Friday, February 13, 2009
Global Shipments Improving as Credit Crunch Eases
Technorati Tags: Baltic Dry Index,Baltic Dry Indices,Ship Chartering,Shipchartering,Voyage Fixtures,Time Charter Fixtures,Panamax,Capesize,Handymax,Handysize,Supramax,Dry Cargo Fixtures,Bulk Cargo Fixtures,Baltic Exchange,Freight Review,Maritime Baltic Index, Precious Shipping Pcl, Khalid Hashim, Rice, Wheat, Soybeans, Steel, Ore, Credit Freeze, Letters of Credit, TNT Freight Review,
| Friday, 13 February 2009 | |
| Precious Shipping Pcl, Thailand’s second-largest sea-cargo company, said global shipments of products have improved this quarter after a credit freeze that stalled exports in the previous three months eased. “It’s much better than it was in last year’s fourth quarter, when shipments basically stopped completely,” Chief Executive Officer Khalid Hashim said in a phone interview in Bangkok today. “More cargo is moving, but it’s not yet back to normal.” Asia’s export-dependent economies including Taiwan and South Korea have posted record declines in shipments abroad. The U.S., Europe and Japan, Thailand’s biggest overseas markets, are all in recession. A resurgence in letters of credit may help ease the slide in sales abroad. “Trade financing should become more or less normalized by the end of this quarter, although we will not go back to boom times,” Hashim said. “Demand has slowed during the global recession. The next 18 to 24 months will be tough.” A credit crunch in the last quarter of 2008 left cargoes stranded as traders found it harder to get letters of credit that guarantee payment for goods. Precious Shipping shares climbed 1.5 percent to 13.9 baht as of 3 p.m. in Bangkok. The stock has advanced 28 percent this year. The Baltic Dry Index, a measure of shipping prices, has climbed threefold from a record low in December. Still, the gauge is more than 80 percent lower than its peak last May. Bangkok-based Precious Shipping operates 43 vessels carrying rice, wheat, soybeans, steel and other dry freight around the world. The company is in talks with banks to raise as much as $250 million to replace its 25 oldest vessels, Khalid said, reiterating comments he made Jan. 19. Exports from Thailand contracted for a second month in December, falling 16 percent from a year earlier. The decline was 18 percent in November. Source: Bloomberg |
