The Greece-based global bunker fuel and marine lubricants trader Shipoil has appointed Inatech, a unit of Glencore, to digitalize its trading and supply operations as part of a strategy to prevent new low-sulphur emissions rules from 2020 eating into profits. Shipoil offers worldwide bunker supply.The company, based in Piraeus, has been expanding its operations, most recently in the Mediterranean and Middle East. Inatech’s energy trading and risk management (ETRM) system for the bunker industry uses cloud-based computing to reduce operational and counterparty risk, while driving efficiency in volatile markets and ...

This report consolidates considerations on Risk Mitigation measures and follows the report of 16th June. What we know Two tankers, in close proximity, suffered explosions whilst underway by what was reported to be multiple magnetic limpet mines. The explosions were at or above the waterline and reporting suggests they were attached from undetected small boats possibly acting under the cover of darkness. Neither vessel was flagged to a nation related to the Saudi-led Coalition. The attack appears to have been well-planned and coordinated. Additional military assets and vessels are actively ...

Shipping associations have called on ship owners to inform Britain’s navy of their movements before sailing into the Middle East Gulf and Strait of Hormuz because of the escalating international crisis in the region. About a fifth of the world’s oil passes through the Strait of Hormuz and shipping companies are already deploying more unarmed security guards as an extra safeguard. However, in a joint note issued by the leading trade associations on Monday, ship captains were requested to register with the Royal Navy’s liaison body, the United Kingdom Marine ...

Escalating tensions in the Strait of Hormuz forced Asian refiners and shipowners to weigh alternative crude sources, deploy contingency plans and boost safety measures for navigation along Iran’s coastal areas, industry sources and officials told S&P Global Platts. Asian oil importers’ moves intensified after Iran on Friday seized a UK chemical tanker and briefly detained a UK-owned VLCC in one of the world’s most critical chokepoints, ratcheting up regional tensions and risks to oil shipments. “We may look for more shipments from the US, the central Asia and other non-Middle ...

MABUX World Bunker Index (consists of a range of prices for 380 HSFO, 180 HSFO and MGO (Gasoil) in the main world hubs) demonstrated slight upward trend on July 22: 380 HSFO – USD/MT – 423.76(+2.56) 180 HSFO – USD/MT – 461.06(+3.10) MGO – USD/MT – 658.05(+4.36) Meantime, world oil indexes rose on Jul.22 as tensions mounted between the U.K. and Iran, increased fears of a disruption to oil supplies coming out of the Persian Gulf. Brent for September settlement increased by $0.79 to $63.26 a barrel on the London-based ...

Iran took measures against a ship in the Strait of Hormuz to implement international law, not in retaliation to actions by Britain, Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Zarif said on Monday in Nicaragua, where he met with his local counterpart. The Iran military seized the Stena Impero ship in the Strait of Hormuz on Friday in what appeared to be an act of retaliation for the British capture of an Iranian tanker two weeks earlier. Source: Reuters (Reporting by Ismael Lopez, Writing by Daina Beth Solomon; Editing by Frank Jack Daniel)

Japan’s Mitsui O.S.K. Lines is maintaining its advisory for its UK-related vessels to keep a distance when sailing along the Iranian coast in the Persian Gulf, including the Strait Hormuz, in the wake of rising tensions in the region, a company spokesman told S&P Global Platts. MOL, one of Japan’s largest ship owners, remains on high alert after the UK government advised British ships to avoid the area “for an interim period” after Iran seized on Friday a UK chemical tanker and briefly detained a UK-owned VLCC in the Strait ...

Britain will seek to put together a European-led maritime protection mission to ensure safe shipping through the Strait of Hormuz after Iran seized a British-flagged vessel in what London said was an act of “state piracy”. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards seized the Stena Impero in the Strait on Friday. British Royal Marines seized an Iranian tanker off the coast of Gibraltar two weeks ago. “Under international law Iran had no right to obstruct the ship’s passage – let alone board her. It was therefore an act of state piracy,” Foreign Secretary ...

GTT has received two new orders from the Hyundai group concerning the tank design of two LNGCs offering a capacity of 180,000 m3, for the first and 174,000 m3, for the second, on behalf of two ship-owners which names remain confidential at this stage. The two LNGCs will be built in Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) and Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries (HSHI) shipyards in Korea. GTT’s Mark III Flex membrane containment system has been selected to equip the tanks of the vessels, the deliveries of which are scheduled between the fourth ...

Canada’s arctic port of Churchill is set to resume its first grain shipments since 2015 after a group backed by investor Prem Watsa stepped in last year to buy the facility and a related rail line linking the northern town with the rest of Manitoba. The 88-year-old port on the shores of Hudson’s Bay will resume operations in the next few months, reducing by several days the shipping time to deliver grains to Europe and the Middle East across the Atlantic Ocean. “This is the first season again in many ...

The 2019 Xinhua-Baltic International Shipping Center Development Index was issued on July 11. The top five global shipping centers are Singapore, Hong Kong,London,ShanghaiandDubai.Ningbo-ZhoushanPortranks No.13 among all of the shipping centers. Besides Shanghai and Ningbo-Zhoushan Port, the other Chinese shipping centers also included in the top 30 of the list include Guangzhou (No.16), Qingdao (No.17), Dalian (No.20), Shenzhen (No.22), Tianjin (No.240, Kaoshiung (No.25) and Xiamen (No.30). In 2018, as the only one port with the throughput of over one billion tons in the world,Ningbo-ZhoushanPortachieved a total container throughput of over 26 ...

The causes and consequences of climate change are among the most controversial issues in the world today. But where some analysts see a threat to global stability, even a challenge to human well-being on the planet, some businessmen see an opportunity. Last month in Saint Petersburg, Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, chairman and chief executive of the UAE ports and logistics company DP World, announced a partnership with three leading Russian companies that could resolve one of the biggest challenges facing global commerce: The establishment of a permanent maritime sea route ...

The IMO2020 rule for the use of low-sulphur fuels from the beginning of 2020 is expected to offer a boost in the product tanker market, triggering demand for more cargoes. However, a lot is still dependant on if “the price is right”. In its latest weekly report, Gibson said that “over the past few weeks, the West – East High Sulphur Fuel Oil (HSFO) arbitrage has firmed substantially from a fairly range bound $30/tonne to a bullish $46/tonne, briefly touching a four year high of $50/tonne last week. Several factors ...

Around the world, the environmental agenda is increasing. International focus has been levelled on Greta Thunberg, the 16-year-old credited with starting the school strike for climate movement. Extinction Rebellion, which aims to use civil disobedience and non-violent resistance for environmental protest, has received media coverage across the globe. The Ocean Cleanup has become known for its effort to clean the Great Pacific garbage patch, a Pacific Ocean marine debris particle gyre. As resolve to protect the planet has increased, it has filtered into international shipping and as the sector moves ...

In light of the recent attacks on tankers in Fujairah and the Gulf of Oman, and rising tensions in the area generally, the club has issued the following guidance which discusses club cover, risk mitigation and legal implications on contractual issues that members may face. This follows our web alert of 17 June (which can be viewed in the link on the right). Club cover The club’s rules contain no definition of (or exclusion for) piracy and armed robbery. Therefore, the third-party liabilities insured by the club remain covered when ...