East Africa and Indian Ocean Gulf of Aden: Suspicious approach Bab el Mandeb 25 February A MV was approached on 25 February at 13.41 hrs LT in position 12 13N 044 06E by 6 skiffs with approximately 5 persons on board to within 0.5nm within the MSTC Bab el Mandeb. Ladders were sighted but no weapons. Whilst the vessel showed that guards were embarked it is unknown whether any warning shots were fired. This is the third incident of suspicious approach reported in the last 5 days in this area, ...

Wan Hai Lines Ltd. is pleased to announce its plan to expand its existing service network between China to Southeast Asia by launching a new weekly service from South China to Vietnam & Thailand on 6th March 2020. The service, named CV6, will be operated with 2 vessels with an intake of 1,200 TEU. Wan Hai Lines shall deploy 1 vessel while its partner Interasia Lines, Ltd. will operate the other vessel. The service rotation shall cover Hong Kong – Nansha – Shekou – Ho Chi Minh(Cat Lai) – Bangkok ...

Islamic Republic of Iran and Oman will sign a maritime trade shipping agreement. Cabinet of Ministers in its today’s session, as headed by the President Rouhani, agreed with the suggestion of issuance of license to negotiate and temporarily sign a maritime trade agreement between Iran and Oman. With the government’s approval, HEPCO Road Construction Machinery Production and Engineering Company of Arak [Heavy Equipment Production Company (HEPCO)] was excluded from some of terms and conditions related to receiving facilities from bank. These terms and conditions include obtaining certificate of payment or ...

Thordon Bearings’ ThorPlas-Blue has established itself as the bearing of choice for deck equipment, with European shipyards and owners frequently specifying the grease-free bearing system as standard for vessels’ winches, fairleads, davits, capstans and windlasses. Sweden’s Falkvarv AB, Oresund Dry Docks, and the Oskarshamnsvarvet shipyard have been particularly strong proponents of the grease-free bearing, with these yards maintaining an inventory of ThorPlas-Blue stock with which to replace worn and costly bronze bearings and bushings when vessels drydock for repairs. Tommy Holmgren, Sales Director, Duwel Group, Thordon’s authorised distributor in Sweden, ...

Gene Seroka, executive director of the Port of Los Angeles, told CNBC on Tuesday that based on a sharp slowdown in shipping he believes the economic drag from the new coronavirus will turn out to be larger than SARS. Seroka was working in Shanghai for a Singapore-based container and shipping company, called American President Lines, during the outbreak nearly two decades ago of severe acute respiratory syndrome, which also originated in China. “At that time, we were all grounded. We weren’t moving around domestically nor internationally. This appears to be ...

Rio Tinto has announced it will spend $1bn to reach net zero emissions by 2050. Commenting, Julian Kettle, Wood Mackenzie Vice Chairman of Metals and Mining, said: “The announcement by Rio Tinto regarding its plans to decarbonise is a small but significant step in the right direction. However, changes need to be far bolder at a corporate, government and societal level. “Setting Rio Tinto’s $1bn in context, this represents just 16% of the dividend it distributed in 2019 or just under 5% of its reported EBITDA of $21.2bn for the ...

Chicago wheat and corn futures slid for a second straight session on Thursday, with pressure from a broader decline in commodities and stock markets, as fears of the coronavirus outbreak developing into a pandemic weighed on prices. Soybeans fell for the first time in three sessions. “There is downside in grains at least for the near term, I think so,” said Ole Houe, director of advisory services at brokerage IKON Commodities. “Agricultural markets are more driven by market sentiment due to the spread of the virus than the underlying supply ...

Dubai crude futures and Brent/Dubai spreads were steady to lower in Asia trade Thursday after a decline in oil markets overnight and amid muted spot activity toward the end of the current trading cycle for Middle East sour crude. The April Brent/Dubai Exchange Futures for Swaps spread narrowed from Wednesday’s assessment, as did the contango in the prompt Dubai intermonth spread for March/April crude futures. However the contango looked likely to widen down the curve for April/May Dubai crude futures due to the bleak demand outlook, traders said Thursday. The ...

Brent crude was down $1.06, or 2%, at $52.37 a barrel at 1011 GMT. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures fell by 97 cents, or 2%, to $47.76 a barrel. For the first time since the start of the coronavirus outbreak erupted in China, the number of new coronavirus infections outside China exceeded new Chinese cases. The spread of the virus to large economies including South Korea, Japan and Italy has raised concerns that growth in fuel demand will be limited. Consultants Facts Global Energy forecast oil demand would grow by ...

Just a matter of weeks ago, the coronavirus was being described as an outbreak in China. That subsequently morphed into a regional epidemic and has now either become, or about to become, a global pandemic with cases being reported from Italy to Japan, U.S. to Kuwait and much else in between. Primary impact is being felt in China which could see at least one or two fiscal quarters of lackluster growth and that may well push the country’s headline growth below 5% for 2020. Engulfed in a prolonged trade tiff ...

Over the next decade, the UK’s decommissioning bill will be the largest of any country in the world. Scores of platforms need to be completely or partially removed. And taking platforms out of service will be a priority for some time yet: as many as 470 installations need to be decommissioned in the UK North Sea over the next 30 to 40 years. Decommissioning is a big challenge. And it is not without controversy. Here we explore three of the biggest issues facing operators as they prepare to decommission UK ...

Natural gas overwhelmingly dominates the U.S. electric power system, double second place coal. Gas is cleaner, cheaper, more flexible, and more reliable. Gas will supply over 40% of our power this summer and is racing toward being 50% of total generation capacity. Just think about the scale of that. For every 10o power plants in America that create electricity, 50 of them will run on natural gas (see Figure). Further, the International Energy Agency has specifically credited the rise of gas in our power system as the reason why we ...

Seasonal refinery maintenance has started in the Mediterranean, with turnarounds also planned for Northwest Europe where March works are planned at some French and German plants. In other news, Spanish refinery throughput volume dropped 3.2% in 2019 to 66.5 million mt/year — or 1.34 million b/d, with more maintenance and upgrades carried out during the year, data published by CORES showed. Refinery run rates were around 84% of total refining capacity of 79,000 million mt/year, down from a rate of 87% in 2018. Refined product output was down 2.9% to ...

Risk aversion drove global stocks lower on Thursday, increasing their drop in value this week alone to more than $3 trillion, and U.S. Treasuries yields hit record lows as the coronavirus spread faster outside China than in. The number of new infections in China – the source of the epidemic – was for the first time overtaken by new cases elsewhere on Wednesday, raising fears that the outbreak could become a pandemic. The pan-European STOXX 600 index fell 2.5% and the blue-chip index in Italy – the worst-hit country in ...

The dollar fell on Thursday as Treasury yields continued to plumb new lows and investors bet the Federal Reserve would cut interest rates to offset the impact of the spreading coronavirus, lifting the euro to its highest in more than two weeks. Money markets are now fully pricing in one 25 basis point cut in the Fed’s rate by April and three by March 2021. Expectations for a European Central Bank rate cut have also risen; money markets now price a more than 80% chance of a 10 basis point ...