Newbuilding orders for dry bulk carriers seem to be on the up. In its latest weekly report, shipbroker Allied Shipbroking said that “it was an interesting week in the newbuilding front, with news over a fair number of fresh orders emerging especially in the dry bulk sector. It has certainly been a positive period for the dry bulk market, with buyers’ sentiment having improved significantly during the last couple of months due to the resilience of freight rates, which has shaped a promising outlook for the coming quarters. Last week, ...

A new concept for a collaborative global ecosystem of maritime transport decarbonization initiatives has been introduced by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and Singapore, during a global webinar on decarbonization (17 September), The NextGEN initiative aims to facilitate information sharing on decarbonization initiatives across many stakeholders (including IMO Member States, NGOs, industry and academia); identify opportunities and gaps for decarbonization in the global shipping community; and create important networks and platforms for collaboration across these initiatives. This network initiative has been named “NextGEN”, where GEN is short for “Green and ...

DNV GL – Maritime has released the fourth edition of its Maritime Forecast to 2050. The purpose of Maritime Forecast to 2050 is to enhance the ability of shipping stakeholders, especially shipowners, to navigate the technological, regulatory and market uncertainties in the industry, and set shipping on a pathway to decarbonization. It is based on a library of 30 scenarios which project future fleet composition, energy use, fuel mix, and CO2 emissions to 2050. Sixteen different fuel types and 10 fuel technology systems are modelled in the report. “The grand ...

Ship owners are actively looking for more deals in the dry bulk S&P market. In its latest weekly report, Intermodal said that it was “another active week in terms of SnP has concluded in the dry bulk market with a diversified array of transactions recorded. Despite the correction in dry trade freight rates, there is still ample purchasing appetite displayed from interested parties, while vessel values – more or less – remain stable”. According to Mr. Vasilis Moiris, Intermodal’s SnP Broker, “in the Capesize front, clients of Berge Bulk are ...

Greek shipowners are intrigued by a new marine atomic power technology, according to Mikal Bøe , CEO of Core Power following meetings in Athens. “During our meetings with some of the world’s leading owners, the discussions were about how atomic power can be used as a safe, clean, affordable, long-term solution to meeting IMO emission targets in the coming years,” said Bøe. The scale of the challenge is there are some 60,000 cargo ships plying their trade on the oceans of the world and they all need to meet IMO ...

The inclusion of shipping in the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS), which European lawmakers have recently supported, has ignored calls from INTERCARGO and the industry as a whole, for collaboration and adapted solutions to achieve the much needed reduction in Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions for greener shipping. Far from being a meaningful contribution towards meeting those objectives, this move is, instead, a confirmation of how distanced the thinking of European decision-makers is from the global dimensions of the shipping sector. Global challenges and problems require global handling and solutions: The ...

The tanker market could be facing some volatile months ahead, especially in the Aframax and Suezmax segments. In its latest weekly report, shipbroker Gibson said that “as with most crude tanker markets, the Aframax and Suezmax sectors have remained under pressure since June. Part of this downside is not too dissimilar to the typical seasonal weakness seen during the summer months, although in most cases the downside has been caused by a lack of crude demand and falling seaborne trade, whilst these vessels have not benefitted to the same extent ...

Capesize It was all heavy swell for the Capesize market this week as rate levels swung with no clear direction. The Capesize 5TC opened the week at $15,248 to close at $15,761. The Pacific basin was seen to gain traction throughout the beginning of the week, supplying positive sentiment into other parts of the market before it fell away mid-week as charterers took the upper hand. It was a short-lived drop as the Pacific steadied itself by weeks end. West Australia to China C5 settled Friday at $7.082. The Brazil ...

The global maritime industry is in a state of flux. The arrival of COVID-19 threw a spanner in the works; but growing interest in alternate fuel and energy efficiency, digitization, and the business trend of moving from solution providers to service providers, are changing the face of the maritime industry. Powering decarbonization The last few years saw the International Maritime Organization (IMO) set goals and regulations to reduce emissions. In January of this year, the IMO’s cap on sulfur used for marine fuels came into effect. This regulation, as well ...

The tanker market faced downward pressure during the month of August. According to the latest monthly report from OPEC, “dirty tanker rates in August settled into the lower levels seen since the end of June and are likely to remain for the coming months amid ample tonnage and sluggish demand for tankers. Floating storage continued to unwind, removing a factor supporting rates in recent months. Clean tanker freight rates picked up from the poor performance seen in the previous month, but remained below levels seen in the same month last ...

In all our previous notes and podcasts we have been relatively bullish on bunker prices rising from their extreme lows at end April, even though at some stages there was a stuttering in the upward trend. The sentiment was driven by tightening oil fundamentals; demand began to rebound and OPEC+ made major cuts to oil production. But these signals have taken a turn. In our Integr8 podcast 3 weeks ago we did take a more nervous approach to any further short term rises in price, but bunker prices have taken ...

Projects for standard contracts and clauses covering almost every sector of the shipping industry will be reviewed by BIMCO’s Documentary Committee (DC) when it meets on 21 and 22 September. The gathering of over 70 documentary experts from around the world will take place online for the first time and two new contracts and two clauses are set to be approved for publication. With only one meeting taking place this year due to the coronavirus, the Committee has a very full agenda ahead next week. For the tanker sector, there ...

With the world trade expected to heavily contract this year, it’s no surprise that the dry bulk orderbook has diminished quite heavily. In its latest weekly report, shipbroker Allied Shipbroking said that “it is undoubtedly a period in which investment sentiment across the whole spectrum of economic activity has been severely hit. A global recession for 2020 is now a certainty, with the only question and debate being as to its scale. At this point and in line with all this, global trade has posted a massive decline this year, ...

INTERTANKO Members noted with great concern the European Parliament’s decision to include both international and EU “domestic” shipping trades into their Emissions Trading System (ETS)”, said INTERTANKO’s Managing Director Katharina Stanzel. She added: “We have yet to assess the overall consequences of such a measure, but it could seriously undermine the efforts taken by IMO under its strategy to reduce GHG emissions from international shipping”. The proposal is far reaching as it covers all ships over 5,000 GT trading to EU ports, irrespective of their other destinations. Ships will be ...

As the year 2020 continues to deliver positive surprises for the container shipping sector, the gap between short and long term contract freight rates on the Trans-Pacific trade lane has never been wider. The stars are now aligned for carriers to achieve higher long term contract rates. On 17 September, for containers shipped from the Far East into the US west coast, short term freight rates stand at USD 3,921 per FEU and long-term freight rates at USD 1,521 per FEU – a record difference of USD 2,400 per FEU, ...