Greece’s Diana Shipping has fixed its capesize bulk carrier Houston on an 11- to 14-month timecharter to SwissMarine Services for $5,150 per day, minus 5% commission.
The NYSE-listed company expects to earn gross revenue of $1.7m during the initial 11 months of the contract, which commences on January 30.
The new charter was fixed at a daily rate 60% lower than what the cape was earning during its previous employment.
Houston has just concluded a one-year timecharter to Germany’s RWE Supply & Trading, which was fixed in January 2015 at a gross rate of $12,750 per day, minus 5% commission.
The massively reduced rate shows the ever-weakening state of dry bulk shipping markets. The Baltic Dry Index today fell to a new record low of 317 points, having fallen eight points since yesterday.
Similarly, the Baltic Capesize Index was assessed at 211 points today, down five on yesterday. The index’s weighted timecharter average rate today is $2,785 per day, a decrease of $66.
London-based shipbroker Alibra Shipping today estimates one-year timecharter rates for capesize vessels at $4,500 daily for ships in the Atlantic and Pacific basins.
