Average spot rates for all bulker sizes wandered into or came very close to correction territory during a week that market experts have described as stolid at best. The capesize 5TC, which considers rates on five key routes, slid 22.5% over the past seven days to $11,979 per day, according to Baltic Exchange figures. “Overall, it was not a very active week, with limited fresh cargo support from either of the basins,” Baltic Exchange analysts wrote on Friday in their weekly take on dry bulk shipping. “There was not much backhaul, front-haul or transatlantic cargo reported from the Atlantic this week.” They noted that the freight rate for the C3 Brazil-to-China route dropped by more than $1 per tonne to $24.775 per tonne on Friday, while a Brazil-China roundtrip voyage fell 9.6% to $11,964 per day. Australian mining giant Rio Tinto on Thursday hired an unnamed capesize to haul 170,000 tonnes of iron ore from Dampier, Australia, to Qingdao, China, at $8.85 per tonne. Loading is set for 22 to 24 April. That’s down from 1 April at $10.80 per tonne, when Australian miner Roy Hill chartered an unnamed capesize owned by Hebei Ocean Shipping Co (Hosco) to send 180,000 tonnes of the commodity from Port Hedland, Australia, to Qingdao. The ship is scheduled to take on ore on 17 and 18 April.

Panamaxes also had a ho-hum week as its 5TC declined 9.6% to $24,997 per day on Friday. “A sluggish week activity-wise for the panamax market resulting in rates continuing to come under pressure,” the analysts wrote. “Noticeably the grain houses were absent from the market, which appeared to cause some anguish.” They pointed out that the transpacific roundtrip voyage rates hovered around $21,000 per day throughout the week, but that “activity was slow” due to limited demand. Pacific Bulk hired Japan Marine United’s 81,086-dwt BTG Olympus (built 2015) at $22,000 per day to make a transpacific round voyage from China to North America’s Pacific Coast and back. Loading will begin on Saturday. On 1 April, dry bulk operator Element maritime chartered Navios Maritime Holdings’ 76,569-dwt Navios Galileo (built 2006) at $24,500 per day for a transpacific round voyage from Japan to the Pacific Coast, the Baltic Exchange said. Loading for that vessel was scheduled to start on 6 April.

The supramax 10TC fell 9.2% over the seven-day stretch to $27,518 per day, amounting to a week that was “uninspiring” for the ship size, analysts said. “The Atlantic remained positional, and rates eased slowly,” they wrote.

The handysize 7TC cascaded 11% over the week to $27,786 per day on Friday. “It has been a turbulent week with most regions seeing declining levels due to various factors,” the Baltic analysts said. “In Asia there was limited activity partly due to holidays in China.” Cobelfret hired Shin Kochi’s 28,700-dwt Lord Nelson (built 2005) at $20,000 per day with the intent of shipping a scrap cargo from the Bay of Biscay to the Turkish Mediterranean. A week earlier, NYK Line’s 33,271-dwt Atlantic Laurel (built 2012) was fixed at $26,000 per day with the intent of sending steel from Japan to Southeast Asia.