On the fifth week in Azov-Black sea region there are still low freight rates as on the previous week. The freight rate for shipment 3000 mts of wheat from Azov to the Marmara sea ports remains USD 18 per metric ton.
There is a quite large number of spot tonnage in the Azov sea region due to lack of grain cargoes. Thus, a lot of shipowners are ready to accept lower rates in order to avoid long downtime. Some owners begin to work non-grain cargoes, such as coal and scrap, or start working only Black Sea ports, where freight rates are better.
Active trade continues in the Caspian region so large queues of vessels are kept in the ports of Makhachkala and Aktau. ВDue to this fact, some shipowners refuse to take cargoes from these ports and prefer to work from Astrakhan port, where is a rather low demand for sea-river tonnage. Lack of cargoes from Astrakhan port has led to an even greater reduction in freight rates and the freight level for the shipment of 3000 mts of corn to Northern Iranian ports is already USD 29 PMT.