Cargo Slump Pulls Down Bulk Hire Costs To 45-Month Low

Hire costs for Panamax vessels, the largest to transit the Panama Canal, slumped to the lowest in three years and nine months, as a shortage of cargoes in the Atlantic Ocean region worsened an oversupply of ships.

Average daily returns declined for a 17th day, falling 3.9 percent to $3,833, according to the Baltic Exchange, a London-based assessor of freight costs. Rates that have dropped 40 percent in four weeks are within 8.4 percent of the record low recorded on Dec. 12, 2008, exchange data show.

Rates to hire Panamax vessels for transits across the Atlantic slumped to the lowest since the index started in 1999, falling 6.6 percent to $2,238 daily, down 85 percent for the year, data show.

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