COALspot.com - The BDI continues to drop and saw a drop of about 5 pct this week closing at 1,370 points. “ In  May 2010 the BDI touched 4209 points which was highest in 2010 and since then the BDI has dropped almost 70 pct”, said, Capt. Reddy, Director of Vistaar Singapore, an experienced ship operator.

The Cape index also continued to remain soft with a drop of about 2.50 pct and closed at 1,556 points.

The average charter rate for Cape size vessels was at $ 8,859 per day almost close to 2008 lows.

Panamax  index was the most affected this week with the index down by 270 points and closed at 1,650 points. Supramax and Handy size index saw a slight upward movement and closed at 1,427 points and 777 points respectively.

The spot charter rates for Supramax in the far east remained under pressure and vessels were reported fixed at $ 7000-8000 per day for trip to via Indonesia to India.

According to Vistaar Singapore, With the flood situation in Australia likely to continue for some more time and with the Chinese New year coming the market are likely to be under pressure at least until mid February 2011.

The average charter rates was at Cape/$ 8,859 per day , Panamax/$ 13,157 per day , Supramax/$ 14,926 per day and Handy size/$ 11,500 per day.

The Supramax index in the feast (S6 route) was down by $ 350 per day (down by 4.10 pct) and closed at $ 8,186 per day (last week $ 8,536 per day). The EC India/ China (S7 route) was up by 233 points (up by 2.00 pct) and closed at $ 11,621 per day (last week $ 11,388 per day). The S6 route is likely to be soft next week.

The futures for three years (2011-2013) was at around Cape/$ 21,000 per day, Panamax/$ 16,000 per day, Supramax/$ 15,500 per day , Handy size/$ 11,000 per day.

The congestion in EC Australia reduced slightly to 110 vessels this week (last week 120  vessels). The vessels waiting at main coal loading ports were at Hay point/16, DBCT/36, Gladstone/13, Abbot Point/Nil, New Castle/40, Port Kembla/5 vessels. On the WC Australia iron ore vessels waiting increased to 41 vessels (last week 33 vessels).

The waiting at Indian ports for coal vessels was quite normal except for Paradip, Haldia, Kandla where the berthing delays was high with berthing delays of about 10/12 days.

The Brent crude prices was almost at same levels and was slightly down and closed at $ 97.63 per barrel (last week $ 98.50 per barrel). Bunker prices also firmed and was at $ 546.00 pmt (last week $ 540.00 pmt) for IFO 380 cst ex Singapore on 21st Jan 2011.

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Reported by Vistaar Shipping, Singapore