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As the United States prepares to increase tariffs on US$200 billion of Chinese goods to 25 per cent from Friday, American companies are fearful China’s retaliation will kill off their exports to the world’s biggest consumer market. The US government confirmed the tariff increase from 10 per cent to 25 per cent by filing a notice with the Federal Register, the official portal for public policy updates, with Beijing saying it “will have no choice but to implement countermeasures”. Jaime Castaneda, senior vice-president of the US Dairy Council, said much ...

Removing U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods in stages might be a good strategy to hold Beijing to its promises made during trade negotiations, but it will make it harder for businesses to operate, a former U.S. trade negotiator said. There’s a distinction between what might be attractive as a trade negotiating strategy and what might be attractive from a business perspective, Stephen Olson, a research fellow at the pro-trade group Hinrich Foundation, told CNBC’s “Street Signs” on Thursday. While removing the tariffs in stages may be effective for the U.S. ...

U.S. consumer prices rose steadily in April, largely driven by higher energy and rent costs. The consumer-price index, which measures what Americans pay for everything from lawn mowers to subway fares, rose 0.3% in April after rising a seasonally adjusted 0.4% in March, the Labor Department said Friday. Excluding the volatile food and energy categories, so-called core prices rose 0.1%, the same pace as in March. Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal had expected consumer prices to rise 0.4% in April, and core prices to rise 0.2%. In the ...

Mexico will build the Dos Bocas 340,000 b/d refinery despite voiding the tender to award a project management and construction contract for the facility, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said Thursday. The refinery will be built by Pemex under the supervision of Mexico’s Energy Secretariat’s supervision, Lopez Obrador said in a webcast session. This will allow doing the project in three years with a lower cost, he added. “The tender was declared void as companies were asking too much, beyond the $8 billion budget and the three years deadline,” Lopez ...

The Turkmen private logistics company “Beyik Yupek yoly” has invested in the technical modernization of the Balkan dry cargo ship, Trend reports with reference to the Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs of Turkmenistan (UIET) May 7. The overhaul was carried out at the Balkan shipyard near the Caspian Sea together with the specialists of the state enterprise “Balkan gami gurlusyk” and foreign partners, the report said. The dry cargo ship is now equipped with the radio navigation equipment of the latest generation and the company “Beyik Yupek yoly” will use ...

Lloyd’s Maritime Academy, the experts in life-long learning for maritime professionals, is celebrating ten years of its prestigious Executive MBA in Shipping & Logistics. Jointly developed, delivered, assessed and quality assured by Middlesex University and Lloyd’s Maritime Academy, this 24-month distance learning course has witnessed the graduation of 244 delegates from around the world. Ted Bailey, Head of Digital Learning at Lloyd’s Maritime Academy comments: “This course continues to thrive demonstrating that we have many talented people within this industry who are passionate about distinguishing themselves and supercharging their careers.” ...

Suriname is the latest country to benefit from IMO maritime security training. Participants at a workshop in Paramaribo, Suriname (7-8 May) took part in table-top contingency planning exercises involving a variety of maritime security issues. These included threats to cruise ships, border security issues involving ports, airports and land border crossing, as well as potential incidents involving proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, and arms and drugs consignments. The main objective of the exercise was to encourage a multi-agency, whole of government approach to maritime and port facility security and ...

Wilhelmsen Ship Management (WSM) enforced a new criteria in their vendor selection process as part of their commitment to make maritime trade sustainable. Vendors supplying spare parts, stores and consumables will be required to demonstrate that they have a viable plan to reduce plastic usage on the products delivered to us. This will apply to all existing and new vendors. “As a ship manager, we are able to procure at economies of scale and at the same time we own the responsibility to create a sustainable world. We need to ...

Damen Shipyards Group has signed a contract with Neue Schleppdampfschiffsreederei Louis Meyer GmbH & CO. KG for the supply of an ASD Tug 2411, to be named JAN. The vessel was built for stock at Damen Shipyards Changde in China before being transported to the Netherlands. She will now undergo finishing at Damen Maaskant Shipyards Stellendam (Maaskant) and be delivered to her new owner in June 2019. JAN will operate primarily in the Port of Hamburg, as well as other German ports as required. There, the ASD Tug 2411 with ...

Finnish icebreaking maritime industry is awaiting major deals from the United States as a result of the latter’s increased interest in the Arctic. During the Arctic Council Ministerial Meeting in Rovaniemi earlier this week, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo delighted the Finns by saying on Finnish television that the State Department supports building six new polar icebreakers for the U.S. Coast Guard. Finnish shipbuilding industries are leading experts in icebreaker maritime technology. Finnish national broadcaster Yle said on Thursday that Finnish companies were now looking for hundreads of millions ...

Russia’s energy ministry said on Friday that tankers were being loaded with clean oil at the Baltic port of Ust-Luga after oil imports via its Druzhba pipeline were halted due to contamination. Poland, Germany, Ukraine, Slovakia and other countries halted Russian oil imports via the Druzhba pipeline last month after finding contaminants that could damage refinery equipment. The ministry said it was still working to “normalise the quality indicators of oil in the Druzhba pipeline.” Poland’s energy ministry said earlier on Friday that the suspension of crude deliveries via the ...

Tanker-tracking firms believe Iran is once again shipping crude oil to Syria, resuming the illicit trade as tensions with Washington rise and the Islamic Republic faces increasing international isolation. An Iranian delivery of approximately one million barrels of crude was made into the Syrian port of Baniyas during the first week of May, according to TankerTrackers.com and ClipperData, two groups that follows oil vessels. This would be the first Iranian oil delivery to Syria since the end of 2018, according to Samir Madani, founder of TankerTrackers. The suspected delivery comes ...

China Petrochemical Corp (Sinopec Group) and China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC), the country’s top state-owned refiners, are skipping Iranian oil purchases for loading in May after Washington ended sanction waivers to turn up pressure on Tehran, three people with knowledge of the matter said. The United States has not renewed any exemptions from sanctions on Iran, taking a tougher line than expected on the expiry of the waivers. The waivers were granted last November to buyers of Iranian oil. China is Iran’s largest oil customer with imports of 475,000 barrels ...

Indian explorer ONGC Videsh has sold a cargo of Russian Sokol crude loading in July at the highest premium since 2014, two trade sources said on Friday. * Global oil supplies have tightened after U.S. imposed sanctions on oil exports from Iran and Venezuela and as Russia struggles with oil contamination issues * Shell bought the 700,000-barrel cargo to load July 7-13 at a premium of about $6 a barrel to Dubai quotes, the sources said DUB-SOK Source: Reuters (Reporting by Florence Tan; Editing by Shreejay Sinha)

Deliveries of low-sulphur gasoil for May rose to 3,156 lots, or 315,600 tonnes, InterContinental Exchange data showed on Friday. The contract expired at $639 a tonne, up from $632 at April expiry, when deliveries reached 3,100 lots.