Pacific

After all the doom and gloom of the recentweeks, it seems as though we have turned a corner generally with the ratesrising again, albeit slowly and only in certain areas. Market sentiment goingforward is good. There is more activity for Nopac cargoes, with severalcharterers in the market for grain cargoes back to feast, at the end of theweek supra rates back to about usd 18k for index vsls. Waiting times for vesselsin China have lessened, and iron ore stock piles in Chinese ports haveincreased. The Indian market is still affected by the Monsoon, with activity inwest coast India very low, with ships ballasting down to South Africa. Howeverthere are not many ships available on the east coast, and the market there isfirming, with supra rates back to China now above usd 15k and iron ore stillmoving  and coal via Indonesia back toIndia still attracting good rates. The Persian Gulf is still weak.

Atlantic

The USG was firming up fast towards the endof the week, with forward cargoes also appearing. Some ownrs saying they aresuddenly seeing 2-3 bids on their vsls open after a complete lack of activitylast week. Handies are attracting good rates for trips back to the cont aswell. ECSA is a bit more confused, with some saying that the market isdefinitely firming, and others that it is still moving sideways. Trips to theeast bss dop west africa for supras are going in the low usd 20s. There is upto a month delay in Santos with the warehouses full of sugar. The cont and medare widely regarded as being weak, and owners are not keen to fix their shipsback.