Climate and environmental considerations are increasingly a key component of investment decision-making. Not just by corporates but by the financial sector, too. So much so that most of the world’s major banks and institutional investors have policies to exit or lessen their exposure to coal. Oil and gas – fossil fuels that release carbon when combusted and, in turn, contributes to climate change – are likely to be the next commodities affected by the financing sector’s focus on “greening” their balance sheets. This paper aims to understand the current sources ...

U.S. job growth accelerated in May, but a jump in the unemployment rate to a seven-month high of 3.7% suggested that labor market conditions were easing, which could give the Federal Reserve cover to forgo an interest rate hike this month. The increase in the unemployment rate from a 53-year low of 3.4% in April reported by the Labor Department on Friday was mostly driven by Blacks. It was also partly the result of more people entering the labor force, an increase in supply that is reducing pressure on businesses ...

U.S. President Joe Biden’s 2020 campaign promise to make wealthy Americans and corporations pay more in taxes to finance a range of social priorities breathed its last gasp, at least for this presidential term, with the debt ceiling deal he struck with Republicans on Saturday. The deal to cap discretionary spending and suspend the debt ceiling contains no tax rate changes to raise revenue; it also slashes new funding Biden had allocated to the hollowed-out Internal Revenue Service. The agreement caps Republicans’ successful defense of the debt-boosting 2017 Trump tax ...

The economic airplane hasn’t reached the runway yet and has hit some more heavy turbulence in 2023 – but investors suspect a relatively gentle touchdown may be back on the cards. It’s not even midyear yet, but the full gamut of scenarios has been juggled in just five months. World markets have swung from “hard landing” fears of late 2022 to the “soft landing” hopes of the new year and then even unnerving thoughts of “no landing” at all – just before the banking stress hit of March forced them ...

The second closed discussion held by NAVIGATOR SHIPPING CONSULTANTS in the framework of the 22nd NAVIGATOR 2023 – THE SHIPPING DECISION MAKERS FORUM, was successfully completed on Thursday 25th of May 2023, at Tatoi Club, under the theme #SeaTheChange. A total of 80 distinguished executives, from 40 companies, from across the entire spectrum of the shipping arena took part in the closed event, where they met and discussed key issues that concern and affect both the industry and our society. Danae Bezantakou, CEO of Navigator Shipping Consultants, welcomed the participants ...

4Subsea, a leading provider of digital technology and services, has secured its first contract for a new digital solution that enhances the operability of any weather dependent marine vessel operation. Marine Operations DynOps utilises 4Subsea’s 4Insight® data sharing platform to support decision-making based on analytics and reduces operational inefficiencies. It enables ship operators to use vessel sensors, motion sensors and GPS data in conjunction with weather forecasts to accurately predict how a ship will react to the environment up to a week in advance. Having secured a first contract win, the service ...

HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering (HD KSOE) won a 1.24-trillion-won ($937.36 million) contract to construct five massive liquefied natural gas (LNG) container ships for a Taiwanese shipper. HD KSOE, the intermediate shipbuilding holding company of HD Hyundai, said Thursday it has inked an agreement with Yang Ming Marine Transport Corporation, a Taiwanese container shipping company to build five 15,500 twenty-foot equivalent unit LNG-powered vessels. They will measure 365 meters (1,200 feet) in length, 51 meters in width, and 29.85 meters in height. The construction will take place at HD ...

New building in tankers this week, Samsung announced contracts for two 158k dwt Suezmaxes for an unnamed owner, with the deliveries expected in 4Q 2025

The Arctic Aurora tanker is currently loading up at the Arctic Hammerfest liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant despite production being shut down, operator Equinor EQNR.OL said on Friday. “We can load even if production is halted, as long as we have LNG in the tank,” a company spokesperson told Reuters. Equinor stopped production at Hammerfest LNG located on the Melkoeya island on May 31 due to a leak in the cooling circuit, and currently plans a start-up to take place on June 8. In addition to the Arctic Aurora, tanker ...

ESPO congratulates Grand Port Maritime de Dunkerque (France), Volos Port Authority (Greece), Port of Den Helder (the Netherlands), Autoridad Portuaria de Castellón (Spain), Autoridad Portuaria de Melilla (Spain), Santander Port Authority (Spain), Peterhead Port Authority (United Kingdom), Shoreham Port Authority (United Kingdom) and Asyaport Liman (Turkey) for being certified through the EcoPorts’ environmental management standard (PERS). Isabelle Ryckbost, ESPO Secretary General, Zeno D’Agostino, ESPO Chair, and Valter Selén, EcoPorts Coordinator, announced the PERS-certified ports during the annual ESPO Conference in Bremen. Isabelle Ryckbost, ESPO Secretary General, commented: “It is great ...

The Saudi Ports Authority (Mawani) has revealed the inclusion of Jeddah Islamic Port, King Abdulaziz Port, and Jubail Commercial Port to the Al Maha shipping service launched by container liner Maersk. With a start date set for June, the new route will link the Kingdom’s three hubs to six ports across the Middle East including Tangier, Port Said, Salalah, Duqm, Jebel Ali, and Doha aboard seven vessels offering a weekly capacity of 8,500 TEUs. Adding new cargo connections is key to the Kingdom’s ambition of enhancing its global maritime connectivity ...

Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone Ltd’s auditor stated that insufficient disclosures about certain transactions mean it can only issue a qualified opinion on the company’s accounts, bringing the spotlight back to allegations made by short seller Hindenburg Research about Gautam Adani’s empire, stated bloomberg in its media report. According to bloomberg, Deloitte Haskins & Sells LLP expressed concerns on Tuesday about the port unit’s transactions with three unrelated firms. However, the auditor stated that it was unable to certify that the parties were unrelated, and that the firm has ...

Iraq exported about 102.46 million barrels of crude oil in May, generating 7.3 billion U.S. dollars in revenue, the country’s Oil Ministry announced Thursday. The average price for Iraqi crude oil in May was 71.3 dollars per barrel, said the ministry in a statement, citing statistics from the State Organization for Marketing of Oil, an Iraqi company. It said crude oil exports during the month were from oil fields in central and southern Iraq via the port of Basra. Iraq’s economy heavily relies on crude oil exports, which account for ...

Ukraine’s combined spring and winter grain crops are still expected to total 44.5 million tonnes this year despite a reduced sowing area, the country’s agriculture minister said on Friday. Ukraine harvested 53 million tonnes of grain in 2022. Mykola Solsky told Reuters the harvest could include 18 million tonnes of winter grains and about 26.5 million tonnes of spring crops. Winter wheat dominates Ukraine’s winter harvest output while corn accounts for the bulk of the spring grain harvest. Ukraine’s deputy farm minister this week said that the spring grain sowing ...

Domestic coal production was 7.10% higher year-on-year at 76.26 million tonne (MT) in May. India had produced 71.21 MT coal during the same month in 2022, the coal ministry said in a statement. “Ministry of Coal has achieved a remarkable feat with a substantial surge in overall coal production during May 23, reaching 76.26 MT surpassing May 22 of 71.21 MT, representing an increase of 7.10%,” it said. The cumulative coal production in April-May FY24 jumped to 149.41 MT from 138.41 MT in the year-ago period. Last month, Coal India ...