The Baltic Exchange’s main sea freight index, tracking rates for ships carrying dry bulk commodities, fell for a second straight week on Friday, dragged down by declines across all vessel segments. The overall index, which factors in rates for capesize, panamax, supramax and handysize shipping vessels, was down 26 points, or nearly 1.2 %, at 2,214 points. The index posted a weekly fall of about 5%. The capesize index lost 53 points, or 2.2%, at 2,381 points, down about 0.6% for the week. Average daily earnings for capesizes, which typically ...

DP WORLD’s team in the UK is celebrating after the leading provider of smart logistics solutions won a prestigious award last week for its work in developing apprentices. DP World beat four other finalists to be named ‘Best Apprenticeship Employer (Corporate)’ at PETA’s Apprenticeship and Employer of the Year Awards. Staged at Portsmouth’s Royal Maritime Club, it is the 20th year in which the awards have been held to celebrate the achievements of people employed in industry and commerce on the south coast on England. Ian McCrindle, UK Engineering & ...

Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd. announced that the Japan Federation of Pilots’ Association (JFPA) (Note 1) has presented its Best Quality Ship Award for fiscal year (FY) 2021 to two MOL-operated vessels—the LNG carrier LNG SATURN and the bulk carrier TAIYO. LNG carrier LNG SATURN LOA: 288.00m Breadth: 48.94m Gross tonnage: 136,739 tons Bulk ship TAIYO LOA: 234.88m Breadth: 38.00m Gross tonnage: 50,927 tons Mementos and letters recognizing the award-winning ships The award was founded in 2003 to raise awareness of port and ocean environmental protection through safe operation of vessels, ...

The revised BIMCO Infectious or Contagious Disease Clause for Time Charter Parties 2022 is now ready for use. The revision was prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the clause is not intended to be a “COVID-19 clause” – it is designed with future epidemics and pandemics in mind. The BIMCO IOCD Clause 2022 is appropriate for outbreaks of diseases on a pandemic scale like COVID-19, and outbreaks at a regional level, such as the Ebola virus epidemic in West Africa in 2014-2016. In undertaking this revision, BIMCO has focused on ...

An upturn in iron ore prices on the back of promises from Chinese President Xi Jinping to take more effective measures to achieve the country’s economic and social development goals has proven to be just a blip. When Xi made his comments on June 23, iron ore prices bounced off a seven-month low of $109 per tonne on June 22. But rather than marking the start of a sustained recovery, the tide soon turned and by June 27 prices had fallen for three straight weeks. Analyst Wood Mackenzie’s observation in ...

Vale has achieved a major advance in the adoption of alternative, lower-carbon fuels for shipping. A pioneering project developed by the company resulting in a design to incorporate multi-fuel tanks on iron ore carriers has received an Approval in Principle (AIP) from the leading Classification Society DNV. The independent assessment performed by DNV verifies the technical feasibility of the design, and indicates that based on this system, developed in partnership with Norwegian companies Brevik Engineering AS and Passer Marine, vessels chartered by the mining company could be adapted to store ...

A new study examining the top shipping companies’ commitment to decarbonization shows that only 35% have a clearly expressed emissions target to be net zero by 2050. The assessment, conducted by the Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller Center for Zero Carbon Shipping, draws on published decarbonization ambitions and actions of the largest companies by owned capacity in tanker, bulk, container, and RORO/car segments. Together, these four segments cause a substantial share (70%) of global maritime emissions. The state of decarbonization in the maritime industry shows that while real progress has been made, ...

Drewry’s composite World Container Index decreased by 3% to $7,066.03 per 40ft container this week. Our detailed assessment for Thursday, 30 June 2022 The composite index decreased by 3% this week, and, 16% lower than a year ago. The average composite index of the WCI, assessed by Drewry for year-to-date, is $8,421 per 40ft container, which is $4,930 higher than the five-year average of $3,490 per 40ft container. Drewry’s World Container Index composite index decreased by 3% to $7,066.03 per 40ft container, and is 16% lower than the same week ...

Clarksons Research announced on June 29 that a total of 108 LNG carriers were ordered in the first half of this year. The figure is an all-time high, exceeds last year’s total, 86, and increased even with the overall new ship orders on the decline in that period. More than half of the orders went to South Korean shipbuilders. Specifically, Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering, Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering and Samsung Heavy Industries won 21, 18 and 24, respectively. Samsung Heavy Industries received orders for 14 LNG carriers on ...

The contract covering more than 22,000 workers at 29 U.S. West Coast ports expires late on Friday, dialing up worries that labor disruption could roil the nation’s battered supply chains, stoke inflation and threaten a weakening economy. The International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) and the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA) employer group, which declined comment for this report, said in a rare joint statement on June 14 that they were not planning any work stoppages or lockouts that would worsen supply chain logjams. That matters because when the contract expires ...

Performance Shipping Inc., a global shipping company specializing in the ownership of tanker vessels, today announced that it has entered into an agreement for a new amortizing term loan facility of up to approximately US$31.9 million with Piraeus Bank S.A. (the “Facility”) through two separate wholly-owned subsidiaries of the Company. Proceeds from the Facility will be used to refinance approximately US$7.3 million of the existing term loan facility with Piraeus Bank S.A. secured by the M/T P. Yanbu and to partially finance the previously-announced acquisition of the Company’s sixth Aframax ...

EU Environment Ministers adopted this week the Council position on the revision of the EU Emission Trading System (ETS) and the inclusion of shipping in the scheme, as part of the ‘Fit for 55’ package. ECSA welcomes the Council’s strong support on the mandatory pass-through of ETS costs to the commercial operator of the vessel, which upholds the “polluter-pays principle”. The Council’s common position on the pass-through of the ETS costs follows up on the adoption of a similar position by the European Parliament earlier this month. The retention of ...

Damen to build a second Combi Freighter 3850 for Reederei Gerdes Efficient short sea general cargo vessel German short sea shipping specialist ship owner company Reederei Gerdes signed the order for Damen Cargo Vessels to build a second Combi Freighter 3850, following delivery of the Benabell G in September last year. The new vessel of the same type will be named the Kalli G. This addition to the fleet will increase overall efficiency. Impressive performance of the Damen CF 3850 that was taken into service end of 2021, convinced Reederei ...

Leading Classification Society ClassNK released a comprehensively revised version of Part C of its Rules and Guidance for the Survey and Construction of Steel Ships setting the requirements for hull structures on 1 July 2022. ClassNK is constantly revising its Rules and Guidance in order to reflect the latest results from relevant research and development projects, feedback from damage investigations, requests from industry, as well as changes made to the relevant regulations such as international conventions. Like many other industries, the maritime industry is faced with the challenges of rapid ...

Techcross, a manufacturer of ballast water management system, announced on July 1 that it would move its Japanese office located in Fukuyama to Osaka. The Techcross ballast water management system has already been installed on more than 1,000 Japanese ships, occupying the largest market share in Japan. Techcross explained that its office has moved to the Osaka area, where transportation is convenient, for quick and thorough customer response, as it is expected that there will be more ship management requests and after-sales service issues from ships that have installed the ...