At the height of the economic boom the going rate for charters of the largest bulk carriers (“Cape Size”) reached startling figures of up to 120,000 US dollars a day. The market downturn saw this plummet to as low as $3,000 a day. Although this rate has since risen (reportedly to the region of $20,000 a day) it is still a far cry from last year and players in the industry are hurting.
The result is that on a daily basis chartering companies are going to the wall or simply trying to redeliver (hand back) ships on charter to them, says Shepstone & Wylie’s Shane Dwyer, a partner in the International Transport, Trade and Energy Department and an expert in the shipping field. He referred to a recent Lloyds List report which said arbitrators estimate that appointments have surged by as much as 25% since last year.
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