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Lithuanian ship designer Western Baltic Engineering (WBE) is accelerating the development of its recently unveiled electric ‘pusher’ vessel with the signing of a new partnership with rapidly expanding battery maker AYK Energy. Klaipeda headquartered WBE said the agreement with Andorra based AYK Energy will see the companies collaborate on building the first electric pusher vessel, named the ELECTRIC EEL (see notes to editors 1), for the Lithuanian Inland Waterways Authority before expanding to the wider EU market. The design partnership comes as the EU is ramping up pressure on member ...

The IUMI 2022 Policy Forum Workshop in Chicago focused on the war in Ukraine and its impact on marine and war risk insurance. At the workshop, Gard’s global head of People claims, Lene-Camilla Nordlie, turned her attention to seafarers and the challenges they face, not just due to the current geopolitical situation, but also generally due to the stresses and strains of their occupation. She shares some of her comments in today’s Insight. For policy year 2021, claims involving people made up 24% of the total number of claims handled ...

GTT announces that it has received, in the third quarter, an order from its partner the Korean shipyard Samsung Heavy Industries for the tank design of four new LNGCs1, including two on behalf of an Asian ship owner and two on behalf of an American ship owner. As part of this order, GTT will design the tanks of the vessels, which will offer a cargo capacity of 174,000 m3 each and will be fitted with the Mark III Flex membrane containment system, a technology developed by GTT. Delivery of the ...

French diesel imports were up more than 70% so far in October, compared with the full month of September as weeks-long strikes by refinery workers in the country cause big shortages of the motor fuel. Imports in the 1-10 October period reached over 590,000 barrels per day (bpd), data from oil analytics firm Vortexa showed, up 37% from October 2021 levels, and the highest since Vortexa started tracking data in 2016. Strike action and unplanned maintenance have taken offline more than 60% of France’s refining capacity – or 740,000 bpd ...

Taiwan’s state refiner, CPC is seeking two to three cargoes of liquefied natural gas (LNG) for delivery from December to January in a spot tender, two industry sources said on Tuesday (Oct 11). The cargoes are sought on a delivered ex-ship (DES) basis, they said, adding that the discussions are being held on a bilateral basis with selected sellers. It is not immediately clear when CPC will award the tender. Asian spot LNG prices have softened in the last three weeks on healthy inventory levels and muted demand from China, ...

It remains to be seen how the festive demand pans out with automakers expecting the season to boost sales. Also, resumption of construction activities would augur well for steel demand. Steel prices in domestic markets are regaining their lost shine, albeit gradually. One factor aiding prices is production cuts, which has resulted in falling inventory levels. “We note that hot-rolled coil (HRC) prices rose by ₹1,000 per tonne to ₹57,500 per tonne while cold rolled coil (CRC) prices increased by ₹500 per tonne to ₹66,200 per tonne on reduced inventory ...

According to SMM survey, the domestic stainless steel output totalled 2.76 million mt in September, up 21.10% MoM and 29.52% YoY. The output of 200 series stainless steel increased 12.58% from the previous month to 859,000 mt in September, that of the 300 series rose 23.84% MoM to 1.52 million mt, and that of the 400 series stood at 379,500 mt, up 31.95% on the month. Most domestic steel mills saw significant increases in the September output, while Indonesian stainless steel production shrank during the same period. Specifically, the output ...

The London Metal Exchange’s plan to restrict Russia-origin metal entering its warehouses could be a pivotal point for Chinese aluminum prices, combined with support from domestic production situation and output cuts, industry sources said Oct. 10. China’s aluminum prices were expected to remain volatile in the near term before the LME makes a final decision around suspending the trade and storage of Russian metals, sources said. The most-active aluminum futures contract for delivery on the Shanghai Futures Exchange — November — closed at Yuan 18,565 ($2,599)/mt on Oct. 10, up ...

Most base metal prices slid on Wednesday amid a strengthening U.S. dollar, while COVID-19 flare-ups in China — the world’s biggest metal consumer — added to demand woes on top of looming economic concerns. Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange CMCU3 was down 0.9% at $7,525 a tonne, as of 0446 GMT, while the most-traded November copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange SCFcv1 dipped 0.2% to 62,190 yuan ($8,679.81) a tonne. Shanghai and other big Chinese cities, including Shenzhen, ramped up testing for COVID-19 as infections rose, with ...

A preliminary deal allowing Turkey to engage in oil and gas exploration work in Libya was already reviving and fueling domestic and regional tensions, analysts and industry sources said Oct. 10. A memorandum of understanding Turkey signed Oct. 3 with the Tripoli-based Government of National Unity says both parties have a “shared interest in ensuring exploration and development of, and increasing production of hydrocarbons of both countries”. The deal has already faced the wrath of some of Turkey’s and Libya’s rivals, and has also exacerbated political divisions between the west ...

Europe needs to pay up to import liquefied natural gas, pray for a mild winter and cut energy demand as any sabotage of infrastructure or even deeper cuts to Russian supply would make power rationing or blackouts all but inevitable. Even if Europe manages to stay warm and keep the lights on this winter, it will have a much bigger challenge to refill depleted storage next year than it did to meet a European Union goal to build stocks to 80% of capacity by November this year. It has exceeded ...

Iraq produced 4.66 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude in September, up by 11,000 bpd from August, data from state-owned marketer SOMO seen by Reuters showed. According to the production figures, Iraq’s output was in line with its quota under the OPEC+ agreement for September. Source: Reuters (Reporting by Rowena Edwards, Editing by Louise Heavens)

As the war in Ukraine nears its eighth month with no resolution in sight, Western countries are stepping up efforts to strip Russia of its largest source of income: oil. The West suspects the Kremlin is bankrolling the invasion with its profits from the continued sale of fossil fuels, which make up over 40% of its budget. This is why the world’s largest economies making up the Group of Seven (G7) have pledged to put a cap on the price of Russian oil sold around the world. This cap would ...

Government bond prices around the world are moving in tandem, reducing investors’ ability to diversify their portfolios and raising concerns of being blindsided by market gyrations. Correlations between currency-adjusted returns on the government debt of countries such as the U.S., Japan, the U.K. and Germany are at their highest level in at least seven years, data from MSCI showed, as central banks around the world ramp up their fight against inflation. Increasingly, that means investors holding the debt of one country can see their portfolios slammed by market activity at ...

The pound’s elevated volatility looks set to stay as contradictory signals from BoE Governor Bailey and a media report about the extension of the emergency gilt-buying programme have left markets in limbo. More clarity may come from BoE speakers today, but the downside risks for sterling continue to prevail, and the spillover can be seen globally USD: Fed minutes in focus The IMF delivered a warning signal yesterday as it cut its year-ahead world GDP forecast for the third time this year, from 2.9% to 2.7%. Interestingly, the theme of ...