Speaking with Hellenic Shipping News Worldwide (www.hellenicshippingnews.com), Mr. Jorje Quijano, Panama Canal Administrator discussed the final details ahead of the official launch of the new, expanded Panama Canal. According to Mr. Quijano, today will mark the final trials of the new Atlantic locks, with a Capesize owned by Golden Union, the company which is headed by the President of the Union of Greek Shipowners, Mr. Theodore Veniamis. Also, Mr. Quijano noted that the first vessel to do a full cross of the Panama Canal will be a Cosco-owned neopanamax container ...

From a ship owner’s point of view, being able to monitor and manage all of his ships’ operations, while they are at sea, is an invaluable tool, in making informed decisions about their employment, their procurement needs, safety, fuel needs etc. It can also be of service, when it comes to evaluating the performance of specific upgrade components, as well as a particular newbuilding design. As such, the presence of a powerful monitoring tool is of paramount importance, as it can help reduce operating costs, prevent potential damages and help ...

The dry bulk market will keep on suffering, at least until the start of 2017 and possibly well after that, should the current balance of supply and demand remain without any significant change until then. In an interview with Hellenic Shipping News Worldwide (www.hellenicshippingnews.com), BIMCO’s Chief Shipping Analyst, Mr. Peter Sand notes that with the BDI currently hovering around 400 points, the market is still far below a sustainable level. According to Mr. Sand, it’s worth noting that despite of the record amount of tonnage already scrapped since the start ...

Today’s freight market is more than challenging to say the least. Besides freight rates, though, a ship owner has to take into account various other elements, such as regulatory changes and other cost increasing factors. In order to increase a ship’s life span, reduce maintenance costs and save millions of dollars down the line, owners can take advantage of the various condition monitoring services, from the likes of companies like Parket Kittiwake, which, in essence, act as an “always on” device, looking after critical parts of a vessel’s operation. Hellenic ...

The dry bulk market is caught between a “rock and a hard place” at the moment, as the world economy’s growth is lower than anticipated, hurting demand, while at the same time, the dry bulk segment is still riddled by chronic tonnage oversupply. As such, ship owners of larger bulkers, like Capesizes could soon opt to layup part of their fleet, or even scrap vessels of just 15 years old, as there is no credible anticipation of a market rebound anytime soon. This, according to Mr. George Goudromichalis, Managing Director ...

A few weeks back, Boskalis, Wartsila and GoodFuels Marine announced the formation of a joint-venture which will look into the commercial viability of biofuels in the shipping industry. According to GoodFuels Marine’s estimates, by 2030 sustainable biofuels could contribute 5-10% of the total global marine fuel mix. Hellenic Shipping News Worldwide (www.hellenicshippingnews.com) interviewed Mr. Dirk Kronemeijer, CEO, GoodFuels Marine, on this ambitious, yet feasible, project, which could help wean shipping from the use of fossil fuels, thus eliminating once and for all the issue of reducing the industry’s emissions. Timing ...

Determining a ship’s future value can be an invaluable trait for any ship owner, as it can be the main factor between his success or failure. For example over the past 12 months, as per VesselsValue’s data, Aframax and Suezmax tankers are the winners of the current market’s upwards momentum, with an increase in value of approx. 22% over the last 12 months. By contrast, 15 year old Capesize’s have fallen almost 60%, while 15 y/o Panamax and Supramax are down 50% and 15 y/o Handy’s are down 40%. Modern ...

What’s the current position of the Liberian Registry among the Greek-controlled fleet? The Liberian Registry is the second largest –and fastest growing – ship registry in the world, behind only Panama. Michalis Pantazopoulos, Senior Vice-President and General Manager of the Liberian International Ship & Corporate Registry (Hellas) SA in Piraeus, told Hellenic Shipping News, “Other registries may choose to interpret the figures to their own advantage, but the facts are indisputable. Statistics recently released by the Greek Shipping Co-operation Committee (GSCC) and by Marine Information Services show that Liberia has ...

Over the years, a lot of cities have emerged as potential candidates to lure ship owners and shipping companies away from traditional maritime centers like London. Some of them have succeded more so than others, but the British capital has remained the main choice for most ship owners. This will be the case in the future, according to Mr. Doug Barrow, Chief Executive at Maritime London, an organization which is promoting London as a premier maritime centre. At the same time, Mr. Barrow is at the forefront of the London ...

The current demise of the dry bulk market isn’t one to go away anytime soon. That doesn’t mean that it can’t improve, with all ship classes expected to cover their operating costs by May. Meanwhile, demolition activity isn’t enough, at least thus far, to offset oversupply of tonnage in the dry bulk market. It’s one of the reasons behind the downfall of the market in the past few months. In an exclusive interview with Hellenic Shipping News Worldwide, BIMCO’s Chief Shipping Analyst, Mr. Peter Sand, said that the organization expects ...

The Marshall Islands ship registry (RMI) is now the third largest in the shipping business, having grown by 17% during 2014. In an interview with Hellenic Shipping News Worldwide, Mr. Theo K. Xenakoudis, Director, Worldwide Business Operations, Managing Director – Piraeus, Greece, with International Registries Inc., “as of the end of February 2015, the Registry stood at nearly 118 million GT and over 3,400 vessels”. At the same time, a paper published by the Greek Shipping Cooperation Committee (GSCC) in April 2014 with data provided by Lloyd’s Register of Shipping-Fairplay, ...

The tanker market has been the “darling” of the shipping industry over the past few months, as the dry bulk market recovery story never actually materialized. In an interview with Hellenic Shipping News Worldwide, Mr. George P. Los, Senior Market Analyst / Projects with shipbroker Charles R. Weber noted that tanker market freight rates rose by 68% in terms of average earnings over the course of the fourth quarter of the year, to levels not seen since 2008. He added that “in the Long and Medium range product segments, the ...

The global shipping industry is faced with a flurry of new rules and regulations, often unilateral, as has been the case with EU’s recent decision to impose the monitoring of shipping emissions from ships on the region water’s. Hellenic Shipping News Worldwide interviewed Mr. Patrick Verhoeven Secretary General of the European Community Shipowners’ Associations (ECSA), on the most pressing issues that shipping is dealing with at the moment, from the upcoming ECAs and the operational problems that ship owners will be faced with, to the adoption of the new Polar ...

2015 is shaping up to become a “trademark” year for Harry Vafias’ StealthGas. The company is due to take delivery of the bulk of newbuilding orders placed for 19 new generation LPG carriers. It will be a major stepping stone in the company’s recent history, which, aided by the low rate volatility market prevailing in the LPG business segment where it’s active, is due to provide huge value to investors. In an interview with Hellenic Shipping News Worldwide (www.hellenichsippingnews.com), StealthGas’ CEO, Mr. Harry Vafias noted that the company isn’t planning ...

Ship owners who have invested in high quality and younger tonnage will fare better in a dry bulk market with “normal” freight levels, noted Mr. George D. Goudromichalis, CEO of Blue Wall Shipping, which operates a modern fleet of Handy and Supramax carriers. In an interview with Hellenic Shipping News Worldwide, Mr. Gourdomichalis said that his company has placed an order for 4 Handymax vessels (43,000-dwt each), while he estimated that the market won’t experience much volatility in the coming months. On the surge of private equity investors in shipping, ...