caribs and USG activity as picked up, with upcoast voyages fixing at WS180 basis 38kt and backhaul voyages USG/UKC-MED at WS110 basis 38kt. EAST: East of Suez, rates have bottomed out, and we see a firming market on the bigger vessels. LR1s trading MEG/JPN are now fixing at WS 125 basis 55kt, and LR2 fixtures are being concluded at WS107.5 basis 75kt on the same route. There is still plenty of  tonnage available, but  activity seems to  be  picking up  and  we expect the market to remain steady over the near future. The story is similar for LR1s fixing Jet fuel MEG/UKC, with rates firming steadily, and now fixing at USD 2.1 million basis 65kt. MRs trading Spore/JPN are seeing rates around ws150 basis 30kt, whilst MRs trading MEG/JPN are seeing rates around ws140 basis 35kt.

DRY BULK
CHARTERING
Handy
Still  a  good  balance  between  cargo/tonnage,  but  a  more  uncertanty  the coming week as ballasters are entering the Atlantic basin from South Africa/India range. The Pacific market is a bit busy with increase in Indo-India activity. For  Indo-India, Supras  in  North  China  are  getting  close  to  11k. Nickel-ore rounds are getting firm rates in low-mid teens. Very quiet on the iron ore front due to monsoons, WCI-China rates slided to 11k and from ECI around 9k. Few ECI tonnage seen for Indo-India biz at usd 12k. Red Sea, ferts on Handymax/Supras are fixed at very mid 20´s pmt on voyage basis to WC India. Period deals done at 14-15k for large Supras.
Panamax
The Panamax market and especially the Atlantic basin continued to soften this week. The tonnage list is increasing and the fresh cargoes are lacking. Transatlantic business are being fixed at ard USD 16,500  about USD 1,500 down  from  last  week.  We  still  see  a  healthy  demand  from  ECSA  with grains for direction Feast and the rates are stable at ard USD 24,500 daily bss Cont/Med delivery. Apart from the somewhat healthy fronthaul market, both hemispheres are softening with prompt open vsls popping up which again has a negative influence to the rates. For Pacific rounds the vsls are being fixed in the region of USD 13,000 while the backhaul business has been quiet. The period market has been fairly active with a couple of short periods being reported at ard USD 15k with Feast delivery and a one year deal was concluded at USD 13,375 daily.
Capesize
Continous spikes in the Pacific with rates upto USD 8 pmt for West Australia/China  being   fixed   end   last   week,   however   charters   quickly managed to control the development and got rates down to 7.75-7.85 range. This is still the going rate after a 2 digits number of fixtures concluded at these levels so far this week. In the Atlantic the owners turned more bull after a good number of fresh enquiries last week, but for this week rates have  remained  steady.  However,  a  shortlived  improvement  is  expected. Period marked is unchanged, with short period rates around low 10,000s.

GAS
CHARTERING
The Purvin & Gertz industry gathering in Singapore last week did not draw any clear picture of neither cargo-market nor shipping ahead, except that some earlier expressed freight optimism has been postponed again. Thus, despite a slow start to last week a number of fixtures were reported at week end in the low USD 40´s. The Baltic rate has established itself around the USD 42 mark as it has remained more or less unchanged throughout the last five trading days. This week some fixtures for June end and early July have been reported both from the east and the west of Suez, a sign of increased activity. A few July spot cargoes for MEG loading were sold and with numerous open relets returning to the MEG for mid July, rates are likely to be put under pressure.

NEWBUILDING
GENERAL COMMENT
The newbuilding activity remains slow for both Tankers and Bulk carriers over the last week. The major Korean yards are occupied with enquiries from the LNG sector, and we expect more LNG orders to come in the near future. Sungdong has over the last week confirmed an order for totally 6 3, 600TEU container vessels. 2 of these vessels have been ordered by NSC and the other 4 vessels have been ordered by Ofer´s Zodiac Maritime. All 6 vessels are slated for delivery within July 2013.

DEMOLITION

MARKET BRIEF