Capesize freight rates continued to rally, amid port congestions in China and tight tonnage supply, while shipping demand improved.
The Capesize 5 time charter average, then rose by $986 day-on-day to $51,099 on Friday, due to the tight basins.
The Baltic Dry Index (BDI) however, inched up slightly by $40, up 0.95% day-on-day, after some slowdown in the rally.
Rally slows down amid fleet inefficiency
There was some slowdown in the rally, with long weekend holidays in the UK, while some profit takings in the paper market, but market fundamentals remained healthy.
Tonnage supply saw little easing from fleet inefficiency in Asia, as most of the Chinese ports were congested with more stringent checks to prevent the spread of pandemic.
For shipping demand, there was more activities in the Pacific market, with iron ore shipments moving at key route from Western Australia to China.
However, the Atlantic market seemed to cool down after done most of the heavy lifting in the recent rally. As Brazilian miners had taken a breather after a flurry of fixtures, while there were some enquiries from the operators, but led to nothing concrete.
Bunker prices rise further on market optimism
The bunker prices rose on better market outlooks, as the price of VLSFO rose by $3.50/mt day-on-day to $535.50/mt in the port of Singapore.
Crude prices were firmer upon market concerns for supply shocks, due to hurricane in Gulf of Mexico, while OPEC producers are likely to follow their outputs plan as scheduled.
Meanwhile, the effect of Covid pandemic on oil demand recovery seemed to have limited impact, as market confidence rose from economic recovery seen in China and other parts of the world.