An increase in the demand for smaller containerships has been seen as the shipping industry adapts to emerging trends and seeks to meet the heightened demand for intra-regional shipping and more flexible services

Wood Mackenzie expects China to purchase 20m tonnes of seaborne coal later in December or January next year. This, in addition to tighter tonnage availability, would support freight rates in the short term

Geopolitical developments in particular around Chinese coal imports are putting the brakes on dry bulk demand, according to BIMCO. However, it remains to be seen at what level China will set new coal quotas and how the spat with Australia develops

Lloyd’s List Intelligence vessel tracking data shows that the 2015-built, 37,503 dwt vessel Ince Point carrying Australian wheat is scheduled to reach Ho Chi Minh City on December 10. This is the first of what could be 60 ships carrying wheat to global markets

Timber from Australia is the latest commodity to be hit by a series of bans and other trade barriers imposed by Beijing, including shipments of coal held up in customs in recent days, souring relations between the two countries

The delay in berthing has been attributed to the Chinese Customs authorities not granting import clearances. Meanwhile, the service contracts of the 23 Indian crew members on board the bulk carrier have long expired, with most of them sailing for about 15 months now

The arbitrage on coal imports is huge and the only limiting factor for imports to China today is the lack of import quotas, noted head of Klaveness Research Peter Lindström. He believes that the high domestic coal price in China will trigger a softer stance towards imports in the coming months

The Japan-built vessel, which was delivered to its new owner earlier this month, fetched a gross price of $7.85m, company says in a fleet update

Genco, which has been focusing on a fleet renewal programme, reported a net loss of $21.1m in the third quarter of the year. However, the owner declared a regular quarterly cash dividend of $0.02 per share as part of its dividend programme, which began last year

Braemar analyst Nick Ristic sees the grain trade growing by almost 4% this year versus the previous season. He believes that Chinese imports of soyabeans from the US are set to improve over the coming months, following healthy sales activity between the two countries

In the first seven weeks of the US marketing year, soyabean exports to China amounted to 8.2m tonnes, according to BIMCO. That represents 72% of all US soyabean exports over the period

China, which is of course the most important economy for dry bulk demand and especially capesizes, will remain the shinning star for the coming year, according to the International Maritime Fund. China’s growth is having a positive spillover effect on commodity prices, providing encouragement to dry bulk freight rates.