By Keith Wallis

SINGAPORE, March 31 (Reuters) – Freight charges for giant capesize dry cargo ships on key Asian routes are set to agency subsequent week as homeowners resist charterers makes an attempt to push charges decrease, ship brokers stated on Thursday.

That got here as income from freight fee revenue stays under the price of working the iron ore and coal carriers.

“There is a lot of tonnage in the market available for charter, but owners are slowly resisting,” a Singapore-based capesize dealer stated on Wednesday.

“Owners are slowly pushing the numbers up. It’s as positive as it has been in recent times,” the dealer stated.

The dealer forecast charges might climb to $3.10/$3.15 per tonne to constitution a 180,000 deadweight tonne capesize ship to haul iron ore from Australia to China.

Capesize earnings are round $1,579 per day, lower than day by day working prices of round $7,300, in keeping with information from British delivery providers agency Clarkson and accountancy agency Moore Stephens.

“Until we get a more stable flow of cargo it is difficult to see the capesize market really moving higher,” the Singapore dealer stated.

Owners of capesize ships have been hit by a drop in coal imports into China that are set to fall 8 p.c to 150.7 million tonnes on an annualised foundation this 12 months in contrast with 163.8 million tonnes final 12 months, in keeping with Clarkson.

Iron ore imports to China are extra resilient, estimated at 921.6 million tonnes this 12 months, a 2 p.c fall in contrast with 939.7 million tonnes in 2015, in keeping with Clarkson.

The poor state of the sector has led to a rise within the variety of delayed ship deliveries.

Some 28 capesize ships had been as a result of be part of the worldwide fleet within the first quarter this 12 months, however supply of 14 of those has been pushed again to later within the 12 months or past, in keeping with maritime information firm VesselsValue in a observe on Wednesday.

Capesize constitution charges for the Western Australia-China route held round $3.08 per tonne on Wednesday, in opposition to $3.03 every week earlier.

Rates for the Brazil-China route had been regular at $5.80 a tonne on Wednesday, in contrast with $5.82 on the identical day final week.

Panamax charges for a north Pacific round-trip voyage fell to $3,850 per day on Wednesday, from $4,169 per day final week, as tonnage provide outpaced cargo demand. Rates have been falling since hitting $4,807 per day on March 14, the best since Nov. 2, 2015.

Freight charges for smaller supramax vessels have slipped with charges under $5,000 per day for a voyage from Singapore to India, Norwegian ship dealer Fearnley stated in a observe on Wednesday.

The Baltic Exchange’s fundamental sea freight index rose to 414 on Wednesday, from 401 the identical day final week. (Reporting by Keith Wallis; Editing by Anand Basu)

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