Glencore International Plc paid nothing to hire a dry-bulk ship with the vessel’s operator paying $2,000 a day of the trader’s fuel costs after freight rates plunged to all-time lows.

Glencore chartered the vessel, operated by Global Maritime Investments Ltd., a Cyprus-based company with offices in London, Steve Rodley, GMI’s U.K. managing director, said by phone today. The daily payments last the first 60 days of the charter, Rodley said. The vessel will haul a cargo of grains to Europe, putting the carrier in a better position for its next shipment, he said.

“Our other option was to stay in the Pacific and earn poor revenues or ballast to the Atlantic and pay the fuel ourselves,” Rodley said. Ballasting refers to sailing without a cargo. Charles Watenphul, a spokesman for Glencore, declined to comment in an e-mailed response to questions.

The Baltic Dry Index, a measure of commodity shipping costs, advanced 1 point to 648 points today, rising from the lowest since August 1986 on Feb. 3. Owners and operators of vessels are paying as much as $50,000 a day in fuel to travel to ports to win work, or agreeing rates at zero cost as rates fall to records.

Via: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-06/glencore-hires-grain-carrier-at-minus-2-000-a-day-global-marine-says.html