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Market Commentary: South Korea & North Korea are in discussions to re-establish a joint liaison office at the truce village of Panmunjom

Russia’s Gazprom GAZP.MM did not book extra quarterly gas transit capacity via Ukraine and Poland from October 2021 to October 2022, results of the auctions showed on Monday. Ukraine was offering 9.8 million cubic metres (mcm) per day in extra capacity at the Sudzha crossing point and another 5.2 mcm/day at Sokhranovka for each quarter from October 2021 to October 2022. Gazprom also ignored additional quarterly gas capacity offered by Poland for the Yamal-Europe pipeline over the same period. The Yamal-Europe pipeline and transit via Ukraine are Gazprom’s two main ...

The Baltic Exchange’s main sea freight index dipped on Monday on losses in the large and medium-sized vessel segments. The index, which factors in rates for capesize, panamax and supramax shipping vessels carrying dry bulk commodities, inched 10 points lower, or 0.3%, to 3,282. The capesize index dropped 34 points, or 0.8%, to 4,272. Average daily earnings for capesizes, which typically transport 150,000-tonne cargoes of iron ore, lost $284 to $35,429. Chinese ferrous futures fell on Monday, with steel rebar and hot rolled coils both plunging some 6%, after Beijing ...

The iron ore-led dry bulk market boom could still have enough steam to run, despite the recent negative pressure on iron ore prices. In its latest weekly report, shipbroker Allied Shipbroking said that “one of the major trades that has helped drive the rapid rise in the dry bulk market this year has undoubtedly been that of iron ore. The most prominent commodity in the dry bulk space has had an exceptional bull run since the end of 2020 and still seems to have plenty more gains to give moving ...

The Philippine Exporters Confederation Inc. (Philexport) and Export Development Council (EDC) are asking the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) to defer the approval of the proposed cargo-handling rate increase at Manila North Port and to suspend the mandatory weighing of export containers, especially for the sake of small exporters and enterprises. The written request, sent to Jay Daniel Santiago, PPA vice chairman and general manager, warned that approving the rate hike now and allowing the mandatory weighing of export containers to continue will further add to the difficulties faced by micro, ...

The current LNG market scenario with high LNG demand in Asia and low storages in Europe indicates a ’summer with all attributes of winter’. The statement holds weight with spot LNG prices seven times higher than in 2020 while LNG shipping rates have doubled in June 2021 from last year. From ample supplies to scarcity Post-2020 recovery coupled with empty gas tanks at the end of winter and increasing LNG demand for power generation have led to a 180-degree shift in the LNG market, from being over-supplied in 2020 to ...

British consumer price inflation will reach 3.9% early next year, almost double the Bank of England’s target, but should fall back to 2% the year after if the BoE begins to raise interest rates, a leading think tank forecast on Monday. The National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) also revised up its growth forecast for 2021 by 1.1 percentage points to 6.8% – broadly in with the most recent forecasts from the BoE and the International Monetary Fund. After suffering its biggest economic slump in over 300 years ...

Just five years ago, local shipbuilders were on the verge of collapse. But they have been achieving a swift turnaround by winning 94 percent of global liquefied natural gas (LNG) tanker orders in the first half of this year. The global eco-friendly trend has led to more orders of LNG tankers, while key technologies are in the hands of only a few shipbuilders, mostly Korean ones. The technology allows an LNG tanker to maintain an ultralow temperature of minus 162 degrees Celsius to minimize losses from gasification. Local firms such ...

Importers, particularly those reliant on container shipments, are facing a storm of disruptive factors. The COVID-19 pandemic has created winners and losers as it has across the economy. The pandemic has been joined by several other factors that are disrupting international markets and business for importers. On top of all that, there have been the post-Brexit challenges of managing imports. Disruptions to shipping and challenges for importers The blockage of the Suez Canal in March 2021 caused major disruption to shipping schedules and a backlog in deliveries. Secondly, following the ...

As the industry searches for technologies and energy sources that can deliver on upcoming decarbonisation regulations from the IMO and EU and ultimately delivering zero-emissions shipping, the development and deployment of wind propulsion technologies have been making headlines that speak to a growing momentum. Today, sees the release of the report from a group of over 40 leading experts and key stakeholders that came together for a three-hour workshop to identify the strategy priorities for wind propulsion development in the near future, calling on industry stakeholders, technology providers, policy makers, ...

The aggregate results were boosted by strong numbers from producers of metals. Vedanta’s consolidated ebitda increased 9% q-o-q led by sharp sequential volume growth, a recovery in prices. Analysts seem to have got ahead of themselves going by the string of disappointments in the June quarter earning season. From Biocon, Maruti Suzuki, Nestle, Dr.Reddy’s Labs and TVS Motors to a host of smaller companies like Crompton Greaves and Rallis, results for Q1FY22 have barely met the Street’s expectations. However, producers of metals like JSW Steel have seen their profits soar ...

A U.S. manufacturer is accusing two of the world’s largest ocean carriers of reneging on its container service contract for imports from Asia so that the carriers can instead charge other shippers exorbitant transportation rates on the spot market. In a complaint filed on Wednesday with the Federal Maritime Commission, Easton, Pennsylvania-based MCS Industries, a maker of household furnishings, also accuses China’s COSCO Shipping Lines, Switzerland’s MSC Mediterranean Shipping and their competitors in the Asia-U.S. trans-Pacific trade of violating the U.S. Shipping Act since the beginning of the pandemic while ...

The United States and Britain said on Sunday they believed Iran carried out an attack on an Israeli-managed petroleum product tanker off the coast of Oman on Thursday that killed a Briton and a Romanian, both pledging to work with partners to respond. Iran earlier on Sunday denied it was involved in the incident, after it was blamed by Israel. “Upon review of the available information, we are confident that Iran conducted this attack, which killed two innocent people, using one-way explosive UAVs,” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said ...

With the maritime industry in constant change due to new regulations and processes, and the Covid-19 pandemic having had a dramatic impact on economies around the world, shipping companies need to stay competitive and plan for their future. Alexander Buchmann, Managing Director, Hanseaticsoft says these challenges are leading more shipping companies to move their management processes and systems into the cloud, to optimise their processes and increase efficiencies. However, there are still some in companies which are slow to invest in digital systems and software because they do not understand ...

D&F Shipping Market Analysis – Week 30