Where will the future oil supply come from? It’s one of the questions that tanker owners are looking to answer adequately, as it can provide them with a competitive advantage. In its latest weekly report, shipbroker Gibson said that “earlier this month the IEA released its medium-term outlook for the global oil markets, which provides analysis and the forecast of the key issues in demand, supply, refining and oil trade through to 2024. The report portrays a positive outlook for oil demand growth, which is expected to continue to increase ...

Petrofin Research’s latest annual survey of the Hellenic-owned fleet, yielded some very interesting conclusions. It appears that the Greek fleet, although maintaining an overall robust growth, took a small breather last year. It can be argued that the frenetic activity both in newbuildings and S&P transactions could not continue at the same pace. However, we can detect some key points that shaped last year. Petrofin said in its analysis that “the dry bulk market experienced a good year, in terms of both vessel values and incomes. However, as the year ...

The global 0.50% sulphur cap will enter into force in 2020. Finally, this date is no longer in the far-off future but in less than 365 days. What four options are available for ship owners? The figures are impressive: According to the guidance paper Global Sulphur Cap 2020 published by DNV GL on the topic, more than 70,000 ships worldwide will be affected by this regulation. As a result, if they have not done so already, ship owners will need to weigh up their options in the very near future ...

With little activity so far in the ships’ demolition market, activity could start to increase in the coming weeks, especially since shipbrokers are expecting a significant number of candidates from the container segment to be sold for recycling soon. In its latest weekly report, Clarkson Platou Hellas commented that “in reality, markets should be heading northwards but for some unbeknownst reason, steel markets have weakened this week in India which is even surprising the recyclers in Alang who feel that some positive movements should be taking place. Maybe this positive ...

Confidence in the shipping industry has risen in the last three months despite ongoing geopolitical uncertainty, according to the latest Shipping Confidence Survey. The average confidence level rose to 6.2 out of maximum score of 10.0 this quarter compared to 6.0 in Q4 2018. Confidence was up in Europe, from 6.1 to 6.3, and in North America, from 5.2 to 5.6. In Asia, meanwhile, there was a drop in overall confidence levels to 5.8 from the 12-month high of 6.3 recorded in the previous quarter. Brokers were behind much of ...

With liquefied natural gas (LNG) rapidly gaining ground as an eco-friendly ship fuel, Daehan Shipbuilding Corporation (DHSC), Korea’s leading builder of Aframax tankers recognized the need to build up competence in LNG fuel technology. To gain a competitive advantage, DHSC focuses on eco-friendly and fuel-efficient tankers satisfying the growing demand for vessels which not only comply with current and future emission regulations but feature an especially small ecological footprint. The company had not designed any gas-fuelled ships in the past and turned to DNV GL for support. In July 2018 ...

Predicting the future course of the dry bulk market has proven to be more than difficult these days, with most estimates falling way off the mark given the unpredictability of freight rates and the effect of one-off events, like the recent Vale accident, which took out of the market a major part of dry bulk cargoes. In its latest weekly report, shipbroker Allied Shipbroking said that “it is rather superfluous to mention the overall bearish mode that has taken grip of the dry bulk sector right now. With the BDI ...

FFA market goes ‘back to its routes’ with the launch of cleared futures contract enabling users to hedge booming Brazil-China grains trade Freight Investor Services, the global leader in freight and commodity derivatives, has helped usher in a new era in dry bulk futures trading with the launch of the Baltic Exchange Panamax P8 grains route. The new route offers shipowners and grains market players on the key Brazil-China soyabeans route a complementary method of hedging to the existing Panamax P2A route. At current pricing of $32.042/tonne FIS estimates that ...

DNV GL’s experience from a range of hazardous industries suggests that while most companies are relatively confident about their incident notification and lesson-sharing systems, they often struggle with the critical step in between: the effectiveness of their investigation process. The maritime industry takes a predominantly reactive approach to high-frequency safety events and human error – action is typically taken after the damage has occurred, rather than proactively. The industry is still learning to understand that reducing occupational accidents has little or no effect on the number of major accidents with ...

Ship owners are ramping up their acquisitions of dry bulk carriers, on the expectation that the recent slump in the freight rate market could soon be over. In its latest weekly report, shipbroker Banchero Costa said that “Scorpio Bulkers was very active last week with the one sale and leaseback deal and one strait sale deal. The first deal is for 3 x Ultramax and 4 x Kamsarmax to CMB Financial Leasing: the vessels are sold and chartered back to Scorpio for 7 years with purchase options from the third ...

“We are in an energy transition,” says Øyvind Endresen, Environmental Consultant, at DNV GL’s Environment Advisory section. “Global regulations on emissions to air as well as the rapid rise and faster cycling of new fuels and technologies are poised to change the fleet of the future.” These changes are exposing the shipping industry to more risk than it has seen in many years and at a more fundamental level. When a vessel was planned 50 or even 20 years ago, the choices were much simpler. Size and cargo types varied, ...

The International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) has published the latest update of its Flag State Performance Table, which can be downloaded free of charge via the ICS website. The annual update, which is also supported by the Asian Shipowners’ Association (ASA) and the European Community Shipowners’ Associations (ECSA), provides an indication of the performance of individual flag administrations, using information available in the public domain. Since the Table was launched 15 years ago, ICS says it has been pleased by the ongoing improvement which the data has helped to demonstrate. ...

Petrofin Research issued its latest annual survey on the course of the Greek-controlled shipping fleet and the companies involved. Among the main conclusions are the fleet tonnage has kept on expanding, despite the fact that fewer companies are running all those ships. Despite a number of new entrants, overall the total number of shipping companies fell by 9 companies. This was the result of a number leaving shipping or merging, leaving in operation 588 companies compared to 597 last year. Although nothing similar to last year’s dramatic drop, the reduction ...

Shipowners experienced a marginal increase in marine insurance costs last year, marking the end of a six-year run of declining premiums, according to Drewry’s Ship Operating Costs Annual Review & Forecast, as asset values recovered and the insurance market showed signs of turning. Changing market sentiment and rising claims in related sectors is driving costs up, leading many to wonder why the insurance market is turning, how high costs might rise and for how long? We are at the very bottom of the cycle which began falling in 2013. Over ...

Sophia Bullard, Crew Health Programme Director at UK P&I Club, comments on how to deal bullying and harassment aboard ships: “Over the past decade, we have seen an increased focus on the subject of harassment in the maritime sector. Campaigns to raise awareness, integrating fair practices and implementing guidelines for effectively dealing with the issue are all positive steps, however bullying continues to be a challenging issue in the profession. “Seafarers are often perceived as ‘tough people’ in the field, but this can be a rather biased perception. Working at ...