Ukraine’s freight market seeks balance amid fuel price volatility, — ASAP Agri

Shipowners are raising prices, relying on rising bunker costs, while charterers are increasingly agreeing to compromise levels.

Shipowners continue to maintain high freight targets due to the rise in bunker fuel prices. This is reported by ASAP Agri analysts.

At the same time, the speculative factor is gradually weakening, and the parties are more likely to find a compromise on the level of rates.

Thus, over the past week, the dynamics in the “handysize” segment were mixed. Rates for transportation to European destinations increased slightly, while freight to the Eastern Mediterranean and Turkey weakened slightly.

In the “burner” segment, most negotiations took place at levels close to the previous week. The supply of such tonnage remains limited, but the amount of solid cargo is also small, so shipowners do not yet have sufficient grounds to further increase rates.

In annual terms, freight has already increased significantly. In particular, the transportation of corn by “boosters” from the Danube ports to the east coast of Italy at the end of March 2026 is estimated at approximately $45/t, while a year earlier it was about $27–28/t.

In the segment of “handisizes” on the route from the deep-water ports of Ukraine to the east coast of Italy, rates at the end of March reached about $30/t compared to about $16/t a year earlier.

Also, the day before, USM wrote that representatives of the UN World Food Program visited the port of Chornomorsk.