Ina daily market briefing Benjamin Nolan of Stifel said the dip couldhave a negative near-term impact on the likes of Greek operators NaviosMaritime Holdings, Star Bulk Carriers and Diana Shipping.
“Collectively,we estimate dry bulk demand could contract by as much as 5% to 8% in the firstquarter from fourth quarter levels, which is likely to result in continuedweakening of dry bulk rates,” he added.
“Althoughwe believe the longer-term fundamentals for the dry bulk market are improving,we expect shares of dry bulk companies could come under pressure in thenear-term on soft charter rates.”
Today, Nolan noted average capesize rates slipped 27.5%from yesterday's levels and are now hovering at around $17,452, which isfraction of the $45,000 premium charters were paying for the same class ofvessels just one month ago.
While the panamax, supramax, and handysize sectors haveonly fallen by approximately 25% to 30% over the past four weeks and are nowaround $10,000 to $13,000 per day, the equity analyst noted this is only “marginallyhigher” than the rates most operators need to break even.
By Friday evening all but three of the26 dry-bulk stocks tracked by the TradeWinds Shipping Index had lost momentum.Globus Maritime, Navios Maritime Holdings, Safe Bulkers and Genco Shipping& Trading were among the “Worst Performers”.
In the hour leading up to the closethese same stocks, which trade under the tickers GLBS,NM, SB, and GNK, hadfallen 8.92%, 6.86%, 6.46% and 5.43%, respectively, to $3.37, $9.01,$9.51 and $2.44,while Baltic Trading (BALT) jumped 0.33% to $6.17.
