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Global shipping freight, insurance and crew wages will likely increase significantly in the near term after Israel launched a retaliatory missile attack on Iranian soil but ongoing loadings are likely to carry on as usual, market participants said April 19. “From the information we have as of now, the current loadings are going on in key oil [and refined products] producing countries but the situation is very fluid,” a shipping broker in Singapore said. As it is a Friday — a designated public holiday in most Persian Gulf countries — ...

French retailers will have to notify shoppers when products have been reduced in size without a corresponding cut in prices in an effort to tackle so-called shrinkflation, the finance ministry said on Friday. Shrinkflation has become a headache for consumers and governments alike as households have struggled to cope with dwindling purchasing power in the face of surging inflation in recent years. From July, French retailers will have to display for two months when food and other common consumer goods products like detergent have been downsized in a way that ...

U.S. natural gas futures climbed about 2% to a one-week high on Friday on forecasts for cooler weather and more demand next week than previously expected, a continued drop in output and rising gas flows to liquefied natural gas (LNG) export plants, including Freeport LNG. That price increase came despite negative spot power and gas prices in several parts of the country and a massive oversupply of gas in storage. Analysts forecast stockpiles were currently around 35% above normal levels for this time of year. EIA/GAS NGAS/POLL U.S. gas production ...

Your Excellency Secretary-General Guterres, The maritime industry, represented by the organisations behind this letter, are grateful for the recognition that the UN Security Council and you personally have placed on the shipping industry and the importance of the free movement as set out in international law. We also thank and applaud IMO Secretary General Arsenio Dominguez for all the hard work raising the profile of shipping and our seafarers. However, the incident this weekend, when the vessel MSC Aries was seized by Iranian forces at 06.37 UTC – 50 nautical miles ...

The US decision to snap back broad oil and natural gas sanctions in Venezuela while explicitly keeping the door open for company-specific licenses is a unique approach that could minimize market disruption in a US election year while allowing for more gradual political progress in Venezuela, experts say. Shifting the focus to company-specific licenses rather than a general license could also provide some stability going forward, both for the companies wanting to operate in the country and for the political opposition that hopes to gain footing even beyond the July ...

The Baltic Exchange’s dry bulk sea freight index gained on Friday and posted its best week in overseven weeks, steered by firmer rates across vessel types. The overall index, which factors in rates for capesize, panamax and supramax shipping vessels, rose by 18 points, or about 1%, to 1,919 points. The index was up about 11% for the week. The capesize index edged down by 6 points, to 2,839, but registered a weekly rise of over 11%. Average daily earnings for capesize vessels, which typically transports 150,000-ton cargoes such as ...

This week continues to see positive trends which are reflected in the ConTex developments seen below, where all arrows are pointing upwards between 1-6% .

Drewry’s World Container Index decreased by 3% to $2,719 per 40ft container this week. Our detailed assessment for Thursday, 18 April 2024 • The composite index decreased by 3% to $2,719 per 40ft container this week and has increased by 53% when compared with the same week last year. • The latest Drewry WCI composite index of $2,719 per 40ft container is 91% more than average 2019 (pre-pandemic) rates of $1,420. • The average composite index for the year-to-date is $3,295 per 40ft container, which is $586 higher than the ...

As an outsider, if you followed only BDTI assessments or similar on VLCC markets this week, you’d think that a few owners may be entering the weekend

AET also signed the Shipbuilding Contracts (SBC) for these two vessels with Dalian Shipbuilding Industry Co., Ltd (DSIC), a subsidiary of China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC). The TCP was signed by Mr. Zahid Osman, President & CEO of AET and Mr. Shamsul Bahari Salleh, CEO of PTLCL; and witnessed by Captain Rajalingam Subramaniam, President and Group CEO of MISC, and Mr. Ahmad Adly Alias, Chairman of PTLCL. The signing of these contracts represents a significant step forward in the partners’ efforts to make ammonia a viable fuel for the maritime ...

Imoto Lines and Marindows, as a first step in transforming the future of domestic maritime shipping, will build the next generation of zero-emission domestic container ships capable of hybrid operation using Japan’s first exchangeable container batteries, alongside onboard batteries, and generators, and conduct demonstration experiments on the Kobe ~ Hiroshima service. This project is a challenge towards a sustainable future for domestic maritime shipping, aimed at fundamentally solving the three major challenges the industry faces: decarbonization, crew shortage, and safe navigation. The Ministry of the Environment, Government of Japan recognized ...

The Indian government has put the country’s Navy on high alert to respond quickly to calls of distress from ships, both Indian and foreign flag carriers, moving through the strife-torn Persian Gulf region, where tensions have escalated since Iran launched a missile strike against Israel on Saturday. India’s shipping ministry has reached out to the Indian Navy to coordinate any efforts to rescue ships in distress and respond to incidents that compromise the security of shipping lines in these sensitive regions—which include the Persian Gulf, the Strait of Hormuz, the ...

The time may be ripe in June for the European Central Bank to start cutting interest rates, ECB policymaker Olli Rehn said on Thursday. “Provided that we are confident that inflation will continue converging to our 2% target in a sustained way, the time will be ripe in June to start easing the monetary policy stance and to cut rates,” he said. “This obviously assumes that there will be no further setbacks in the geopolitical situation and thus in energy prices,” he said in the text of a speech published ...

China published measures on Friday aimed at promoting overseas investment in its technology sector, in a latest bid to attract foreign investors amid signs some are considering shifting away from the world’s second-largest economy. China will support overseas institutions to issue yuan bonds in the country, and also encourage tech companies, including foreign-invested ones, to raise money via bond issuance, the commerce ministry said in a statement. The government will also facilitate foreign investment in Chinese tech firms via an inbound investment scheme, QFLP, and will “efficiently” approve applications for ...

Britain’s latest wage growth and services price inflation data is too high for the Bank of England to consider cutting interest rates, BoE policymaker Megan Greene said on Thursday. “The numbers that we’re seeing in terms of wage growth and services inflation just aren’t consistent with a sustainable 2% (consumer price) inflation target,” she said during a discussion hosted by the Atlantic Council think tank in Washington. Last week Greene wrote that interest rate cuts in Britain remained “a way off” because of persistent inflation pressure, and that she expected ...