The Drewry multipurpose time charter index increased to USD9,056 per day in July, a rise of 1.4 percent over the June figure.
The analyst’s index growth has slowed considerably; rates increased by 7.1 percent between May and June 2021. The index is up 39 percent since the start of the year and 59 percent since July 2020. Drewry expects the index to rise a further 1.6 percent in August to reach USD9,200 per day.
Drewry explained: “The index is weighted as per vessel numbers and therefore the shortsea sector has a slightly disproportionate effect. Rates in this sector slowed significantly… whereas for the project carriers there was growth of just 1.4 percent. This was mainly due to a softening of demand in Northern Europe for the smaller shortsea vessels, whereas the larger project carriers were still picking up cargoes due to the continued supply constraints in the container sector.”
For the larger, more heavy lift-capable vessels, the supply constraints in the competing sectors, in particular containers, mean that demand is expected to remain high to the end of the year. According to Drewry, most owners are reporting being fully fixed through to September, making the spot market particularly hard to call, and many are benefiting from both breakbulk cargoes moving out of containers and project cargo needing space.
