Shipping’s extraordinary earnings boom pushed further into uncharted territory on Friday, with Clarksons Research’s cross-sector ClarkSea Index jumping another 14% to $75,658 a day, marking its fourth consecutive all-time high. The index has now surged 73% in a month, with its year-to-date average up 66% year on year and standing 84% above its 10-year trend. The surge caps a record quarter, with Clarksons calculating that the ClarkSea Index averaged $46,384 a day during the third quarter, beating the previous quarterly record of $44,222 set in the second quarter of 2008 and reaching around twice its 10-year trend.
Very large gas carriers chalked up another record as well, with US Gulf-Japan earnings nearing $194,000 a day, while one-year charter rates for a 6,500 ceu car carrier hit $95,000, the highest level outside the 2022-24 boom. The defining feature of the present rally remains disruption: Clarksons estimates crude flows through the Strait of Hormuz have recovered to around 12 million barrels per day from below 2 million at their second-quarter low, while flows from Yanbu have been rearranged and Brazilian crude is traveling increasingly long distances. Xeneta chief analyst Peter Sand noted that transpacific spot rates edged higher again on October 1 but said he believes the post-Hormuz peak has now been reached, with Far East-US west coast rates still running 344% above their February 28 level.
Source: Splash247
