20/05/2013
In recessions shipping sentiment can sometimes have a slightly schizophrenic feel. The more demolition mantra crops up again and again at conferences, which is fair enough. But it makes a strange bedfellow for the buy low sell high brigade who are desperately searching for cheap ships. Ultimately these philosophies collide at the bottom of the market
19/05/2013
In the tanker market, the month of April was unkind to tanker owners in all sectors, as both clean and dirty vessels saw a decline in market activity and freight rates. In the clean tanker market in particular, both East and West of Suez freight rates dropped in monthly terms by 4% and 5%, respectively said OPEC in its latest monthly report. The
clean tanker market lacked activity in
19/05/2013
Euroseas Ltd., an owner and operator of drybulk and container carrier vessels and provider of seaborne transportation for drybulk and containerized cargoes, announced Friday its results for the three month period ended March 31, 2013.
First Quarter 2013 Highlights:
19/05/2013
XRTC Business Consultants, Financial Advisor of China Development Bank in shipping finance, announces the signing of the loan agreement between China Development Bank and Paragon Shipping Inc. took place on May, 17th 2013 in Beijing during the auspices of Greek Prime Minister’s Antonis Samaras official visit in China, who was accompanied by a large
17/05/2013
Ship owners of clean product tankers have much to cheer for as of late, since most of rates on clean product routes, are at least trading at viable levels, despite the general low season that the tanker market is traditionally going through this time of year. According to the latest weekly report from shipbroker Intermodal, "most of the clean product routes for MR and LR vessels have
17/05/2013
Three emerging trends -- falling US oil imports, the return of some manufacturing capacity to rich industrialised nations and advances in vessel design -- could significantly change the competitive landscape for global shipping companies and affect their creditworthiness over the next five years, says Moody's Investors Service in a report on the
17/05/2013
Shipping and aviation represented around 3.2% and 2.1% respectively of global CO2 emissions in the mid-2000s. A wide range of projections and scenarios shows that both sectors are likely to grow over the coming decades with a resultant increase in CO2 emissions by 2050,
despite mitigation efforts through technology, operations, and usage
16/05/2013
Ship financing towards Hellenic ship owners showed a slight fall by the end of 2012, as the total loan portfolio held by both foreign and domestic banks stood at $65.78 billion, versus $67.694 billion at the end of 2011. According to the latest annual research from Petrofin Bank Research, the main reasons for this fall were the continuously depressed shipping markets, except offshore, the
16/05/2013
Aegean Marine Petroleum Network Inc. yesterday announced financial and operating results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2013.
First Quarter and Full Year Highlights:
• Recorded sales volumes of 2,367,077 metric tons in Q1 2013.
• Reported gross profit of $70.7 million.
16/05/2013
Eagle Bulk Shipping Inc. announced its results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2013.
For the First Quarter:
• Net reported income of $1.4 million or $0.08 per share (based on a weighted average of 16,966,070 diluted shares outstanding for the quarter), compared with net loss of $17.4 million, or $1.11 per share, for the comparable quarter of 2012.
15/05/2013
According to a series of recent reports, the crude tanker market could be headed for a rebound. In a recent note, Mcquilling Services, as US-based consultant stated its optimism for the beleaguered segment, especially for larger crude and residual tankers. The basis for this view is rooted on massively reduced ordering activity and relatively robust exit profiles.
15/05/2013
The shipyard industry seemed to head straight for the output-abyss just 15 months ago. Today the transition from recent years' record high shipyard output to a more sustainable level of output appears to soft-land with global shipyard output clearly slowing down. This BIMCO analysis compares data from December 2011 with data from March 2013, representing a
15/05/2013
The collapse of the German KG ship financing system has left a hole in the small container vessel market which still needs to be filled, particularly as much of the fleet needs to be made more fuel efficient and environmentally friendly. Only 4% of the existing fleet of ships below 3,000 teu is on order. Though small, the vessels are the workhorses of intra-regional services, so
14/05/2013
With ship owners flocking into shipyards for a "piece of the pie" of the prosperous looking product tanker market, South Korean shipyards have taken the lion's share of the market. According to the latest report from London-based shipbroker Gibson, 86% of all tanker orders (ships above 25,000 dwt) during the past 16 months was for the
14/05/2013
Europe’s continuing economic recession remains badly timed for ocean carriers who still have an armada of ULCVs planned for delivery before the end of the year. The continuing collapse in westbound freight rates is worrying, but could be reversed by more radical changes on the supply side.
Westbound:
14/05/2013
As reported by the
Arab News source late last month, the number of countries that are exporting refined oil products is threatening to affect export profitability. While there have been some refinery closures in the developed world in countries such as US, Britain, Germany, Canada, Japan and Australia, these closures have not kept pace with the decreased demand for oil
13/05/2013
During the course of the past few months, headlines in the tanker markets have been all about the positive trends in the clean tanker business, as opposed to the doom-and-gloom of the dirty tanker side of things. As a result, the product tanker orderbook has been swelling, with the focus been towards eco-design carriers. In its Tanker Market Outlook, issued at the start of 2013,
13/05/2013
They say that hindsight is a great thing. But it really depends on what you're looking back at. In the 1950s young men wrote plays looking back in anger at what had gone before and not much liking what history had bequeathed them. More than fifty years later, the shipping industry is doing the same; looking at what it has inherited and wondering about where its
13/05/2013
In our October 2012 Shipping E-brief, we reported on the Commercial Court decision in The Bulk Chile, which held that a ship-owner is entitled to redirect the payment of freight due under bills of lading and separately rely on a charterparty lien on sub-freights. The Court of Appeal has now upheld that decision. The prevailing view remains that
12/05/2013
The latest OPEC monthly oil report noted that global fixtures in April declined by 2.4% compared with the previous month to average 17.44 mb/d. According to preliminary data, OPEC spot fixtures were stable from last month’s level to average12.81 mb/d. Middle East-to-East fixtures reported a decline of 11.1% or 0.30 mb/d from the previous month while Middle