The world economy seems to be improving, at least in some key areas. Raw materials like coal and iron, the two key components to steel, are in high demand and imports of such raw materials are up in China. Ports servicing bulk freighters picking up coal and iron ore in Brazil and Australia are backlogged with ships looking to pick up supplies.

Chinese exports and imports are both up, but there is a mismatch of items coming and going; imports tend to be of bulk commodities while exports tend to be container freight. I’m no shipping expert, but there would seem to be a market for a flexship that could run bulk loads going into China and container loads going out; as is, there is a lot of dead-heading of underused containerships going back to China and underused bulk carriers leaving China.

Spot rates for bulk cargo are up, as are spot rates for container ships heading out of China. That traffic should be keeping west coast ports busy in 2010, as container transport vessels will be offloading onto intermodal trains and trucks heading east. That means that the folks who do manage to export to Asia will have an advantage, as there will be some cheap freight rates for traffic heading back to Asia across the Pacific.

Eventually, the Chinese will have to do something with their trade surplus money other than suck up Treasury bills, and the firms that have goods that the Chinese want will be in a good position to make a profit; however, that may have to wait until the current government opts to change their export-driven economic policy that keeps the Yuan artificially low.

Sources: http://seafarerblog.com/2010/02/16/shippin....html#more-1767
http://www.cargobusinessnews.com/news/monday/news1.html