Freight rates for grain sea transportation in the Handysize and coaster fleet segments demonstrate stability, despite minor fluctuations last week. This was reported by Pavlo Lysenko, analyst at ASAP Agri and freight broker at Atria Brokers.

According to him, after a temporary decrease in rates on certain routes, coaster fleet shipowners managed to stabilize tariffs. The market is supported by a regular flow of grain cargoes, especially in the segment of vessels with a deadweight of 5,000–7,000 tons.

In the Handysize segment, rates also remain unchanged, although pressure from charterers is increasing. The balance between cargo volume and available tonnage supply is gradually shifting in favor of cargo owners.

Current freight rates:

• Handysize — 24–25 $/ton for shipping 30 thousand tons of corn to the East Coast of Italy (unchanged for the week).
• Coaster — 36–38 $/ton for transportation of 6 thousand tons of corn from Ukrainian Danube ports to the Eastern Mediterranean (also unchanged).