Panamax coal freight rates on established routes from South Africa's Richards Bay and Indonesia to India fell on Thursday, weighed down by weaker activity in the Pacific basin, sources said.

"Freight rates are coming off slowly this week. China is not buying that much coal and even India's buying remains weak," a Singapore-based source said.

Though there were several inquiries on Wednesday, but only a few fixtures were done, he said, adding that the upcoming Easter weekend was expected to dampen activity further.

"Activity has started to slow down considerably compared to where it was a week prior," Greek shipbroker Intermodal said in its weekly note on Wednesday.

"The Atlantic seemed to be the main bull keeping the momentum going, however this was mainly fed by [east coast of South America] ECSA activity, which may well likely subdue over the next couple of days," the broker added.

The Pacific Basin is not ready to pick up the slack if the Atlantic starts to weaken as a bleaker demand outlook is already being seen, the broker said.

Platts assessed the daily Panamax coal freight rates from Richards Bay to India's east coast at $17.05/mt and to the west coast at $16.05/mt, both down 10 cents from Wednesday.

Platts also assessed the daily Panamax coal freight rates from South Kalimantan to India's east coast at $9.90/mt, down 10 cents from Wednesday, and to the west coast at $11/mt, down 5 cents.

CAPESIZE FREIGHT WEAKER
Freight rates for Supramaxes, however, remained stable aided by some fixtures, but "it's just a matter of time before the rates come off," the Singapore-based source said.

He noted that Capesize freight rates were already weaker, with fixtures from the west coast of Australia to China being done at $7.15-7.20/mt, down from $7.40-7.45/mt a few weeks earlier.

"The market seemed to be trending sideways this week for Capes, as the softening conditions in the Atlantic basin started to remove considerable "steam", while the firming demand from the Far East helped balance things out to some extent," Intermodal said.

"It is unsure if the Pacific will continue to keep up with the drop in activity that we are expecting this week due to the Catholic Easter holidays," the broker added.

The limited action during this past week has also generated increased supply and could possibly hinder any efforts by the owners to keep rates high, the broker said.

Source: Platts