2020 Supramax RSA Summary
2020 was a very challenging year on many different levels due to the COVID-19 pandemic, that will have knock on effects for years to come. We have had to learn new ways of doing business, adapting to working from home, organising virtual meetings and coping with this new reality. Market-wise, the BSI fell to a four year low, competition for cargoes was fierce in some areas and we saw large fluctuations and disparities in bunker prices. The management of crew changes had to be handled with the utmost care and compassion in respect to our seafarers as them more than anyone had to live with being isolated from loved ones. These are just a few issues the shipping community faced in 2020 but we all navigated the best we could to overcome them. A year which pushed us at CTM into finding new ways to excel and deliver results to our clients. This is precisely what we did for the members of our Supramax RSA ending the year with some of our best numbers to date where we once again outperformed the index and had the most vessel days since the RSA started in 2013.
Key Numbers
Cargo
Vessels in the RSA carried a total of 29 million tonnes of cargo – an increase of over 5.5 million tonnes from 2019 with the most common cargoes being coal, agricultural products and iron ore.
Fixtures & Fleet
As we reported in November 2020 we had surpassed 500 fixtures in the RSA and ended the year at a record setting 582 fixtures. These numbers were aided by the entry of new vessels to the RSA by new and existing members. More and more companies are realising the benefits of being part of the largest and most flexible supramax pool in the market. The Supramax RSA fleet currently has over 80 vessels from 22 members.
In a year which saw the Baltic Supramax Index (BSI) hit a four year low averaging $8,173 USD per day down 17% from 2019, the Supramax RSA managed to outperform the index, as it has been doing regularly for the past few years. This would not have been possible without the trust that we have earned from all those we work with every day and we continue to push the envelope in 2021 hoping that the Chinese lunar year of the Ox can pull the world out of the depths and doldrums of 2020.