Freight rates for all sizes continued to soften over the last month. Slowing Chinese imports of minerals and reduced European imports of coal were the main factors behind the slower growth in tonnage demand. Chinese inventories of iron ore are still reported to be high and it may therefore take some time before imports start to increase again.
On the other hand, Chinese officials have recently indicated that China may import a higher volume of coal in the coming months due to shortage in domestic supply.
The slow pace from the previous month continued also into August.The mid sizes around 1,700 teu have once again been particularly under pressure and a number of vessels runninginto prompt positions have been forced to accept shorter periods at lower levels. For vessels above 2,000 teu, rates have also continued their downward trend but with a fairly limited number of vessels available for the remainder of the year, this could possibly provide some relief. Rates for vessels around and below 1,000 teu have also been softening but still with a relatively high number of transactions having taken place.
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