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

It was supposed to be the start of a dollar downturn. Instead, investors are scaling back those bets as a dovish shift by the Federal Reserve is emulated by central banks worldwide – keeping intact the greenback’s interest rate premium over other currencies. The dollar gained 4.4 percent in 2018 – its best year since 2015 – as strong economic growth allowed the Fed to raise rates repeatedly, even as most other developed economies struggled with weaker momentum. Traders began in late 2018 to bet the dollar was heading for ...

Infrastructure and sustainable development projects in the United Kingdom benefiting from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) have been left with a sense of uncertainty as the Brexit date looms. Responsible for balanced development across the European Union, the ERDF has funded a large chunk of infrastructure projects and services in remote regions of the UK. The funding was particularly important in West Wales and Cornwall, the two poorest regions in Northern Europe. With Brexit fast approaching, areas relying on the ERDF are growing increasingly worried about the lack of ...

President Donald Trump said on Sunday he would delay an increase in U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods thanks to “productive” trade talks and that he and Chinese President Xi Jinping would meet to seal a deal if progress continued. The announcement was the clearest sign yet that China and the United States are closing in on a deal to end a months-long trade war that has slowed global growth and disrupted markets. Trump had planned to raise tariffs to 25 percent from 10 percent on $200 billion (£153 billion) worth ...

One of the reasons the Dow 30 and S&P 500 indexes both fell over 15% in December was a concern that the economy could slow down enough that companies could have negative earnings growth, and that the economy will fall into a recession in late 2019 or 2020. The major concerns revolved around the length of the current expansion, recession forecasts, the shrinking spread between short and long term interest rates, the Federal Reserve shrinking its balance sheet, potential escalation of Trump’s tariffs on China (and other countries), the automotive ...

A volatile trading day in the physical iron ore port stock market, lacking any real direction. Increasing coke prices and the shrinking steel profits are proving

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

IMO’s treaty for safe and environmentally-sound ship recycling has received another boost. The Netherlands has become the eighth country to become a Party to the Hong Kong Convention. The Convention covers the design, construction, operation and maintenance of ships, and preparation for ship recycling in order to facilitate safe and environmentally sound recycling, without compromising the safety and operational efficiency of ships. Under the treaty, ships to be sent for recycling are required to carry an inventory of hazardous materials, specific to each ship. Ship recycling yards are required to ...

Azerbaijan Caspian Shipping Company (ASCO) plans to receive five new vessels during the year, Chairman of ASCO Rauf Valiyev told reporters in Baku Feb. 21, Trend reports. He said that two vessels will be built at the Baku Shipyard, and the rest will be acquired from foreign companies. In general, the ASCO plans to annually purchase two vessels from the Baku Shipyard each year, he noted. He reminded that the fleet renewal process has been going on for the past five years. During this period, ASCO acquired 20 new ships, ...

In line with the previously published fleet development program, CLdN Ro-Ro SA is pleased to announce the expansion of their Irish service, which is now achievable as new build vessels arrive into the fleet. CLdN Ro-Ro SA will deploy dedicated vessels to operate on the direct ROTTERDAM DUBLIN trade as of 26th February 2019, offering an increase from three to four sailings in each direction, whilst improving the spread of the sailings and increasing capacity, at a time when Brexit uncertainty is a major feature in clients planning. Three of ...

In recent years, studies have shown that gas emitted from shipping related activities are on a steady increase globally and developing countries lack the capacity to develop energy efficient mechanisms to improve on gas emissions in the shipping industry. It is in this vein that the International Maritime Organisation, IMO, the UN body responsible for regulating shipping and maritime activities, in 2013 adopted a resolution on the promotion of technical co-operation and transfer of technology aimed at improving the energy of ships. The resolution made it possible to provide technical ...

The launching ceremony of the “Lachin” oil tanker was held at the Baku Shipyard on February 21. Azerbaijani Economy Minister Shahin Mustafayev, Vice President of Azerbaijan’s state oil company SOCAR Suleyman Gasimov, Director of the State Maritime Agency Gudrat Gurbanov, Chairman of Azerbaijan Caspian Shipping CJSC Rauf Valiyev and Executive Director of Baku Shipbuilding LLC Imanverdi Hasanov attended the ceremony. The new oil tanker will be commissioned in June 2019. The tanker’s hull has been constructed. The remaining construction will be carried out in the water. The length of the ...

‘World Whale Day’ held annually on the third Saturday in February, was founded in Maui, Hawaii, in 1980, to honour humpback whales, which swim off its coast. Today, the event serves a bigger purpose and reminds us of the need for continuous protection of the many large species of whale that are listed as “endangered” or “threatened”. Protecting North Atlantic right whales in Canada and the US The North Atlantic right whale is one of the world’s most endangered species of large whale. It was hunted to the brink of ...

GT USA Wilmington marked another historic day for the Port of Wilmington this week with the start of a new MSC service and the maiden call of the first vessel on that service, the m/v San Antonio. GT USA Wilmington Chief Executive Officer Eric Casey welcomed Captain Wojciech Piotr Pilip, the Master of the container vessel, M/V “SAN ANTONIO,” along with Michelle Tan from MSC’s New York office and Elliot Timlin representing the ship’s agency, Norton Lilly International. “We are delighted to welcome the MSC M/V “SAN ANTONIOto our port ...

The construction of Russia’s industrial zone in one of the world’s major transportation routes, the Suez Canal area in Egypt, will be finished soon. That’s according to the head of the Suez Canal Authority, Mohab Mamish, who told TASS the zone will be “launched in late 2020 – beginning of 2021.” He said factories manufacturing agricultural machinery will be located in the Russian industrial zone, adding that the machinery is in demand not only on the Egyptian market, but also in the markets of other African countries, as well as ...

The second largest port in Northern Ireland has had a buoyant start to the year driven by customers stockpiling materials ahead of Brexit. Warrenpoint Port handled 12% of the region’s seaborne trade last year, including timber, steel and cement. In January, it dealt with three times as much timber and 1.5 times as much steel as in the same month last year. The port’s chief executive Clare Guinness said it points to stockholding ahead of the UK leaving the EU. “Customers are telling us that because of the continuing uncertainty, ...