Baltic Exchange Dry Index 3672 DOWN 70
BCI Baltic Exchange Capesize Index 6848 DOWN 274
BPI Baltic Exchange Panamax Index 3059 UP 75
BSI Baltic Exchange Supramax Index 1709 UP 6
BHSI Baltic Exchange Handysize Index 750 UP 1
2/7 2009 16:28 fcras 0
14611 In a move designed to help boost derivative trading, the Baltic Exchange will be implementing changes to the way in which the Baltic Exchange Dry Index (BDI) is calculated. As of 1 July 2009, the BDI will be calculated taking the timecharter components of the Baltic’s capesize, panamax, supramax and handysize indices. Each vessel type’s routes make up 25% of the BDI.
The BDI is published every working day at 1300 (London) and is based on professional shipbroker assessments. The index is a key independent barometer of the cost of transporting dry bulk commodities including iron ore, coal and grain by sea.
According to Baltic Exchange chief executive Jeremy Penn, the change is a significant one as it will enable financial market players to develop and trade derivative products on the index with greater ease and understanding.
"There has been considerable interest from the wider investment and commodity trading community in the BDI in recent years. Mutual funds, hedge funds and traders have an interest in exposure to dry bulk freight and may also wish to trade it in conjunction with shipping company equities. However, their interest is often in a more general exposure to dry freight rather than in the very specific existing liquid derivative contracts. By re-selecting the index so that it consists entirely of components which are already relatively liquid in the derivatives market, we believe we are making this process considerably easier. It will enable market-makers to offer pricing and hedge resultant positions easily."
Chairman of the Baltic’s Freight Market Information Users Group (FMIUG) and senior freight manager at Hamburg based commodity house Alfred C. Toepfer International, Stefan Albertijn welcomed the move.
“We’re pleased to see the Baltic Exchange implement yet another innovation in the freight market which will not only expand the reach of freight products to include retail investors, but at the same time will probably also boost trading volumes in the BDI’s components which will benefit the existing freight derivatives community as well. The FMIUG is happy to see that the Baltic has an open ear to our needs and are looking forward to continue developing new products that address shipping community needs within the Baltic.”
The BDI will now be made up by the average timecharter rate of each of the following components:
Capesize (172,000 mt dwt) - 25%
C8_03 Gibraltar/Hamburg trans Atlantic round voyage
C9_03 Continent/Mediterranean trip Far East
C10_03 172000mt Pacific round voyage
C11_03 172000mt China/Japan trip Mediterranean/Cont
Panamax (74,000 mt dwt) - 25%
P1A_03 Transatlantic RV
P2A_03 SKAW-GIB/Far East
P3A_03 Japan-SK/Pacific/round voyage
P4_03 Far East/NOPAC-AUST/SK-PASS
Supramax (52,454 mt dwt) - 25%
S1A Antwerp - Skaw Trip Far East
S1B Canakkale Trip Far East
S2 Japan - SK / NOPAC or Australia round voyage
S3 Japan - SK Trip Gib - Skaw range
S4A US Gulf - Skaw-Passero
S4B Skaw-Passero - US Gulf
Handysize (28,000 mt dwt) - 25%
HS1 Skaw - Passero trip Recalada - Rio de Janeiro
HS2 Skaw - Passero trip Boston – Galveston
HS3 Recalada – Rio de Janeiro trip Skaw – Passero.
HS4 US Gulf trip via US Gulf or NCSA to Skaw – Passero
HS5 SE Asia trip via Australia to Singapore – Japan
HS6 S Korea – Japan via NOPAC to Singapore-Japan
Backtesting of the reselected index against historical data suggests a correlation of 0.99978 so existing usage of the index for econometric and freight market analysis will not be significantly affected.
Voyage rates, which are expressed as dollars per tonne of cargo loaded will be excluded from the index.
Under the new arrangements capesize routes C2 (Tubarao/Rotterdam), C3 (Tubarao/Qingdao), C4 (Richard's Bay/Rotterdam), C5 (W. Australia/Qingdao), C7 (Bolivar/Rotterdam) and C12 (Gladstone/Rotterdam) will no longer contribute to the calculation of the BDI. These routes will however continue to contribute to the calculation of the Baltic Exchange Capesize Index (BCI).
ENDS
For further details please contact:
Bill Lines, Navigate PR
T: +44 (0)20 7369 1653
E: blines@navigatepr.com
Notes to editors
The Baltic Exchange
The Baltic Exchange is the world's only independent source of maritime market information for the trading and settlement of physical and derivative contracts. Its international community of over 550 members encompasses the majority of world shipping interests and commits to a code of business conduct overseen by the Baltic.
Baltic Exchange members are responsible for a large proportion of all dry cargo and tanker fixtures as well as the sale and purchase of merchant vessels.
Baltic Exchange services
• Independent, high quality dry, wet and gas freight market information
• Self-regulated chartering, sale and purchase and freight derivatives markets
• Central forum for competing freight market interests
• Framework ensuring high standards of business practice and co-operation
• London-based business facilities for members
• A collective voice for members worldwide
http://www.balticexchange.com/default.asp?action=article&ID=5308
2/7 2009 18:56 fcras 014619 Dreyfus pays more
The Baltic Exchange capesize index lost 274 points to 6,848 today but the sole reported fixture delivered a more encouraging message.
Louis Dreyfus fixed an Anangel capesize for up to two years at $35,000 a day in a worthwhile improvement on the $30,000 agreed just over a month ago for a similar duration charter of Alpha Tankers & Freighters 178,000-dwt Antonis Angelicoussis (built 2007).
Capesizes
The vessel chartered today for 22 to 24 months at $35,000 a day by the French commodity trader is the 171,000-dwt Anangel Vision (built 2007).
Panamaxes
Undisclosed charterers fixed the 76,000-dwt Baltia (built 2005) for four to five months at $31,750 a day. The deal for the Orion Bulkers owned vessel was a relet of a Farenco four to six month charter agreed at $17,500 a day just six weeks ago.
Noble took Atlantska Plovidba’s 75,000-dwt Petka (built 1994) for a Gibraltar – St Lawrence – China voyage at $34,000 a day.
Cargill is paying $30,000 a day for Capital Management’s 74,000-dwt Salandi (built 1999) to make a transatlantic round trip out of Europe. The deal is a Clipper relet.
In another relet, this time of STV Pan Ocean, Louis Dreyfus hired the 78,000-dwt Tai Progress (built 2004) for a Europe to Gulf of St Lawrence round trip at $32,000 a day.
The same charterer is paying $28,000 a day plus a ballast bonus of $730,000 for Golden Ocean’s 73,000-dwt Golden Shadow (built 1997) to make an Argentine to China voyage.
Oldendorff fixed the 74,000-dwt Iolcos Unity (built 2006) as a Bunge relet for an Indonesia to China excursion at $28,500 a day.
Noble secured Vogemann’s 75,000-dwt Voge Prosperity (built 1995) for an India – China run at $26,000 a day.
Seanergy’s 73,000-dwt Bremen Max (built 1993) is to make an Indonesia to Hong Kong run for BHP Billiton for $26,000 a day.
There was at least ten fixtures of vessels for round trips out of China or Japan to Australia at in the $23,000 to $20,000 a day range.
Supramaxes
Copenship fixed Jinhui’s 51,000-dwt Jin An (built 2000) for three to five months trading at $16,000 a day.
But Ispat paid more than double this, some $35,000 a day, to get Jinhui’s 51,000-dwt Jin Fu (built 2001) for an Egypt to India voyage.
Undisclosed charterers are paying $18,000 a day for the 56,000-dwt Darya Brahma (built 2006) to make an India – South America – China voyage.
By Jim Mulrenan in London
Published: 14:44 GMT, 02 jul 2009 | last updated: 14:45 GMT, 02 jul 2009
3/7 2009 08:54 fcras 014638 Friday, 03 July 2009
Chinese iron ore usage will boost demand for shipping as imports of the steelmaking raw material will remain cheaper than domestic output, Morgan Stanley said.
“We believe Chinese iron ore demand will put incremental pressure on the seaborne market, as domestic mines are uneconomical,” Morgan Stanley said in a note to clients today.
The bank raised price estimates for the steelmaking ingredient by 42 percent for Australia and 27 percent for Brazil.
Steelmakers in China, the world’s biggest producer of the alloy, may trim the price cut they’re seeking for iron ore and aim to agree to annual supply contracts by the end of this month, Tian Zhiping, vice president of Hebei Iron & Steel Group, said by phone today.
China’s demand for iron ore has boosted the Baltic Dry Index, a measure of dry-bulk shipping costs, as much as fivefold this year and led to record queues of ships waiting to discharge consignments of the raw material.
Source: Alaric Nightingale, Bloomberg
http://www.hellenicshippingnews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=54549&Itemid=94
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3/7 2009 09:43 fcras 014640 Thursday, 02 July 2009 20:30
The China Association of the National Shipbuilding Industry (Cansi) says up to 5% of newbuildings ordered at Chinese shipbuilders may have been cancelled.
Figures from Cansi show newbuilding cancellations are soaring, with 27 vessels cancelled in May alone.
Cansi said order cancellations at Chinese shipyards totaled 55 for the first five months of the year, up whopping 96% from the 28 vessels cancelled in the first four months of the year.
Accumulated newbuilding cancellations since October last year reached 152 ships of 4.4m dwt.
Cancellations equalled 2.3% of the orderbook as of the end of May this year.
As some shipyards did not report the real number of cancellations, the association said the genuine total percentage of the orderbook cancelled could be up to 5%.
A Cansi official said that it expected more order cancellations to take place in the coming months.
China's shipbuilders also reported a notable slowdown in revenue growth. Although total revenues grew by 45.8% to Yuan159.9bn ($23.5bn), the increase was 18.7 percentage points lower than the same period in 2008.
The number of new orders has suffered eight consecutive months of decline. Total new orders stood at just 1.2m dwt in the first five months of the year, a 96% drop on the same period in 2008. The total existing orderbook fell by 6% to 192m dwt at the end of May.
Despite the gloomy business conditions, the association predicted newbuilding completions would continue to register double-digit growth to hit 40m dwt for the year as a whole. A rebound in newbuilding deliveries is expected in the second half of the year.
However, the association said shipbuilders would still face difficulties in financing and getting new orders.
http://www.vinamaso.net/news-events/shipbuilding-repair/newbuilding-cancellations-jump-in-china.html
