Source: Drewry Multipurpose Forecaster

Rates continued to rise in all sectors over January fuelled by the capacity problems in the container market. These led to multipurpose vessels being chartered to carry empty containers, for repositioning purposes, plus an increase in breakbulk demand, as these commodities were no longer worth enough to stuff into containers. This increased demand meant that January rates were even stronger than we had been expecting.

Going forward we expect this to continue, especially as there is already a market expectation that the usual slowdown for Chinese New Year holidays will not be taking place this year. The steady demand levels across all vessel types underpins our positive expectations for the short-term rate forecast.

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