The combined congestion of the dry bulk fleet at Australian, Brazilian, Indian and Chinese ports has risen during the last three weeks to exceed 57Mdwt. This is the highest level we have seen since January and is equivalent to over 10.50% of the entire dry bulk fleet,
marginally greater than the year-to-date average of 10.25% The largest single contributing sector was by some distance the Capes, for which queues amount to 35.2Mdwt. At any given time this year an average of 16% of the Capesize fleet has been subject to port congestion, although the most recent data puts the current figure marginally lower, at 15.75%. In contrast, Panamax congestion has shown a clear tendency to grow since January, reaching 12.5Mdwt at last count and equating to 8.85% of the total Panamax fleet. While this figure is markedly lower than that of the Capes, it is still considerably greater than the Panamax year-to-date average of 7.42% and may provide at least one element of support to persistently declining freight rates.
Source: ICAP Shipping
