The ship demolition market appears to be in disarray, with prices collapsing. In its latest weekly report, shipbroker Clarkson Platou Hellas commented that “the recycling market has taken a disastrous turn for the worse this week on the back of a distinct lack of faith in the industry in Bangladesh. Price levels from the Bangladeshi domestic market collapsed this week as cheap imports of the domestic mills took stock of cheap finished products from China, contributing to a major correction for ship scrap. The import of finished scrap is now ...

The container market has definitely turned, but don’t expect a swift normalisation, says Drewry’s latest Container Forecaster report. It certainly feels like we are at the beginning of the end of the container market bull run. The slide in spot rates has become entrenched, rolling on for four months now with dips getting bigger by the week. Shipments along most trade routes are also down on the same point a year ago with high inflation eroding confidence that volumes will stage much of a comeback. Carriers have proved that they ...

The global supply chain continues to be plagued with severe congestion, which in turn has ramifications for the supply/demand strength of the ocean related part of container shipping. The newest data from May from Sea-Intelligence shows no strong improvement in global reliability as the timeliness of vessels are still lower than at same point time last year. It also means that reliability remains below 40% for the 14th consecutive month. There has been a slight improvement in the duration of vessel delays. However, this has only brought down delays back ...

With Russian crude banned from EU, it’s already evident that BRICS members are bound to make up the bulk of Russia’s energy exports in the near future. In its latest weekly report, shipbroker Gibson said that “in response to Western sanctions, President Putin announced a move to pursue deeper economic and political ties within the BRICS group of economies, of which it is a member. BRICS comprises Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. All countries have not followed the path of the Western nations by sanctioning Russia. On offer ...

Capesize A mild week for the Capesize sector saw rates trundling sideways with small pockets of encouragement. However, there was nothing to initiate a push out of the recent trading range as the 5TC softened 130 week-on-week to settle at $19,745. A brief lift midweek gave some suggestion that a strengthening of sentiment in the Atlantic was imminent. But by Friday this spark looks to have been snuffed out as the Transatlantic C8 settled down slightly at $26,167. Market views on the Atlantic situation have been mixed as some stronger ...

Tightness in products still trumps talks of recession Last month we wrote about the fears of recession versus the tightness in product markets and that tightness in products was definitely ‘winning’. Another month on and it’s oil products that are again driving VLSFO prices even higher! Recession is often mentioned, with obvious higher energy and food costs, central banks hiking interest rates and economic forecasts being downgraded, but the lack of supply and low levels of stocks for key oil products has the overwhelming focus for most oil industry players ...

In a clear sign of the turbulent times we’re experiencing, coal imports have began making their way into Europe with more cargoes entering the EU market. It’s a response to the scramble to offset the losses of Russian gas. In its latest weekly report, shipbroker Allied Shipbroking said that “amidst the significant energy squeeze being felt in Europe and Asia, coal has once again found a foothold to expand its presence in the energy mix of many economies worldwide. With most energy commodity prices having already started off the year ...

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 ...

The existing supply/demand imbalance of the LNG market is expected to continue unabated in the coming months, with producers expected to face significant challenges to keep the market well supplied. In its latest weekly report, shipbroker Intermodal said that “the LNG market remains tight currently, mainly driven by the US LNG outage from the recent fire in Freeport LNG terminal together with the recent fall of gas flows to Europe from Russia, resulting in whipsaw patterns in gas prices in the EU/US. The EU/US Taskforce to reduce Europe’s dependence on ...

China’s crude oil imports have doubled from 2011 to 2021 and now account for 20% of global seaborne crude oil volumes. While China’s January to May 2022 seaborne crude oil imports are down 2.2% y/y, a 51.4% m/m boost in imports from Russia has helped lift China’s seaborne crude imports to 42.6 million tonnes in May, up 8.7% m/m and 13.0% y/y. “Russian crude oil accounted for 13% of China’s seaborne crude import in May, up from 9% earlier in the year,” says Niels Rasmussen, Chief Shipping Analyst at BIMCO ...

It’s been another bumper month for long-term contracted ocean freight rates, as the cost of securing container shipments climbed by 10.1% in June. Following on the heels of a record 30.1% hike in May, this now means rates stand 169.8% higher than this time last year, with just two months of declines in the last 18 months. Despite a degree of macro-economic uncertainty clouding the horizon, all major trades saw prices moving up, with some corridors showing significant gains. Oslo-based Xeneta has released the figures, drawn from its Xeneta Shipping ...

Ship owners have sped up their newbuilding contracting activity, opting for more modern tonnage. In its latest weekly report, shipbroker Allied Shipbroking said that “the impressive performance of the newbuilding market continued for yet another week. A large part of the buying interest continues to focus for yet another week on gas carriers and more specifically LNG units, as we are still seeing a flow of orders being made on behalf of the major Qatar LNG Project that is in the works. It seems that the good feeling that exists ...

LNG shipping stocks are proving resilient despite uncertainties about growth in global GDP, high inflation and the ongoing geopolitical crisis caused by the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Drewry’s LNG shipping equity index increased by 12.7% YTD as of 28 June 2022, outperforming S&P 500 which declined by 19.8% during the same period. Golar LNG stock price surged the most (up 87.9%), while Flex LNG increased by 24.8% and Nakilat by +18.2.%. LNG stocks have mainly benefited from the rising European LNG demand as the region switches away from Russian natural gas. We ...

The new IACS Unified Requirements (URs) are based on recognized international standards for the cyber security of industrial automation and control systems, such as IEC 62443. In brief, the new IACS URs cover the following main topics: • Scope of applicability, including OT systems for important vessel functions • Identification and protection against cyber threats • Detection of incidents • Means to respond and recover • Hardening and security capabilities of systems and components The URs will be mandatory for classed ships and offshore installations contracted for construction on or ...