The Port of Los Angeles concluded the busiest March and Q1 on record, handling nearly 2.6 million TEU in the three months through March 2021. The port moved 957,599 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) in March, a large increase over the 449,568 TEUs moved during the same month last year at the onset of the pandemic, the port said April 14. March was also the third busiest month on record for the port. “The consumer spending surge continues unabated, with more of us vaccinated, businesses opening, economic outlook looks strong,” said ...

China’s iron ore futures rose as much as 4.4% on Thursday staging a smart recovery from the previous session on a big spread between spot cargoes and futures and demand for the steelmaking ingredient strengthened. “There have been speculations that other places like Handan city in Hebei will also implement production curbs, but they haven’t,” a Tangshan-based analyst said, adding that iron ore demand is still supported by resilient steel output. Daily crude steel output at major steel mills in China stood at 2.3 million tonnes in the first ten ...

Global oil prices could drop to around $40 a barrel by 2030 if governments push to reduce fuel consumption in step with U.N.-backed plans to limit global warming, a leading energy consultancy said on Thursday. In a report outlining a scenario where the world acts decisively to tackle greenhouse gas emissions by electrifying transport and industry, Edinburgh-based Wood Mackenzie said oil consumption would begin a steep drop as early as in 2023. The decline in demand would accelerate to a rate of 2 million barrels of oil per day (bpd) ...

US crude oil inventories saw a third weekly draw in the week-ended April 9 as refinery demand pushed to fresh 13-month highs, US Energy Information Administration data showed April 14. Commercial crude oil stocks fell 5.89 million barrels to 492.42 million barrels last week, EIA data showed. It was the largest one-week draw in inventories since the week ended Feb. 12 and narrowed the supply overhang to 1.5% above the five-year average, in from 3.7% the week prior. The bulk of the draw was concentrated on the US Gulf Coast, ...

Global oil demand is gaining strength as vaccine campaigns in rich countries gather pace and as major US stimulus policies are likely to pass, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said on Wednesday. One year on from what the IEA dubbed as the ‘Black April’ when the global economy came to a halt as lockdowns crimped movement of around 4bn people, fundamentals “look decidedly” stronger in April 2021. But a two-tier way forward could be emerging, with developed nations vaccination campaigns now in full swing while emerging economies are slower. In ...

China’s economy likely grew at record pace of 19% in the first quarter, rebounding from a pandemic slump early last year as demand recovered at home and abroad and as policy support for ailing smaller firms continued, a Reuters poll showed. While the reading will be heavily skewed by the plunge in activity a year earlier, the expected jump would be the strongest since at least 1992, when official quarterly records started, according to the median forecasts of 47 economists polled by Reuters. It would also signal the world’s second-largest ...

The setting for 2021 seems clear: A powerful growth trajectory fueled by an influx of government spending as the U.S. recovers from the Covid-19 crisis and heads into the fastest economic acceleration in nearly 40 years. But after that, then what? The path beyond this rocket-fueled year looks far less clear. One-time spending has rarely been the catalyst for long-term growth. Fiscal and monetary policy that now serve as irresistible tailwinds could soon turn into headwinds. On the other side of this huge burst of activity will be an economy ...

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought social and economic disruption worldwide, but is also providing governments with the opportunity to put economies on a more sustainable and inclusive growth path while addressing the underlying challenges, according to the OECD’s Going for Growth policy report. Going for Growth 2021: Shaping a Vibrant Recovery analyses pre-existing weaknesses as well as those brought on by the pandemic, and offers policy makers country-specific advice to seize the opportunity for a fundamental reset. OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría and Italian Minister of Economy and Finance Daniele Franco ...

Top U.N., financial and vaccine officials on Thursday urged rich countries to donate excess COVID-19 vaccine doses to a program supplying lower income countries in a bid to end the pandemic and get the global economy back on track. At an event organised by the Gavi Vaccine Alliance to boost support for the COVAX vaccine-sharing initiative, the officials appealed for another $2 billion by June for the programme, which aims to buy up to 1.8 billion doses in 2021. COVAX has shipped more than 38 million vaccine doses to 111 ...

Crowley Shipping and Shell Trading (US) Company (“STUSCO”) recently initiated use of low carbon biofuel to power the Crowley tugboat Veteran, a ship assist and escort tug serving the Bay of San Francisco. Tug Veteran 2021 Cision.pngThe fueling contract between the companies reflects their commitment to sustainable operations that decrease the carbon footprint and greenhouse gas impacts of maritime operations. The Veteran, a 6,800-horsepower tug with a bollard pull of 182,000 pounds, received its first bunkering of 24,000 gallons of low carbon biofuel on March 9 in San Francisco, where ...

The Panama Canal Authority (ACP) has announced that it will postpone price increases on canal transit fees which were due to come into effect today. The announcement follows a joint letter sent by the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS), Asian Shipowners’ Association (ASA), and European Community Shipowners’ Association (ECSA), expressing concerns over the speed of price increases that were expected to begin from 15 April 2021. The proposed changes represent a minimum cost increase per transit reservation of US$20,000 (up 57%) and a maximum cost increase of US$58,500 (up 167%) ...

Trafigura Group Pte Ltd, one of the world’s leading independent commodity trading companies, is continuing its investment in renewable energy technologies by co-sponsoring the development of MAN Energy Solutions ammonia-fuelled engine for maritime vessels. The fuel-flexible, two-stroke ammonia engine is expected to be commercially available for large-scale ocean-going ships by 2024, followed by a retrofit package to make existing maritime vessels capable of running on ammonia by 2025. According to the International Maritime Organization (IMO), maritime shipping emits around 1,056 million tons of carbon dioxide per year and is responsible ...

Today, the heavy lift industry sees a new and powerful constellation unfold. Jumbo Shipping, the Dutch maritime heavy lift transport and engineering contractor, and SAL Heavy Lift, the German-based breakbulk and project cargo specialist, commence operations with their joint venture as the Jumbo-SAL-Alliance. Combining their fleets and all commercial activities, SAL and Jumbo are gearing up to create a new powerhouse in the heavy lift sector. This is a very proud moment for Jumbo and SAL. Both companies believe that this move propels them to a greater level of geographical ...

Watson Farley & Williams LLP (“WFW”) has advised Banco Santander, S.A. (“Banco Santander”), through its Hong Kong Branch, as lender, facility agent and security agent, and Korea Trade Insurance Corporation (“K-SURE”) on a US$77.1m K-SURE-supported term loan facility for Evergreen Marine Corporation (Taiwan) Ltd. (“Evergreen”) to finance the acquisition of four newbuilding container ships. The container ships, which will fly under the Taiwanese flag upon delivery, are under construction at Hyundai Mipo Dockyard Co., Ltd, South Korea. The financing, which has a tenor of ten years, represents the first K-SURE-supported ...

UK P&I Club has launched its latest video in a series of award-winning reflective learning training videos, based on a real-life case of a vessel which incurred significant damage to its maize cargo due to a failure to conduct basic checks upon completion of loading. The animated video depicts an incident where a bulk carrier is fixed to load a full cargo of yellow maize in bulk; the previous cargo had been bulk fertiliser. On completion of loading, all 5 holds were fumigated and the holds were then closed, secured ...