The continuing lack of demand from banana charterers meant there was no spot market for large tonnage. There was little incentive to speculate: the Ecuadorian exit price for spot-traded bananas remained high throughout the month while pricing in the eastern Med markets remained volatile.
There was, however, one significant piece of period business: banana charterer Geest not only renewed its period deal with Seatrade, but it also added a fifth vessel to the current string in order to be able to extend its service to and from Europe and the Caribbean, which will from next year incorporate port calls into Colombia. The arrangement is the result of imaginative thinking on all sides: Geest is, to a large extent, exposed to the Dominican Republic, which this year dodged two hurricanes that could have, indeed should have, caused major damage to the country’s banana industry. Adding a Colombia call allows what looks like more of a partnership arrangement with Seatrade than a straight charter, to mitigate the impact of any potential banana crop losses.
Seatrade meanwhile gets to deploy/utilise an additional vessel – and all the five vessels on the service will be larger than the current 535’cbft Streams, which have on deck capacity for 126 FEUs. The new deal will give Seatrade greater flexibility/less pressure on the load factors over the rest of its entire fleet.
The supply of small tonnage remained tight throughout the month and rates on spot fish and potato cargoes were good to firm. While demand for the small vessels was never spectacular, the trend of seeing more orders uncovered than there were vessels available was a feature of the month, especially as the contract potato charters started to load. Market prospects continued to look good for tonnage suppliers until the end of the year: the market will stay strong if the Algerian port of Mostaganem struggles to discharge all the vessels heading its way from the Netherlands, France and Denmark. Any congestion would delay the discharge of potatoes, which would suck in tonnage from elsewhere to fulfill loading commitments, thereby causing rates to spike.
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