The dry bulk market has continued its rising pattern set after China opened up again for business, following the Asian New Year Holidays. As a result, the industry's benchmark, the Baltic Dry Index rose again yesterday by 14 points, to reach 834, with all major ship types gaining on the day. Still, according to market analysts and shipbrokers, this current trend isn't set to continue at least for the next few months. According to them,

The annual GL Hellenic Technical Committee was held in Athens yesterday. The Committee brings together representatives from the Greek maritime community, to hear and discuss presentations from both GL and external experts. This year, GL’s experts provided the Committee members with an update on the latest market trends and shipbuilding technology and examined some key topics for the future of

'Financing Charters' may now be treated as 'Preferred Mortgages' — The Republic of the Marshall Islands passes Maritime Amendment Act (No. 1), 2013. The Republic of the Marshall Islands’ Nitijela has passed the Maritime Amendment Act (No. 1), 2013 – a legislative initiative of key significance to the international marine finance community. The first-of-its-kind legislation permits a “financing charter” to be treated as a preferred

With oil demand still not rising quickly enough in order to absorb the extra tonnage, it seems that the VLCC tanker market is set for yet another dismal year. In its latest report, Poten & Partners noted that VLCC sector earnings continue to languish as recent rate movements broke through previously estimated seasonal support levels. TD1 spot rates have fallen into the teens, while other Baltic VLCC routes have also dropped

DryShips Inc., or DryShips or the Company, an international provider of marine transportation services for drybulk and petroleum cargoes, and through its majority owned subsidiary, Ocean Rig UDW Inc., or Ocean Rig, of offshore deepwater drilling services, yesterday announced its unaudited financial and operating results for the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2012. Fourth Quarter 2012 Financial Highlights

The International Labour Organization (ILO) adopted the MLC on 23 February 2006. Following ratification of the Convention by the thirtieth State on 20 August 2012, the Convention will enter into force internationally on 20 August 2013. As of 27 February 2013, thirty five States have now ratified the Convention. The MLC provides a set of comprehensive rights and protection at work for seafarers and aims to achieve minimum

Navios Maritime Holdings Inc. ("Navios Holdings" or "the Company") (NYSE: NM), a global, vertically integrated seaborne shipping and logistics company, today reported financial results for the fourth quarter and year ended December 31, 2012. Angeliki Frangou, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Navios Holdings stated, "I believe that Navios Holdings is poised to capture any upturn in the market. During the past few years, as

With the first couple of months of 2013 now "under our belt" it seems that ship owners around the world have laid out their investment planning, thus heading out to shipyards for their ordering business. As a result, there is a steady stream of new orders across all sector of the shipping markets. The reason for this is that, in Clarkson Hellas' words, "they realize that competitively priced opportunities and deliveries are potentially

Rising demand has prompted owners to order more and larger LPG vessels, according to the latest LPG Forecaster from Drewry Maritime Research. The increased demand has been further improved by a growing consumption base in emerging economies, with supply bolstered by an expected emergence of new export sources, notably the US and the Russia. LPG demand in the so-called saturated markets, such as Japan

Work to update the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions estimate for international shipping moved forward during an Expert Workshop at IMO Headquarters last week, (26 February to 1 March 2013), attended by more than one hundred participants from IMO Member Governments and Observer Organizations. A final study is expected to be delivered in 2014. The Workshop followed the endorsement, in principle, by IMO’s Marine

One of the worst hit segments of the crude tanker market appears to be the Suezmax one, which has been taking one blow after another in recent days. According to the latest weekly report from London-based shipbroker Gibson, "with the winter season traditionally being the strongest time of the year for earnings, it is a worrying tale that in the fourth quarter of 2012, TD5 earnings averaged a mere $13,500/day compared

Drewry’s latest Tanker Insight shows that VLCC owners are still struggling despite an increase in demand due to low freight rates and persistent overcapacity in the Middle East Gulf. This was reflected in the Drewry Tanker Earning Index, which fell by 27% to 50.3 in January. After low activity in December due to the holiday season, the VLCC market recovered in January with 31.7 million tonnes of crude fixed compared with 20.7

Recent events have demonstrated that a fire on board a ship can be potentially devastating and can seriously affect the safety of those on board. Preliminary results from the Concentrated Inspection Campaign (CIC) on Fire Safety Systems, carried out between 1 September 2012 and 30 November 2012 in the Paris MoU region show that: 103 ships were detained over the 3 month period as a direct result of the CIC for deficiencies

In an interview with Hellenic Shipping News Worldwide, Mr. Steve Christy, Director with Gibson Shipbrokers Consultancy & Research, noted that a series of changes in oil trade patterns, coupled with market fundamentals of supply and demand, are expected to provide added boost in the clean product tanker market trade, rather than the crude tanker markets. He also mentioned that demolition activity is set to keep

Everybody wants to buy a cheap ship. And why not? It's the shipping mantra; buy low sell high. A great philosophy but, like searching for lost impressionist paintings at car boot sales, a difficult day job best done when nobody else is looking. The classic was 1986 when modern Panamaxes were available for $6m. They were cheap because cash was so short there were few takers. It's a Trade-off  So, is now a good time

The first Documentary Committee meeting of 2013 took place in London on 6 February under the chairmanship of David Chapman of OSG Tankers UK Ltd. The Committee has recently completed its work on two new clauses – a River Ports Clause and a H2S Purging Clause. The INTERTANKO Model River Ports Clause is designed to provide clarity on the commencement of laytime and demurrage in river ports. The benefit of the clause

Drawing from recent history, a report from BIMCO on the container shipping segment recently noted that the freight rate lifts that have been experienced on the trans-Pacific and Far East to Europe trades in recent weeks may bring about rather decent average full-year rates. According to the report, "at the beginning of 2010 and again in 2012 rates went up from low levels to double up and quadruple up, bringing around

Seaspan Ship Management Ltd. (Vancouver) one of the leading container vessel managers, has chosen Germanischer Lloyd's (GL) GL HullManager system to upgrade its in-house hull integrity management system. The condition based monitoring software will be implemented across Seaspan's entire fleet of 76 vessels over the next several years. "We developed our own temporary Hull Structure monitoring system at Seaspan

On 1 January this year, amendments to MARPOL Annex V concerning the disposal of cargo residues and hold washing water containing materials that may be harmful to the marine environment (HME) came into force. BIMCO’s existing Hold Cleaning/Residue Disposal Clause for Time Charter Parties already largely addresses the correct disposal methods for cargo residues and hold washing water in accordance with MARPOL

After a prolongued period of diminishing numbers in terms of vessels flying the Hellenic Flag, the newly formed Ministry of Shipping, finally decided to take the steps necessary, in order to bring the Hellenic Shipping Registry into the 21st century and make it competitive, compared to its piers. In a special event, held yesterday onboard the ship Hellenic Liberty, a Liberty vessel now acting as a museum, the Minister