Palm & Veg Report, JANUARY 2026

The market has got off to a predicatably slow start, not helped by Christmas and New Year both falling mid week, but at the time of writing we are starting to see some green shoots of activity, albeit in the main part for end January loading and beyond. Shipowners that did not get their first half January positions covered before the holidays are now praying for some late running replacement cargoes to come to the market. A number of newbuildings were either delayed last year or held back to deliver in Jan and Feb ’26 and we will have to see how readily these get absorbed, but it is worth noting that whilst the delivery schedule for this year remains vast, in the 17,000-50,000 dwt segment there are roughly half the number of ships scheduled for this year versus last year. MR markets ended last year on a high in the East, and whilst we did see a correction before the holiday period, it was not a crash, and as a result MR time charter rates are still hovering in the mid / high $20’s k per day region as CPP and Biodiesel alternatives remain both attractive and readily available. We will see what the rest of the year brings, looking at recent headlines it could be an exciting year for shipping but for all the wrong reasons !