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A stronger U.S. dollar dragged the euro down to its lowest level in months as investors expected the U.S. economy to remain resilient to the spread of the coronavirus across the world, with payroll data from last week reinforcing traders’ optimism. Market participants were more positive about riskier currencies amid hints that the spread of the coronavirus could be slowing down and as some big businesses resumed work in China after the Lunar New Year break. The Australian dollar rose 0.3% to 0.6694 per U.S. dollar, pulling away from a ...

Evercore ISI Chairman Ed Hyman said he sees no economic growth in China in the first quarter due to the deadly coronavirus. The market pullback Friday “is still a worry about the virus,” Hyman said on CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street.” “Our team has GDP growth at zero for the first quarter … China is really slowing and that’s worrying people for sure.” Hyman, who has been ranked the top economist in Institutional Investor’s annual poll for more than three decades, said the fast-spreading virus will not have much of ...

Greece is in a position to take the lead among European Union (EU) members in sustainable policies and investments, European Commissioner for Economy Paolo Gentiloni said. In the first presentation of the European Commission’s new “European Green Deal Investment Plan” in Greece, Gentiloni explained the objectives and goals of the EU-wide project, stressing that “Greece could even become one of the green champions for Europe.” “Its geographical location and natural wealth offer opportunities for sustainable tourism, high-value eco-label products, renewable energy, and green logistics,” said Gentiloni, a former Italian prime ...

Euro zone finance ministers are set to agree this month a more growth-friendly fiscal policy, three EU officials said on Friday, a change from current targets that would pave the way for more spending in Germany amid fears of a downturn. Repeated attempts to boost investment and growth in the 19-country bloc have failed in past years as Germany, the euro zone’s largest economy, kept posting large budget surpluses despite calls to spend more. But now, amid fresh recession fears in Germany and concerns about the impact on the global ...

Daily rates on main tanker routes as compiled by shipbroker Charles R. Weber.

TOP Ships Inc., an international owner and operator of modern, fuel efficient “ECO” tanker vessels, announced that it has entered into agreements to sell, to unaffiliated third parties, two MR2 Product Tankers, the M/T Stena Weco Elegance and the M/T Eco Palm Desert. The sales are subject to customary closing conditions and are anticipated to be concluded within the first quarter of 2020. TOP Ships Inc. is an international ship-owning company. Source: TOP Ships Inc.

SK Energy, a major energy company in South Korea, is ready to produce low-sulfur fuel oil for ships as the construction of its desulfurization plant has been completed. The company said commercial production is possible in late March after a two-month test operation. With an investment of more than 1 trillion won ($840 million), SK Energy completed the construction of vacuum residue desulfurization (VRDS) facilities in late January in the southeastern industrial city of Ulsan to produce 40,000 barrels of low sulfur fuel oil per day. SK Energy plans to ...

Maersk Line, the world’s largest container shipping company, is partnering with PORTRIX LOGISTIC SOFTWARE GmbH (PLS) to integrate spot pricing into PLS’ market leading Global Price Management (GPM) software solution. GPM, launched by Hamburg-headquartered PLS in 2010, is the trusted choice of the freight forwarding industry, with 12 of the top 20 global freight forwarders utilising the platform. It enables enhanced efficiency, productivity and profitability by giving users greater control and transparency over transportation rates and management, with an array of extensions available to add value and deliver business benefits. ...

The Abu Dhabi National Oil Company will trial biofuel as a bunkering fuel for ships as it looks at alternative low-emission fuels to comply with global regulations to cap sulphur content released into the world’s oceans, according to the chief executive of the firm’s logistics and services subsidiary. Low-emission fuels in shipping have become increasingly important for ship operators following the introduction of new rules capping sulphur emissions earlier this year, which has caused a spike in demand for certain categories of fuels. “We’re studying with one of our subsidiary ...

Damen Shipyards Group has unveiled a Ballast Water Pre Filtration Barge (BWPF) to assist vessels in complying with the IMO’s Ballast Water Management Convention. The new legislation came into force on September 8th 2019 and Damen Green Solutions has prepared a range of products and services to assist its clients in meeting the requirements of the new legislation. damen bwpf barge in operation Many ports located on rivers throughout the world experience a sediment level significantly higher than the level onboard ballast water treatment systems are tested to. Damen Green ...

Figures for 2019, just completed, don’t make for encouraging reading and while lots can be read into these statistics, the cold reality is that they are a reflection of an economy that is sitting still – not quite going backwards as yet, but hardly advancing either. As for the country’s two principal ports, Durban and Richards Bay, they are less than encouraging. In fact, it would not be wrong to suggest that the once great port of Durban is firmly in the doldrums, and in case any reader is not ...

Athos, the joint project set up by Gasunie, EBN, Port of Amsterdam and Tata Steel for carbon capture, transport, utilisation and storage in the North Sea Canal region, put out a call for potential customers and carbon storage partners in November 2019 and received a very pleasing number of responses. Two different requests The Athos feasibility study showed that there are no technical obstacles standing in the way of carbon capture, utilisation and storage. Having ascertained this, the project organisers assessed the interest of various parties in taking part in ...

A new report on digitalising the port call process has said that there is a challenge for current stakeholders in the maritime sector to implement digitalisation and to adopt common, interoperable data standards or to risk losing control in the logistic chain. The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) report includes analysis of the complexity of port call operations, how roles are likely to change and evolve with digitalisation and the role of maritime authorities in collaborative data sharing, current and future digital solutions and PortCDM. Speaking about ...

The US Gulf Coast jet fuel arbitrage to Europe was heard to have opened Wednesday, after weeks of speculation coupled with a weakening jet fuel market and falling freight rates. “Several” ships were heard to have been fixed from the USGC to Europe, one European market source said. The prospect of increased activity on the Medium Range USGC-trans-Atlantic route has not dampened the downward momentum for clean tanker freight. Despite an open jet arbitrage from the USGC to Europe, last-traded levels on the 38,000 mt USGC-trans-Atlantic run fell to w120 ...

Russia’s Surgutneftegaz on Wednesday awarded a spot tender to sell two Urals cargoes loading from Primorsk and Ust-Luga ports in the end of February to France’s Total , traders said. The producer sold the Urals cargoes loading from Primorsk on Feb. 28-29 and Ust-Luga on Feb. 26-27, traders said. The cargoes were awarded at dated Brent minus $1.40-1.50 per barrel when adding freight to an original FOB differential, they added. The price level was some 20 cents per barrel weaker than the recent estimates, according to Reuters monitoring. Source: Reuters ...