As expected, the market has become more active this week, with AG stems coming out

The container charter market remains bullish, with a continued strong demand maintaining a high level of fixing activity

The technology group Wärtsilä has signed a five year extension to its Optimised Maintenance agreement with Golar Management Norway, the operator and manager of a fleet of LNG Carrier and Floating Storage and Regasification Unit (FSRU) vessels. The agreement covers a total of 16 ship installations; 14 with Wärtsilä 50DF dual-fuel engines, plus 2 with Wärtsilä 34DF dual-fuel and Wärtsilä 20DF dual-fuel engines. The extension contract was signed in December 2020. The agreement will enable Golar to pursue a predictive maintenance strategy enabled by Dynamic Maintenance Planning and Asset Diagnostics. ...

Container shipping consortium THE Alliance said Jan. 21 it would continue suspending one of its five trans-Atlantic services for 2021 as demand and rates for the route lagged more lucrative services from Asia. The Alliance added that a restructuring of the remaining four trans-Atlantic would commence from the second quarter, including visits to ports services by the suspended AL1 service, which connected Rotterdam, Hamburg, Antwerp, and London Gateway in Europe with Norfolk, Virginia, Philadelphia, New York, and Halifax, Nova Scotia, on North America’s East Coast. Platts Container Rate 9 — ...

Containers are loaded on HMM Forward, a 4,600-TEU vessel that will depart from Busan on Jan. 23. HMM announced on Jan. 21 that it will deploy an extra loader on Jan. 23 to transport Korean companies’ export products to the United States. The 4,600-TEU container ship HMM Forward is scheduled to depart from Hyundai Pusan New Port Terminal (HPNT) in Busan on Jan. 23 to carry 3,970 TEUs of cargo from Korean exporters to Los Angeles Port. In 2020, HMM deployed a total of seven extra loaders on the Busan-L.A. ...

The Panama Canal has signed memorandums of Understanding with Panama Ports Company (PPC) and PSA Panama International Terminal (PSA Panama) to help optimize supply routes for the distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine and supplies to Latin America. Panama’s logistics capabilities and strategic location at the crossroads of the Americas make it uniquely positioned to assist in meeting the demand imposed on supply chains by the worldwide pandemic. As part of the agreement, the Panama Canal, PPC and PSA Panama have agreed to undertake joint initiatives to establish an alliance of ...

The Thome Group recognises the importance of its seafarers keeping pace with the rapidly changing technology onboard today’s modern vessels which is why it has recently invested in the installation of a new Full Mission Navigation Bridge Simulator with a 320⁰ view. The new system was formally opened, following all relevant COVID-19 protocols, on 20th January 2021 at the TSM Building, Makati City, in the Philippines. Present at the event were Per Selmer Olsen, VP for Thome Ship Management, ROHQ, Ian R. Garcia, CEO of the TSM Group and Elmer ...

Buyers of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the United States are expected to cancel up to five cargoes for loading in March, half the volumes that were cancelled in February, trade sources said. The exact number of cancellations was not immediately clear but several trade sources estimated a range of zero to five, lower than the 10 cargoes likely cancelled for loading in February. Limited availability of ships, continued congestion in the Panama Canal and a drop in LNG prices in Asia are likely the reasons for there to be ...

Russia plans to increase oil exports from its Western ports by 0.2 million tonnes to 1.5 million tonnes in Feb. 1-10 compared to the same period of January, the preliminary loading schedule seen by Reuters showed. Oil loadings will rise by 15% for Feb. 1-10 compared to Jan. 1-10, according to Reuters calculations. Russian Urals oil exports from Baltic ports set at 1.2 million tonnes for Feb. 1-10, up from 1.0 million tonnes in Jan. 1-10, the document showed. Urals and Siberian Light oil exports from Novorossiisk set at 0.3 ...

Dalian iron ore futures edged higher on Friday on concerns over possible weather-related supply disruptions in key exporter Australia, while prices in Singapore dipped on worries about new COVID-19 infections in top steel producer China. The most-traded iron ore contract on the Dalian Commodity Exchange ended the morning session 1% higher at 1,062 yuan ($164.20) a tonne. Iron ore’s most-active February contract on the Singapore Exchange dropped 0.4% to $166.90 a tonne. In a week that saw iron ore futures move sideways, the Dalian benchmark has so far gained 0.4%, ...

Konecranes and TiL have agreed terms for a container handling solution for TiL’s re-activated Calata Bettolo container terminal in Genoa. It involves a 4-year preventive and corrective maintenance contract for all cranes, lift trucks, tractors and trailers at the terminal up to October 2024. It also involves two Konecranes Gottwald Model 8 Mobile Harbor Cranes. Both cranes have been delivered and handed-over. The terminal also operates two Konecranes SMV 4632 TC5 reach stackers. This case highlights Konecranes’ ability to provide its customers with complete solutions that are tailored precisely to ...

Iran’s oil exports have climbed in recent months and its sales of petroleum products to foreign buyers reached record highs despite U.S. sanctions, the oil minister said on Friday. Bijan Zanganeh did not give figures but said exports of crude had recently risen “significantly” despite tough sanctions that were imposed since 2018, when the administration of former U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew from a nuclear pact. “We set the highest record of exports of refined products in the history of the oil industry during the embargo period,” the minister said, ...

In 2019, proved U.S. reserves of crude oil and lease condensate increased by 0.1%, and proved natural gas reserves declined by 1.9%, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) recently released Proved Reserves of Crude Oil and Natural Gas in the United States, Year-End 2019 report. Proved reserves of oil and natural gas each rose annually in the United States by at least 9% in the previous two years (2017 and 2018). Proved reserves are those volumes of oil and natural gas that geological and engineering data demonstrate with ...

Iran is confident of regaining its pre-sanctions oil market share, Iranian oil minister Bijan Zanganeh said Jan. 22, as it pins its hopes on the new US administration lifting sanctions. “I am not worried about our exports market. Absolutely not,” Zanganeh said about whether its lost share could be revived given current market fundamentals and the economic impacts of COVID-19. “I think if the sanctions are lifted, the market itself approaches us. And those who buy oil always seek to diversify their suppliers. They don’t want to restrict themselves to ...

The new U.S. administration’s plans for large fiscal spending and little urgency to lift sanctions on Iran are constructive for oil and gas prices, Goldman Sachs said on Thursday. “On our estimates, a $2 trillion stimulus over 2021-22 would… boost U.S. demand by about 200,000 barrels per day,” the bank said in a note. U.S. President Joe Biden’s proposed $1.9 trillion stimulus package aims to jump-start the economy and accelerate vaccines distribution to control COVID-19, which has hammered global oil demand. Oil prices fell on Friday on worries that new ...