GE Shipping expects freight market to remain tight next year

G Shivakumar, the ED & CFO of GE Shipping Company expects freight market to remain tight and rates to remain at healthy levels next year.

"There's very little new capacity coming into the market specially for crude tankers, there is some capacity coming in for product tanker,... which means that the market should remain fairly tight," he said.

The company is currently operating at 100% capacity.

There is also a slight increase in tanker rates for the fourth quarter compared to the preceding quarter, particularly for product tankers, he said, attributing this partly to disruptions in the Red Sea route, prompting vessels to avoid passage via the Suez Canal.

Transits through the Suez Canal have dropped by up to 40%, he said.

Shivakumar also shared his view on the potential impact of the Baltimore bridge collapse,

“It is a fairly important port. From our point of view, this unfortunate accident affects potentially dry bulk volume, because it was a coal export hub. So we need to see how that gets substituted. Whether that coal gets rerouted through other ports on the US East Coast.”

However, Shivakumar noted that it was premature to ascertain the full extent of the impact.

While the incident may affect dry bulk volumes, it is not deemed significant for tankers, which comprise the majority of the company's fleet.

As much as 2.5 million tons of coal, hundreds of cars made by Ford Motor Co, and General Motors Co, and lumber and gypsum are threatened with disruption after the container ship Dali slammed into and brought down Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge in the early hours of March 26.

GE Shipping has a market capitalisation of ₹14,703.26 crore. Its shares have gained 57% over the last year.