For players in the dry bulk, mpp and shortsea trades, there is little comfort either, as freights and charter rates[ds_preview] kept heading south during May. The deepsea trades, capesize and handysize vessels were struggling the most.
Capes saw time charter levels crash below $ 2,000 per day at one point with just a meagre rebound since then while handysize units were faced with a desperate lack of business in the Atlantic.
The impact of Covid-19 was felt sharply in all major loading areas on the continent, in the US Gulf and the East Coast of South America.
Time charter rates for multipurpose ships saw a major downward correction as confidence in the breakbulk and project cargo flows waned. The market would have fallen even faster if there had not been support from steady volumes of wind mill equipment ex Far East. »Otherwise we’d all be completely in the doldrums,« one operator admitted. Full vessels loads of blades and towers are reported to have been fixed at around $ 8,000 levels on 24,000 dwt ships from China to the Mediterranean. Smaller F-type (12,500 dwt) ships got around 7,000 $/day for trips from Asia to Europe. Commercial off-hire days are still elevated, brokers say, as most of the business available is for single trips, often with waiting time between deployments.
