Today, deugro released their second market report for this year. While they are happy to put a turbulent Q1 behind them, they see some positive outcomes for Q2 and the rest of 2021.
For breakbulk, their multipurpose carrier, dship Carriers, saw an increase in ocean freight rates in Q1. They say the market in the project logistics sector has become steadier and firmer, with new projects starting to move cargo in 2021. There is more moving of general project cargo, breakbulk and wind cargo, which opens up more cargo combination possibilities leading to more port stops and longer voyages.
They also say that shippers are placing their bookings earlier, sometimes 30 to 40 days in advance. But as a result of increased shipping activity, port congestion has become a problem, particularly in Asia.
With most MPP carriers fully booked until the end of this month the charters rates remain high and continue to rise. Besides this, there has been a sharp rise in fuel prices over the last four months which has been passed onto the shippers.
The first quarter marked another milestone in dship’s fleet expansion programme: The MV Ronnie has been taken over and the newbuild MV Charlie was launched at the beginning of March 2021. Equal to its sister vessels MV Keith and MV Mick, the vessel type is an eco-friendly F-500 vessel,well-equipped with two Liebherr cranes featuring a lifting capacity of 250 MT each.
