POLL: Which Dry-Bulk Stock Will Win?
NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Shipping rates for Capesize vessles -- the biggest dry-bulk haulers on the high seas -- have fallen off recently on the spot market, as Chinese steel prices continue to decline and ore producers seem to be laying off any new transport bookings.
Shippers have dealt with spot-market volatility by locking in long-term charter contracts. But depending on the company and its management, the percentage of a fleet's boats under charter has ranged from almost 100% to as little as a third. (The higher the percentage, the more optimistic a company is about the chances of an uptick in shipping demand over the near-ish term.)
It's a risky play either way: too conservative and a company misses out on any jump in demand. Too aggressive and a spot-market crash will kill a shipper's profits. With all that in mind, which company's charter strategy will prove the most effective in the second half of 2009? Feel free to leave a comment explaining your pick.
-- Written by Scott Eden in New York
Scott Eden has covered business -- both large and small -- for more than a decade. Prior to joining TheStreet.com, he worked as a features reporter for Dealmaker and Trader Monthly magazines. Before that, he wrote for the Chicago Reader, that city's weekly paper. Early in his career, he was a staff reporter at the Dow Jones News Service. His reporting has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, Men's Journal, the St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times, and the Believer magazine, among other publications. He's also the author of Touchdown Jesus (Simon & Schuster, 2005), a nonfiction book about Notre Dame football fans and the business and politics of big-time college sports. He has degrees from Notre Dame and Washington University in St. Louis.
