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MABUX World Bunker Index (consists of a range of prices for 380 HSFO, 180 HSFO and MGO (Gasoil) in the main world hubs) demonstrated upward changes on July, 08: 380 HSFO – USD/MT 424.44 (+4.21) 180 HSFO – USD/MT 461.93 (+4.26) MGO – USD/MT 652.71 (+2.86) Meantime, world oil indexes demonstrated slight irregular changes on July, 08 as tensions over Iran’s nuclear program countered concerns about whether slowing global economic growth would hit oil demand. Brent for September settlement declined by $0.12 to $64.11 a barrel on the London-based ICE ...

Europe’s different manufacturing base means that it is not a perfect alternative to China for US consumers. Volume growth on the westbound leg of the Transatlantic trade is continuing where it left off in 2018, when box growth registered 4.5%. After five months of this year, North European exports to the US, Canada and Mexico rose by 5.9%. Source: Drewry

This week, The New York Times recounted a strange phenomenon where an empty Chinese oil tanker recently entered the Gulf of Oman, rounded the Strait of Hormuz and then disappeared from the grid. A few days later, the same vessel appeared back on the grid, but this time it was lying lower in the sea, presumably full of oil, and was travelling out of the Strait of Hormuz and headed back to China. The assumption is that the captain of the tanker had switched off his vessel’s signalling system, which ...

Each year, a total of 70 million passengers travel the Baltic Sea by ship. 700,000 are international tourists on cruiseships who anchor in Stockholm before returning to the Balticsea. So far, the only broadband alternative at sea has been the internet via expensive satellite or poor LTE connection. Those connections are rarely sufficient for todays modern and demanding passengers who require constant high speed and low latancy connection. Nowhere Networks are now building a complete network with 100 times higher capacity to a fraction of the cost compared to satellite ...

Activation of Thordon Bearings’ revolutionary inflatable emergency seal prevented a 70ft (21m) long workboat from certain sinking in February, following multiple shaft failures that damaged the vessel’s primary shaft seal. The crew of the 2002-built twin-screw workboat activated Thordon Bearing’s TG100’s secondary seal during operations in the lower Mississippi River, when the vessel suffered catastrophic tailshaft failure in shallow waters north of New Orleans, U.S.A. The incident resulted in one of the tailshafts being pulled clear of the gearbox and almost completely out of the boat. Jim Bright, Sales Manager, ...

The UAE will introduce tough rules to protect abandoned seafarers, clamp down on ghost ships in its waters and allow 100 per cent foreign ownership of maritime companies. The new measures, revealed on Sunday, are part of the UAE’s draft maritime law, which is set to come into force by early next year. It will also allow people to register vessels under the Emirati flag and establish a new dispute mechanism to relieve pressure on the courts, while a new maritime development fund aims to support citizens who wish to ...

GC Rieber Shipping has entered into a time charter agreement with a European offshore client for the CSV vessel Polar Queen for a period of about 5 months with options to extend by up to one month. The project is the same as Polar Queen was engaged on during the summer of 2018 and 2019. The vessel will be used in British sector to perform accommodation services and walk-to-work duties, and commencement will be in April 2020. “We are pleased with securing backlog in a continuous challenging market. Polar Queen ...

DP World Plc mandated banks to raise about $1 billion of bonds to finance the acquisition of Topaz Energy & Marine Plc, according to three people with knowledge of the plans. The world’s largest port operator hired Citigroup Inc., Dubai Islamic Bank PJSC and Standard Chartered Plc to arrange investor meetings in Hong Kong, Singapore and London from July 10, according to a document sent to investors and seen by Bloomberg. The Dubai-based firm plans to sell benchmark 10-year Islamic bonds and is also considering long-dated conventional bonds, the document ...

Port Tampa Bay is pleased to share the news that three leading global container shipping companies – ZIM, Mediterranean Shipping Company and Maersk have announced they will launch a new joint direct service from Asia to the US Gulf to include weekly calls at Port Tampa Bay. The new service will deploy 10 ships of 4500 TEU capacity on the following rotation: Xiamen – Yantian – Busan– (Panama Canal transit) – Houston – Mobile – Tampa – Manzanillo – (Panama Canal transit) – Balboa – Busan. The first sailing will ...

Enterprise Products Partners L.P. (EPD) (“Enterprise”) announced three additional expansion projects that will increase the partnership’s capacity to load liquefied petroleum gas (“LPG”), polymer grade propylene (“PGP”) and crude oil from its Enterprise Hydrocarbon Terminal (“EHT”) on the Houston Ship Channel. Currently, Enterprise’s nameplate LPG loading capacity is approximately 660,000 barrels per day (“BPD”). Previously, Enterprise announced a project to add 175,000 BPD of LPG loading capacity, which is currently under construction and expected to be completed late third quarter of 2019. The additional projects announced today will increase incremental ...

China likely cemented its spot as the world’s biggest importer of crude oil in the first half of 2019, taking an additional 800,000 barrels per day (bpd), or about two-thirds of this year’s expected global demand growth. But the details behind China’s rising crude imports are nowhere near as strong as the headline numbers suggest. IN fact, they support the view that the world’s second-largest economy is feeling the headwinds from the trade dispute with its larger competitor, the United States. Official figures for June crude imports will be released ...

Australia’s North Queensland exported record volumes of coal in June, data from the North Queensland Bulk Ports Corp. showed Monday. The three terminals in the area exported a total combined volume — including thermal coal — of 14.55 million mt in June, up 14% year on year and 15% month on month, data showed. It’s the highest monthly total since at least January 2014, the data showed. In December 2015, a new berth was opened at the BHP Mitsubishi Alliance-owned Hay Point Coal Terminal which lifted capacity from 44 million ...

China’s bulk commodity market continued to see slower growth in June with shrinkage in both supply and sales, industrial data showed. The China Bulk Merchandise Index (CBMI), a gauge of domestic bulk commodity market growth, stood above the boom-or-bust line of 100 percent to stand at 100.8 percent in June, down 0.3 percentage points compared with May, according to the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing (CFLP). This marked the third consecutive month of the CBMI drop, pointing to weak activities in the slack season. The sub-indices for bulk commodity ...

Oil slipped to around $64 a barrel on Tuesday after fresh signs the U.S.-China trade dispute is dragging on the global economy and oil demand, outweighing OPEC supply cuts and Middle East tensions. The United States and China, the world’s two largest oil consumers, are set to relaunch trade talks this week, although a year after the dispute began there are few signs their differences have narrowed. Brent crude, the global benchmark, fell 21 cents to $63.90 a barrel by 0818 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude was down 26 ...

The Opec+ (Organisa¬tion of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies including Russia) have formalised their association. During the Opec ministerial earlier the week, Moscow and Riyadh led two dozen countries to sign a charter, formalising the Opec+ group, turning in the process, the ad hoc coalition, into a formal group. Opec+, controlling about half of the total global crude output, is supposed to act as a hedge against any future oil market turbulence. The growing Saudi-Russian amity on crude issues was already getting evident with the passage of time. The ...