India's Great Eastern Shipping Co Ltd expects rates in the dry bulk segment to be steady in the near term though those in the tanker segment are seen under pressure, a senior official said.

"So far rates (in dry bulk) have been quite buoyant and we have not seen anything that can make the rates drop off a cliff anytime soon. Rates have been fairly steady for the past 6-9 months, at least for the smaller segments," Chief Financial Officer G. Shivakumar said in a conference call on Monday.

Chinese steel production acitivity has also gathered momentum which boosted dry bulk rates.

"In the oil tanker segment, the big hope is on a cold winter or on a resumption of contango. The contango has come down to a pretty low level now," Shivakumar said.

A cold winter will result in higher movement of cargo thereby boosting freight rates.

Last week, GE Shipping reported a 57 percent rise in consolidated July-Sept. net profit and said revenue visibility for the balance part of FY11 was about 3.36 billion rupees.

The company has about 55 percent of its vessels on long-term charter and the rest in the spot market where price volatility is typically higher.

It plans to dry dock 3-4 vessels in Oct-Dec. Shivakumar said the company typically dry docks 12-13 vessels annually. He did not disclose the amount that would be spent on dry-docking this quarter.

The company, which has a fleet of 33 vessels, has earmarked about $573 million to buy eight vessels with a total capacity of 1.31 million DWT. (Reuters)