Logimatic and MAN Energy Solutions collaborate to standardize the exchange of RFQ and PO information between shipping companies and suppliers. A direct integration between the procurement module in SERTICA and the Sales Order System of MAN Energy Solutions eliminates retyping prices and other procurement information. SERTICA Connect gives shipping companies access to communicate directly with several maritime suppliers. The direct integration enables the easy exchange of request for quotes, purchase orders and order confirmations. Michael Paarup, COO at Logimatic Solutions explains, “Shipping companies benefit from receiving all information digitally. This ...

Leading maritime e-Learning training provider Videotel, has launched the world’s first fully approved online learning course on the use of gases or other low-flashpoint fuels covered within the IGF Code. The Code, which came into force on 1st January 2017, aims to minimise risk to the ship, its crew and the environment by acknowledging the special nature of any gaseous fuels that are being loaded, stored and burned. New minimum requirements for the training and qualifications of masters, officers, ratings and other personnel on board ships are also addressed in ...

A labor union representing Argentine grains port workers on Thursday asked the government to suspend exports, a move that would put upward pressure on world soy prices and hobble the country’s main source of revenue as it seeks to avoid default. The URGARA union, which represents inspectors who check the quality of grains before they are loaded onto ships, said the coronavirus pandemic was severe enough to justify suspending port activities in the world’s No. 1 exporter of soymeal livestock feed and No. 3 supplier of corn and raw soybeans. ...

A key economic outlook for the US ports sector has been revised to negative from stable due to weakened demand and persistent supply chain risk as a result of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Moody’s Investors Service said that its changed outlook “reflects our view that both global and US demand will suffer more than previously expected as a result of economic disruption caused by the coronavirus”. Twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU) throughput is Moody’s key indicator for the sector and the business said it expects “the combined effect of China’s extended ...

We, CLECAT, ETA, ESC, ETF and FEPORT, on behalf of thousands of European freight forwarders, tug owners, shippers and port companies and terminals and transport workers, have sent a letter to the President of the Commission, Ms Ursula Von der Leyen to express our strong disapproval of the decision to prolong the Consortia Block Exemption Regulation (CBER) with another four years without any changes. In this critical period of the COVID-19 crisis, European supply chains play a crucial role to keep the free flow of goods in Europe going. We ...

Indonesia, the world’s top palm oil producer, exported 2.39 million tonnes of palm oil in January, including refined products, Indonesia Palm Oil Association (GAPKI) data showed. Shipments fell from 3.25 million tonnes in the same month last year and 3.72 million tonnes in December. January’s export drop was due to high stock level in main importing countries. Meanwhile, uncertainties surrounding spread of coronavirus and global energy price are seen to have impacted demand for the vegetable oil, GAPKI said in a statement. Meanwhile, by the end of January, Indonesia’s palm ...

Southeast Asian sweet crude market may witness spot cargo volumes decline sharply over the coming trading cycles as Vietnam plans to slash production and exports with state-run PetroVietnam finding crude sales unprofitable amid plunging oil prices. Vietnam is one of the major regional crude suppliers as it regularly offers various light, medium and heavy sweet grades including Chim Sao, Thang Long, Dai Hung and Bach Ho in the Southeast Asian spot market. The country exported 79,845 b/d of crude in 2019, up 0.4% from 2018 exports, according to Vietnam customs ...

During any other market cycle, Mexico Pacific Limited’s proposal to build an up to 12 million mt/year liquefaction terminal would seem a no-brainer. Its proposed location on Mexico’s West Coast allows for a shorter shipping route to Asia than from the US Gulf Coast and the ability for tankers to avoid the congested Panama Canal. Existing pipeline infrastructure in the region can access cheap Texas shale gas. And in February it tapped for its helm an industry veteran that helped guide Cheniere Energy when the US LNG pioneer started up ...

U.S. soybean futures rose on Friday as concerns that the coronavirus pandemic will slow production set the oilseed on track for its best week in nearly six months. Corn edged 0.4% lower but remained on course to post gains of around 1%, while wheat was set to finish the week up 5% for second straight week. The most active soybean futures on the Chicago Board Of Trade were up 0.5% at $8.84-3/4 a bushel by 0416 GMT after closing little changed in the previous session. Soybeans are on course to ...

Benchmark Dubai crude futures were largely steady in mid-morning trading hours in Asia on Friday, with market participants nervously eying a mounting number of unsold April and May loading cargoes available in the spot market. “People are either storing or offering [April and May cargoes],” said a Singapore based refiner. May Dubai futures was pegged at $31.07/b at 11 am in Singapore (0300 GMT), up a few cents from $31.03/b assessed at the 0830 GMT Asian close Thursday. The May Brent/Dubai Exchange Futures for spread shrank however, as ICE Brent ...

The CEO of Latigo Petroleum in Odessa, Texas has called out Saudi Arabia in the Midland Reporter-Telegram complaining that Texans are supporting the Saudis in their price war against Texas producers. The proposal is that Texans should reject the daily imports of approximately 1 million barrels per day from Saudi Arabia and, further, refuse to buy the fuel from the Saudi refinery company, Motiva. Located in Port Arthur, Motiva also employs more than 2,300 workers—most of them Texans. Those of us who witnessed the 30%-plus unemployment across Beaumont, Orange and ...

A sharp fall in global crude oil demand caused by the Covid-19 pandemic may fuel further cooperation between India and China, the world’s third and second-largest oil importers respectively. Chinese oil giants are keen to offload their share of so-called equity oil to Indian refiners as the viral outbreak has squeezed demand in their home market, said two people with knowledge of the developments. The development assumes significance as state-run China National Petroleum Corp.’s (CNPC) overseas equity oil and gas production is expected to touch 100 million tonnes by 2020. ...

Following the announcement that several key operators in the Permian Basin are significantly reducing capex or production in their positions as a result of the severe oil price fall; Adrian Lara, Oil and Gas Analyst at GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company, offers his view: “Of all the unconventional plays, the Permian Basin reduction in forecast production growth will be the largest in absolute terms and exemplifies quite well the collateral effect sought by the oil price war initiated by Russia and Saudi Arabia a few weeks ago. “The ...

Refiners in the Middle East are expected to face mounting pressures in the second-quarter of the year, with product cash differentials likely to extend their downward trend as the region suffers a double whammy of faltering consumer fuel demand and oversupply, following the end of an extensive refinery turnaround season. The bearishness comes as the coronavirus, or COVID-19, has continued to spread rampantly across the region, an issue that has rocked the global economy, equity and commodity markets. Saudi Arabia, the hardest hit of the Gulf Cooperation Council, or GCC ...

Japanese refiners are considering cutting operating rates further in April – despite the rate in March falling to the typical turnaround level before the maintenance season has started — as global demand for refined products plummets amid the coronavirus pandemic. At least two Japanese refiners are looking at the potential need for run cuts in April amid a drop in domestic demand for key oil products such as gasoline and gasoil, coupled with country’s relatively light spring refinery maintenance season this year, sources said. Hopes of a regional transportation fuel ...