Black Sea freight has stabilized, but cargo is still not enough to raise rates

Market activity in Black Sea ports has somewhat recovered after participants returned from industry events in Greece.

Rates on the Black Sea freight market are stabilizing after a particularly quiet week, ASAP Agri reports.

As of June 12, “coasters” from the Danube to the Eastern Mediterranean were held at around $40/MT, “handisizes” from Black Sea ports to the ECI were around $23/MT.

Thus, in the “coaster” segment, the number of fresh cargo requests increased slightly after market participants returned from Posidonia. However, the available cargo volume remains insufficient to significantly support shipowners or provoke an increase in rates.

In the “handisize” segment, demand for grain transportation from Ukraine remains limited. However, rates are held thanks to the firmer Western Mediterranean market, which compensates for the weakness of the Black Sea direction.

At the same time, as USM recently wrote, the US Department of Agriculture has raised its forecast for the harvest and exports of wheat from Ukraine.