China:Freight rates for shipping fuel oil southwards remain stable amid weak demand

Chemical News: China:Freight rates for shipping fuel oil southwards remain stable amid weak demand

https://www.chemnet.com Jul 21,2010
The freight rates for delivering fuel oil from northern China to East and South China have been stable recently though shipping demand stays weak, C1's survey with ship owners found.

For 3,000-DTW oil tankers moving from Dalian to Zhoushan, the freight rates were Yuan 85-95/mt on Jul 20, without change from Jul 5. In the meantime, the rates for the Dalian-Huangpu stabilized at Yuan 130-140/mt.
Very few ships moved from Dalian to Shanghai due to the regulation for the World Expo.

Meanwhile, bunker fuel cost edged lower. For instance, the average price of bunker 180CST fuel oil was Yuan 4,500/mt in Ningbo port on Jul 20, down Yuan 50/mt from Jul 5, C1's data shows.

"Current freight rates are mainly supported by long-term customers and markdowns in freight rates won't help much to attract new customers since fuel oil market is sluggish." said a ship owner in East China,."We suffered losses before fuel cost declined, but now we can break even."

Shipping demand is not likely to grow in the near term as fuel oil traders in East China and South China still high stockpiles and they are prudent about purchases when the market trend for international crude is not clear, a market source pointed out.

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