Home / Author Archives: hellenicshippingnews. (page 1018)

Author Archives: hellenicshippingnews.

IMO 2020 – Lower Sulphur Means Higher Freight Rates

When we last looked at the IMO 2020 MARPOL Annex VI policy back in 2018 Q4, there were many sources of ambiguity in terms of the outlook. These included scrubber uptake, fuel options and availability, freight rates and the expectations on policy enforcement. As we approach the 1 January 2020 deadline for the policy, we have greater clarity on the likely impact of the policy on fuel prices. CRU’s view is that the IMO 2020 regulation is likely to raise freight rates by around 10-20%. Scrubber uptake has been more ...

Read More »

PetroChina tops Singapore’s shrinking list of 2019 marine fuel suppliers

PetroChina’s Singapore bunkering unit moved up a notch to be the top marine fuel supplier in the world’s biggest ship refuelling hub in 2019, official data showed, as the overall number of suppliers fell for a sixth year in a row. Singapore-based Sentek Marine & Trading Pte Ltd climbed one spot to second, behind PetroChina International Singapore Pte Ltd, while Singapore’s Ocean Bunkering Services Pte Ltd, fell two places to third. Tough market conditions and a crackdown by authorities on industry malpractice cut the number of licensed bunker suppliers to ...

Read More »

Korean oil refiners’ earnings to improve on higher demand for low-sulfur fuel oil

Low-sulfur fuel oil is emerging as new cash cow for South Korean oil refiners as shippers are rushing to stock up the cleaner fuels to comply with International Maritime Organization (IMO)’s new regulation that went into effect on Jan. 1. In January, low-sulfur fuel oil is trading at $668 per ton on average in Korea, up 19 percent from November, according to industry sources on Tuesday. Compared to this, high-sulfur fuel oil has been trading at $408 per ton, or $260 cheaper, in the country this month. Market watchers anticipate ...

Read More »

MABUX: Bunker market this morning, Jan.30

MABUX World Bunker Index (consists of a range of prices for 380 HSFO, VLSFO and MGO (Gasoil) in the main world hubs) changed insignificant and irregular on Jan.29: 380 HSFO – USD/MT 373.42(+0.34) VLSFO – USD/MT 585.00(-4.00) MGO – USD/MT 634.32(+0.46) Meantime, world oil indexes rose for a second day on Jan.29 as worries about the impact of the coronavirus outbreak and swelling crude inventories in the United States weighed on prices, while talk that OPEC could extend oil output cuts provided support. Brent for March settlement rose by $0.30 ...

Read More »

Lean Marine FuelOpt™ propulsion optimization system sales skyrocket in 2019

Lean Marine has revealed that sales of FuelOpt™ in 2019 far surpassed sales achieved in previous years, indicating a sharp uptake in demand for the propulsion optimization technology based on repeat orders and new customers, particularly in the RoPax sector. Since the launch of FuelOpt™, a smart hardware system that automatically and directly optimizes a vessel’s propulsion system based on the commands from the bridge, more than 175 individual systems have been contracted for more than 40 different ship owners. A strong final quarter brought total sales in 2019 to ...

Read More »

Solstad Offshore renews and expands fleet contract with Marlink

Solstad Offshore, a leading provider of specialised offshore tonnage to the international oil and gas industry, has renewed its connectivity contract with Marlink, committing 65 offshore vessels to Sealink, Marlink’s high-throughput Ku-band VSAT service. Solstad’s vessels will be provided with Sealink Services and L-band backup to ensure seamless global connectivity. To meet the diverse demands of its OSV fleet, Solstad sought a highly flexible, customised and future-proof service. Building on more than 10 years’ partnership, Marlink cooperates closely with Solstad Offshore to meet their operational and ICT (Information Communications Technology) ...

Read More »

St Kitts and Nevis International Ship Registry Introduces E-Certification

The St Kitts and Nevis International Ship Registry (SKANReg) has created efficiencies in the way it operates by launching a range of electronic certificates it says will not only speed up the registration process but help in the industry’s efforts to reduce its carbon footprint. The E-Certification process will go live on January 31st. It follows the lodging of a notification of the initiative with the International Maritime Organization (IMO). Certificates that will be digitised after January 31st include: • Provisional Certificate of Registry • Provisional Ship Station Licence • ...

Read More »

Fujairah data: Oil product stocks hit 5-week high as middle distillates jump 27%

Oil product stocks in the Middle Eastern hub of Fujairah climbed to a five-week high Monday, led by a surge in jet fuel and other middle distillate stocks, data released Wednesday by the Fujairah Oil Inventory Zone showed. Total stocks rose 1.2% week on week to 21.561 million barrels, the highest since December 23, with middle distillate stocks surging 27% over the same period to 4 million barrels, data compiled by S&P Global Platts showed. Light distillates rose 12% on week to 7.111 million barrels, a five-month high. The Lunar ...

Read More »

India: Cargo traffic at non-major ports grew 4.8% to 447.21 MT in April-December

Cargo traffic at India’s non-major ports jumped 4.8 per cent in April-December period of the current fiscal to 447.21 million tonnes (MT), a Shipping Ministry report has said. These non-major ports had recorded a cargo traffic of 426.53 MT in the April-December period of 2018-19. During the April-December 2019-20, Directorate of Ports at Odisha recorded highest growth in traffic at 64.2 per cent followed by Ports of Tamil Nadu Maritime Board (34.1 per cent), Directorate of Ports, Puducherry, 27.7 per cent) and Ports Management Board, Andaman & Nicobar Islands (25.4 ...

Read More »

S Korea’s Q1 jet fuel exports seen falling 15-35% in wake of coronavirus

The series of airport shutdowns recently in several major cities in China, in conjunction with multiple travel warnings across Asia Pacific in wake of coronavirus outbreak, could drastically curb the region’s air traffic flows and put a significant pressure on South Korea’s jet fuel exports in the first quarter. South Korea exported around 26.25 million barrels of aviation fuel in Q1 2019, according to data from state-run Korea National Oil Corp. However, Asia’s major oil products supplier could see its jet fuel exports fall by anywhere between 15% and 35% ...

Read More »

Australia’s 2019-20 wheat exports near half-way mark on strong demand, small crop

Australia’s major wheat exporting states South Australia, Victoria and Western Australia have exported just over 3 million mt of wheat since October, a shipping lineup seen by S&P Global Platts showed Wednesday, close to the half-way mark of the country’s anticipated exportable surplus of 7 million-8 million mt for the current marketing year October 2019-September 2020. Another 566,000 mt of wheat was seen on the shipping stem for February, the lineup showed. While overall 2019-20 production was deemed disappointing by market sources, who pegged Australia’s total wheat production for the ...

Read More »

Coronavirus likely to impact steel, iron ore demand in 2020

Iron ore had a stellar 2019, reaching a five-year high of $125 per ton in July on the back of Vale SA’s Brumadinho mining dam disaster and Cyclone Veronica, which struck Western Australia in March. Since then, the price has fallen back to just over $78 per ton in December and is currently trading around $90 per ton in Singapore — still well above prices this time last year. Supply disruption was met with rising demand. China produced nearly 1 billion tons of steel in 2019 and consumed an estimated ...

Read More »

China set to slash crude throughput, imports as coronavirus dents consumption

Refiners in China are poised to slash crude imports and throughput over the coming months, as the nation’s battle to contain the spread of coronavirus hits product consumption, with transportation, manufacturing and industrial activities all slowing down. Industry experts and market analysts have recently revised down their forecasts for China’s throughput in February and March by 600,000-1,000,000 b/d, with crude oil imports set to slow down accordingly in April and May. “We conservatively cut 600,000 b/d from the previous projection for China’s throughput in the coming two months, as demand ...

Read More »

Oil falls on spread of Wuhan virus, U.S. oil-stocks build

Oil prices fell on Thursday as alarm spread over the economic impact of the Wuhan virus in China, while a bigger-than-expected increase in U.S. crude stocks added to the negative tone. Brent was down 95 cents, or 1.6%, at $58.86 a barrel by 0738 GMT, having risen 0.5% on Wednesday. U.S. crude was down 84 cents, or 1.6%, at $52.49 a barrel, after dropping 0.3% in the previous session. Prices had steadied in recent days, after a rout pushed them to three-month lows as investors tried to assess damage from ...

Read More »

OPEC considering moving March 5 meeting forward due to coronavirus impact: officials

OPEC is in discussions to bring forward its scheduled March 5-6 meeting as the oil market continues to be buffeted by the impacts of the coronavirus outbreak. Algerian energy minister Mohamed Arkab said Wednesday a decision would be made “in the coming days.” “It is very likely to advance to February the OPEC meeting, initially scheduled for the beginning of March, so that we can find the means to ensure market balance,” he said, according to state news agency APS. OPEC and 10 allies agreed in December to implement 1.7 ...

Read More »

Recent Videos

Hellenic Shipping News Worldwide Online Daily Newspaper on Hellenic and International Shipping