Capesize freight rates booked gains despite a late selloff session, as trade participants engaged in profit-taking activities.
The Capesize 5 time charter average, then rose by $1,734 day-on-day to $32,885 on Thursday, after a choppy session.
The Baltic Dry Index (BDI) then rose by $65 day-on-day, or up 2.13% day-on-day to $3,117, due to better freight rates.
Freight market gears up for more volume in June
Freight rates continued to improve further, as market expected shipping volume to ramp up for the historical Western Australia to China route in June.
Moreover, the tonnage supply was deemed as well-balanced for spot dates and shipowners preferred to keep vessels in the Pacific market instead of ballasting toward Brazil.
However, there was concerns over the port congestion in China, which affected the supply chain and with around 300-350 vessels heard to be awaiting berth at the Port of Shanghai in early May, according to the Royal Bank of Canada.
Bunker prices dip on volatile market
The bunker prices fell slightly on market volatility, as the price of VLSFO dropped by $1/mt to $847/mt in the port of Singapore.
As market were concerned over low oil demand in China, following the prolong lockdown in Shanghai, though the infected cases were coming down with hope of more easing of the Covid restrictions.
In the meantime, oil supply may tighten further as OPEC+ failed to fulfil their output target in April by around 2.7 million bpd. The shortfall was due to outages in Libyan oilfields and lower production from Angola and Nigeria.