According to Pavel Lysenko, analyst with ASAP Agri and freight broker with Atria Brokers, the Black Sea freight market remains depressed for shipowners amid a continued lack of fresh cargo inquiries. Charterers are entering the market with low freight ideas, but owners are reluctant to accept such bids and are firmly holding their ground in negotiations, aiming to push rates up as much as possible. As a result, despite weak trading activity (partly due to the holiday period) and a shortage of firm cargo orders, shipowners are largely keeping rates stable across all DWT segments.

Thus, according to Atria Brokers’ freight department, freight for a Panamax lot of corn from Ukrainian deep-water ports to South China remains at 34–35 USD/MT.

In the Handysize segment, freight for a 30,000t corn shipment to East Coast Italy holds at 16–17 USD/MT.

In the Coaster sector, freight for a 6,000t corn shipment from Ukrainian Danube ports to East Coast Italy remains steady at 28–30 USD/MT.

Barge freight for 1,000–3,000t of corn from Izmail or Reni to Constanta remains within 8–9 EUR/MT.

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