Rebound in Chinese steel market sends shipping prices upPost by Cameron Davidson on 28th July 2010 in Shipping Hopes have been raised that the worldwide shipping market might avoid slipping into a second phase of recession. These were prompted by the announcement that rising demand for Chinese steel will take up some of the slack in the sector supplying the world's largest cargo vessels. A week-on-week rise in Chinese steel prices of 4.7 per cent in the third week of July - the largest for almost a year - was seen as a sign that the steep drop in prices for hiring the largest container vessels is set to experience a strong reverse in the last quarter of 2010. These large vessels are known as Capesize, because they are too large to navigate the Suez Canal, and so have to use routes around Cape Horn and the Cape of Good Hope. The Capesize figure is seen as an important barometer of confidence in the worldwide shipping industry. A Capesize ship is the length of three football pitches, and widely used for the transportation of iron ore and steel. China is said to account for almost two-thirds of the world's seaborne iron ore cargo. In turn, three-quarters of Capesize cargo consists of iron ore shipments.
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