Panamax rates slide as trade war bites into US soybean exports to China

Freight rates for panamax bulkers have dropped over the past three weeks amid falling US soybean exports to China.

The Baltic Dry Index for panamaxes slid 26% over this period to 1,477 on Monday, while average time charter equivalent rates for 82,000-dwt panamaxes tumbled by 22.3% to $12,838 per day.

“The lost volumes of soybean cargoes mean that panamax shipowners need to go somewhere else to deploy their ships,” Bimco analyst Peter Sand told TradeWinds.