Bunker supplier Monjasa is preparing for a rapid transition to introduce IMO 2020-compliant marine fuel 0.5%S in Panama, while staying flexible to prevent early advances before IFO 380 demand falls off there, according to the company’s top official in the Americas. “We haven’t seen a real pickup yet for 0.5%S in Panama,” Rasmus Jacobsen, Monjasa’s Americas managing director, told S&P Global Platts in a recent interview. “We believe [demand is] going to be building up during next month, and then probably take speed over the next months after that — ...

MABUX World Bunker Index (consists of a range of prices for 380 HSFO, 180 HSFO and MGO (Gasoil) in the main world hubs) demonstrated slight irregular changes on Sep. 20 380 HSFO – USD/MT 451.44 (-2.38) 180 HSFO – USD/MT 488.38 (-0.20) MGO – USD/MT 682.49 (+2.03) Meantime, world oil indexes also demonstrated irregular changes on Sept.20 amid the uncertainty over the United States’ next move on Iran after the Saudi attack. Brent for November settlement decreased by $0.12 to $64.28 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. ...

Saturday’s attacks on Saudi Arabia’s oil industry at one point pushed crude prices up over 19%, but there could be an even bigger impact in the coming months if the outages lead to significant changes in the quality of crudes refiners run, just as cleaner standards for marine fuels are set to kick in in January 2020. The Saudi grades most affected by the attacks are Arab Light and Arab Extra Light, both of which are very popular in Asia and Europe. Of the crudes Saudi produces, these two grades ...

Minister for Maritime Affairs Syed Ali Haider Zaidi has said that all shipping companies which will register their ships in Pakistan by 2030 will be exempted from tax. The minister for maritime affairs said this while addressing a joint news conference along with Adviser to Prime Minister on Commerce, Textile, Industries and Investment Abdul Razak Dawood here on Wednesday. The minister said economic reforms are the top agenda of the government and the federal cabinet has already approved the Shipping Policy of Pakistan. He said this policy will promote shipping ...

Following the application for membership sent by Mr Vincent Favier to Mr António Guterres, United Nations Secretary-General, Ecoslops officially joins the United Nations Global Compact, the largest international voluntary engagement initiative on sustainable development. Launched in 2000 by Kofi Annan, the Global Compact of the United Nations is an international framework of voluntary commitment urging economic actors to adopt a socially responsible approach and to integrate and promote 10 principles relating to human rights, standards labor, the environment and the fight against corruption. The movement now has more than 13,000 ...

Recently Clarksons Research published the executive summary from their forthcoming semi-annual report ‘Shipping Review & Outlook’, which will be soon be available on the Shipping Intelligence Network. Introducing the summary, Steve Gordon, Managing Director of Clarksons Research commented, “Despite a range of economic “headwinds”, our overall earnings indicator, the ClarkSea, has continued to trend upwards this year, increasing 12% y-o-y (2018: up 13% y-o-y). In the tanker sector (up 75% ytd, albeit from a low base), our projections, recent Middle East disruption aside, suggest underlying improvements over the next twelve ...

The World Shipping Council (WSC), BIMCO, the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA), and the International Parcel Tankers Association (IPTA) calls on International Maritime Organization (IMO) member states to fully implement the new global marine fuel sulphur cap mandated through the IMO. As of January 1, 2020, the maximum sulphur content of fuel consumed at sea will be limited to 0.50%, unless an exhaust gas cleaning system is used. The new rules, including the January 1, 2020, implementation date, have been known for a long time, and the industry has worked ...

Capesize The market trended down over this past week, breaking the market out of its upward trending range. While the market traded sideways at the beginning of this past week, it was unable to build any upward momentum and broke to the downside midweek. Brazil to China C3 opened the week at $25.89 to close out Friday at $23.705, while West Australia to China C5 opened at $10.923 to close at $9.145. Trade activity was moderate throughout the week in the Atlantic, while quieter in the Pacific. Bunker pricing for ...

VLCC The attack on Saudi Arabia led to volatile bunker prices and owners capitalised on this with Middle East Gulf rates for 280,000mt to US Gulf basis Cape to Cape now being rated up four points at WS 31 level, whilst 270,000mt to China gained around 15 points to WS 69 region. Rates for 260,000mt West Africa to China followed suit and last seen here was at WS 71, up almost 14 points. The market for 270,000mt US Gulf to China now sits at between $8.05 to $8.1 million in ...

Refinery outages in Saudi Arabia following weekend attacks on its oil facilities could deal a blow to the shipping industry’s preparations for the biggest switch in fuel standards in decades. Saudi Aramco, the state-run oil company, shut an estimated 40% of its refining capacity, roughly 1 million barrels per day (bpd), following Saturday’s missile and drone strikes on a major oilfield and the country’s largest processing plant. It remains unclear how long refinery output will be curtailed. The outage has crimped global supplies of diesel, which Saudi Arabia regularly exports ...

If you’re an owner in ocean shipping, you can hear the crickets on Wall Street. The pullback of activity in the U.S. capital markets this year has been staggering. Many of the equity analysts that covered ocean shipping at U.S. investment banks are no longer at those jobs. The question-and-answer periods at the end of quarterly conference calls have become very short because few analysts are left to pose questions. Shipping executives are compensating by spending more time filling out their conference calls by reading lengthy scripts about market conditions. ...

At least five laden liquefied natural gas (LNG) tankers changed course from Europe to Asia and a rising number of other tankers were being used as floating storage following a spike in Asian LNG prices in the past week, trade sources said. While there may be specific reasons for the re-routing of individual cargoes, the diversion of so many tankers at the same time indicated a long market, meaning sellers were holding positions in the expectation of higher prices, the sources said. Spot Asian LNG prices jumped last week after ...

Marine communication involves ship-to-ship and ship-to-shore communication. Beginning with radio and flags, the industry today uses advanced technologies to communicate. With over 90 per cent of worldwide trade served by the maritime market, vessels at sea rely on broadband connectivity and VSAT technology to stay in touch with operations on land and increase work productivity. Growing use of VSAT technology Reports from The Verified Market state that the global maritime VSAT market was valued at $1.92 billion (Dh7.05 billion) in 2017 and is projected to reach $5.19 billion by 2025, ...

Latvian product tanker Ance was attacked on September 16, while at anchor near West Africa, Maritime and Crimean Shipping News portal reported. Four robbers armed with a gun and knives boarded an anchored tanker. They took hostage the crew. After looting the cabins, the robbers locked the crew in a cabin and escaped. Crew personal belongings, cash and ship’s properties were stolen. Representatives of the ship owners, Latvian Shipping Company (LSC), told LETA that the value of the stolen properties has not been big. The coast guard, law enforcement institutions ...

The waters of the Arabian Gulf, the passage through the Strait of Hormuz and into the Arabian Sea to the east carry ships and tankers that are the lifeblood of the global oil and petrochemical market. Vessels carrying oil products voyage to Asia and Europe, their cargoes powering plants that keep lights burning, wheels turning, manufacturing plants moving and keeping countless millions at work. As recent events in this region have shown, even the slightest incident can have implications on the price of oil, leading to speculation and fluctuation. And ...