On September 21, International Seaborne Market held an International Conference “Azov-BlSea & Med Cargo Flow Outlook” in Odessa. More than 90 participants from 14 countries took part in the event.
Within the business program of the conference, participants discussed the general prospects of the global freight market and particularly the developments of the Black Sea market.
At the first session devoted to dry bulk fleet developments, brokers and operators highlighted trends in all major tonnage groups, namely Panamax, Supramax, Handysize and sea-river coaster sectors, as well as they provided expert opinions on future developments in newbuildings, demolition and s&p markets. Reports on special topics which were focused on international maritime law stirred lively interest among attendees of the session and gave them a great deal of crucial information about the subject.
The second session was fully circling around trends in major export markets, the understanding of which is certainly an effective tool for forecasting sentiments and possible changes in the freight market. Traders, brokers and analysts were speaking about prospects of the markets for grain, coal and steel scrap.
The third session was a round table discussion that brought together key players of the Black Sea market, namely Metinvest, DTEK, Nibulon, Aquavita, Phaethon, Varamar and Handy Chart, as well as representatives of Howe Robinson, Interlegal and the Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority. Together with the audience, speakers shared views on an urgent problem of extremely high port dues in Ukraine and tried to estimate the effect of their reduction. Moreover, charterers and operators expressed opinions on using hedging tools against market volatility and also highlighted advantages and disadvantages of using FFA, time-charter-period contracts, COA.
