Three new cargo ships are heading towards Ukrainian Black Sea ports for further food exports, Deputy Ukraine’s Prime Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov said on Friday. “Bulk carriers AZARA, YING HAO 01, ENEIDA are using temporary corridor established by the Ukrainian Navy in order to export 127,000 (metric) tons of agricultural products and iron ore for China, Egypt and Spain,” Kubrakov said on X social media app. He said the vessels were on the way to Chornomorsk and Pivdennyi sea ports. Source: Reuters (Reporting by Pavel Polityuk, Editing by Andrew Cawthorne)

Today, the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS), the global trade association for shipowners, which represents over 80% of the world merchant fleet, has announced the inauguration of a new ICS Representative Office in Shanghai. This strategic move follows the admission of the China Shipowners’ Association as a Full ICS Member in January 2023 and extends the presence of the ICS China Liaison Office which will continue to have a presence in the Hong Kong SAR. The new ICS office, within the offices of the China P&I Club, is located in ...

Apple released a “Mother Nature” ad touting its 2020 promise to bring its entire carbon footprint to net zero by 2030. The ad shows the Apple environmental team giving Mother Nature a status report. In one moment, an Apple team member says, “I’m proud to report that we’re shipping more products by ocean rather than air, which reduces transportation emissions by 95%.” However, if Apple really wants to show a commitment to maritime shipping, it should join the Zero Emission Maritime Buyers Alliance (ZEMBA). The mission of ZEMBA is to ...

The Genoa based shipping group Ignazio Messina & C. records today the acquisition of a new full-container vessel, already renamed “Jolly Oro”, that will operate side by side with the recently acquired sister vessel “Jolly Argento”, thus confirming the strategy of a progressive strengthening on the market of the full container units. The “Jolly Oro”, formerly “Northern Priority”, has a transport capacity of 4600 TEU, is 264.32 metres long by 32.20 metres wide, and was built by the Korean shipyard Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering, the same shipyard that had ...

UKSA is reporting its Further Education student intake for September 2023 is its highest on record, increasing 20 per cent on 2022 figures, with 71 per cent from those living on the Isle of Wight. The world’s largest RYA centre and UK maritime charity has 56 students enrolled on its Maritime Foundation course alongside 28 students undertaking its Adventurous Outdoor Activities course. The total of 84 is the highest UKSA has seen since records began in 2010. UKSA is also reporting that over 46 per cent of this year’s intake ...

Maritime digitalisation leader calls for greater data integration and analytics in the offshore sector as new white paper showcases opportunities for substantial fuel savings and emissions reductions. Marseille, France – 21 September 2023 – A new white paper published by maritime performance management expert Opsealog has shed light on the central role of data in boosting fuel efficiency and reducing greenhouse gas emissions from offshore support vessel (OSV) operations. The report details a series of recommendations that can help operators secure immediate gains in fuel efficiency and reduce the carbon ...

Following a Worldscale Association update for the Port of Djeno, Platts, part of S&P Global Commodity Insights, will amend the Worldscale flat rate baskets used in the $/mt calculations for its West Africa-Far East 260,000 mt and West Africa-Far East 130,000 mt dirty tanker assessments, effective Oct. 2. Following this amendment, the new average flat rates for the following assessments will be: Dirty West Africa-Far East 260kt: $39.44/mt Dirty West Africa-Far East 130kt: $39.44/mt Please refer to the Worldscale website for more information on these updates. The affected assessments are: ...

Marine fuel sales at the UAE’s Fujairah, the world’s third-largest bunker hub, scaled eight-month highs in August, although volumes remained lower from a year-ago period, data showed. Bunker sales at Fujairah provide a gauge of shipping market sentiment in the Middle East. August bunker sales, excluding lubricants, were at 677,503 cubic metres, or about 671,000 metric tons, up 2.7% month-on-month but down 6.3% from the same month last year, according to the Fujairah Oil Industry Zone (FOIZ) data, which is published by S&P Global Commodity Insights. The uptick in August ...

Hapag-Lloyd is set to transform connectivity at sea with the rollout of Starlink satellite internet technology across its fleet. This strategic decision comes after a successful pilot phase. Since May, crewmembers aboard four pilot vessels have had the opportunity to test the Starlink technology. The feedback from these trials has been very positive. The high-speed satellite Internet has revolutionized communication for seafarers, enabling seamless video calls and streaming services. The Starlink satellite network offers an impressive bandwidth of up to 250 megabits per second, facilitating not only private use but ...

Residual fuel oil stocks at key trading hub Singapore climbed to four-week highs in the week to Sept. 20, official data showed, with net imports nearly doubling from last week. Onshore fuel oil stocks were up 5% at 21.86 million barrels (3.44 million metric tons), data from Enterprise Singapore showed. The uptick came as weekly net imports, which are calculated by subtracting total exports from total imports, nearly doubled week-on-week at 1.01 million tons. The United Arab Emirates remained the top origin for Singapore’s fuel oil imports at 274,000 tons, ...

Leading maritime operational and safety technology company Danelec has launched Danelec Connect, a new digital platform designed to boost operational efficiency, safety and sustainability through significantly enriched Ship Performance Monitoring. The platform was unveiled at the StormGeo Exclusive Shipping Advisory Board APAC in Singapore today. A powerful cloud-based solution, Danelec’s new software is specifically designed to optimize diverse marine operations and address the many intricacies of vessel, fleet and voyage management. Danelec Connect is an agnostic platform for extracting operational and business value from automated high-quality data regardless of source ...

The Baltic Exchange’s main sea freight index, tracking rates for ships carrying dry bulk commodities, snapped its 11-session winning streak on Thursday as rates for capesize and panamax vessels edged lower. The overall index, which factors in rates for capesize, panamax and supramax shipping vessels, fell by 15 points to 1,569. The capesize index shed 60 points, or 2.9%, to 2,007, its worst day since Sept. 5. Average daily earnings for capesize vessels, which typically transports 150,000-tonne cargoes carrying commodities such as iron ore and coal, decreased $499 to $16,646. ...

Newbuild contracting activity during the past five years has been low at about 5.46 million DWT per year. In addition, the product tanker order book hit a low of 9.67 million DWT in December 2022, the smallest order book since June 2001. Due to the low contracting of ships, the fleet has only grown at an average annual rate of 2.6% between 2018 and 2023. Deliveries from the current order book will remain low until 2025 when they are expected to exceed 8 million DWT for the first time since ...

The unwinding of supply chain inefficiencies and rising vessel orders are set to dampen positive deadweight demand in the dry bulk market according to Maritime Strategies International. COVID-related supply chain inefficiencies and associated port congestion have almost fully unwound and while the MSI outlook on the prospects for trade volumes this year is considered positive, growth in actual dwt demand is limited to only 0.25% year on year. MSI’s Q3 Dry Bulk market* report notes that while this quarter’s demand forecasts for 2023 is higher by 1m dwt, its fleet ...

The third week of September began on a positive note for VLCC crude oil freight rates, moving well off the August lows and setting a more energetic tone in the transition from the summer season. It remains uncertain whether this newfound momentum will continue through the end of the month as the market hopes for a stronger recovery during the upcoming winter period. Downward pressure continues to be observed in the Aframax segment. However, one notable development should be highlighted: Libyan crude oil exports to Europe increased significantly during the ...