Congestion at most Chinese ports has eased further over the past week due to a general improvement of the weather, a port agent source said Wednesday.
Dense fog, strong winds, heavy rain and snow made several China ports close from time to time since late November.
Shanghai, Bayuquan, Qingdao had cleared their backlog of ships, and waiting time for a Capesize vessel to berth was one to three days compared to two to five days earlier.
Delays at Jingtang fell by one day, with Capesize vessels currently waiting five days. The port closed Wednesday afternoon at 1400 hours China time (0600 GMT) due to dense fog.
But Caofeidian and Tianjin ports were still seeing Capesize vessels waiting ten days for a berth, with both ports closed intermittently over the past week due to dense fog. For Caofeidian, this represented an increase of five days from a week ago.
Tonnage supply has risen over the past week, sources said, with owners eagerly offering their vessels in the Pacific region.
"We felt the tightness in supply a couple of weeks back, when we only had two offers for our cargo, but last week we had many more," a charterer said this week. An operator with an Australian cargo also said offers were aplenty Wednesday.
The downward pressure from oversupply in the Pacific basin was evident in the freight spot market.
Platts assessed the freight rate for a Capesize vessel to move iron ore from Port Hedland in Western Australia to Qingdao at $4.05/wmt Wednesday, down 65 cents from December 1.
