Trafigura is expecting shipping congestion to continue to be a positive factor for bulker markets for some time yet.

The shipowner and trader’s head of dry freight shipping, Alan Cumming, writes in the annual report that demand for cargo movement improved in the second half of its financial year ending 30 September.

Freight rates followed suit on the back of strong iron ore shipments globally, robust coal exports from Indonesia and a bumper soybean crop in Brazil.