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Glencore International Plc paid nothing to charter a dry bulk vessel with the operator also contributing to some of the fuel costs as freight rates plunged to all-time lows.

Global commodity trader Glencore hired a vessel operated by Global Maritime Investments Ltd. (GMI), a Cyprus-based firm with offices in London. The shipping firm agreed to pay Glencore US$2,000 per day for the first 60 days of the charter as a contribution towards the trader's fuel costs.

GMI will pay Glencore as the Panamax-sized vessel travels from near the coast of Yosu, South Korea to Australia to load grain, reverting to a daily rate linked to a Baltic Exchange index level once the 60 days expires.

Steve Rodley, GMI’s managing partner for the UK, insisted that the transaction made sense because Glencore would still be required to pay for all but the US$2,000 daily cost of the fuel consumed on the voyage.

Rodley also pointed out that the vessel will haul a cargo of grains to Europe, therefore putting the carrier in a better position for its next shipment.

“Our other option was to stay in the Pacific and earn poor revenues or ballast [without cargo] to the Atlantic and pay the fuel ourselves,” Rodley is quoted as saying.

Rodley added that the situation was comparable to that of a hire car operator whose car was stranded in a remote, inconvenient location and which had a driver offering to accept money to relocate the car somewhere more convenient, while paying for the fuel himself.

Dry bulk market rates have slumped in recent weeks. Last month, the Baltic Dry Index, a measure of commodity shipping costs, plunged 61 percent for its worst start to a year on record.

Earlier this month, D/S Norden A/S, Europe’s largest publicly trading commodity shipping company, said it hired a Supramax vessel at no cost other than fuel charges, in its first such transaction in a quarter of a century.

Details about the GMI ship hire were included in a list of vessel charters published on a daily basis by the Baltic Exchange, the London-based assessor of freight costs.

"It’s very unusual for this type of fixture to be reported to the Baltic Exchange," the exchange was quoted as saying.