With a couple of weeks still remaining for yet another year of a rollercoaster ride in the dry bulk market, analysts are pondering whether 2020 will be any better. In a recent report, Allied Shipbroking said that “the uncertainty witnessed this year in the iron ore trade has been extraordinary making for a very volatile freight market for the Capesize sector, which varied wildly from a low of US$3,460 to a high of US$38,014 in the year so far. However, the improvement being witnessed since Q3, has boosted overall perception ...

“Our fleet modelling shows big changes looming in the coming decades. The exact nature of some of these changes is uncertain. Ship owners need to future-proof their ships for whatever happens, which is why we keep improving our model to help them make vessel design decisions that stand the test of time,” says Øyvind Endresen, Environmental Consultant at DNV GL’s Environment Advisory section. “We introduced the concept of the carbon-robust ship in 2017, which in 2018 led to our Carbon-Robust Model in the Maritime Forecast to 2050. The model evaluates ...

With less than a month to go for the impending IMO 2020 global sulphur cap, the club has started witnessing dispute cases relating to the measurement of sulphur content in the fuel. Under MARPOL Annex VI, it is a statutory requirement that a bunker delivery note (BDN) includes at least the stipulated information and declaration, and this must be provided by the supplier to the ship. With regard to the sulphur content, the supplier must state the actual sulphur content, rather than advising that the sulphur constitutes <X%. It is ...

The tanker market is looking towards the oil demand and supply for future direction. In its latest weekly report, shipbroker Gibson said that “the IEA has recently released its long-term view of the energy markets. The agency presented different scenarios and cautioned that its outlook does not provide a forecast of what will happen; instead it offers several scenarios that explore different possible futures, depending on certain assumptions at government, industry and consumer level. The central case, referred to as the Stated Policies Scenario, incorporates today’s specific policy announcements; however, ...

Capesize This week the Capesize market maintained healthy earnings, as an end of year surge took the Capesize 5TC back up to $25,202 by mid-week. This lift was predominately led in the Pacific, with strong trading activity from major iron ore charterers. With the steady flow of cargo in the Asia region, the Pacific C10 now trades at a solid 35% premium over the Atlantic C8. The C5 West Australia to China market had a significant jump mid-week, but fell away after a wild trading Friday, to leave the route ...

At the time when the product tanker market is gearing for a rise in freight rates after the implementation of the IMO 2020 regulation, the recently published IEA’s World Energy Outlook 2019 portrays a grim picture for product tankers after 2025. In “Slated Policies Scenario”, the IEA says that global oil demand will rise around 1 mbpd on average every year until 2025. However, with the acceleration in sales of electric vehicles and continued increase in vehicle fuel efficiency, the average growth in oil demand will come down to 0.3% ...

LPG shipping was once considered a niche segment for the industry, but over the course of the past 10-15 years, solid returns have lured a number of players. In a recent analysis, Epic Gas, one of the ship owners who invested in the segment noted that “the global LPG market has continued to gather pace through the quarter. Whilst oil price uncertainty, trade tensions and sanctions have affected trade flows on some longer haul routes, the underlying availability of and demand for LPG – especially US supply – and demand ...

In the first ten months of the year, the US imported 3.9 million tonnes of steel goods from Brazil, the same as was imported in the first ten months of 2017, despite the US putting in place quotas which was supposed to lower imports from the country. Brazil is the largest seaborne exporter of the tariffed steel goods to the USA, twice as large as South Korea, in second place. Brazil approaching its annual quota In May 2018, after facing tariffs for almost two months, Brazil was excluded from the ...

It’s the time of year where commentators start churning out forecasts on what freight markets can expect for the coming year. Their prognoses are usually wildly diverse, but like the last chocolates in the box, you can’t resist the guilty pleasure of digesting them, even if they are all coffee creams. Major shipbuilding financier and Dutch multinational banking and financial services corporation ING has favoured the freight market with a relevant commodity outlook for 2020. As part of its wider 2020 FX outlook report, its commodity strategists Warren Patterson and ...

With most of the shipping community concentrating on the issue of the IMO 2020 rule and the smoothest possible transition, shipbrokers expect a rather underwhelming December, in terms of new ship deals. In its latest weekly report, shipbroker Intermodal started off its analysis by noting that “dry bulk freight rates rebounded last week, a development that came as a relief following the recent negative sentiment that prevailed in the market for over a month. Despite this, sales activity remains limited as we are approaching the end of the year and ...

The market is expecting that some 3,000 vessels in service will have scrubbers installed by the time the IMO 2020 regulation comes into effect from 1 January 2020. The alternative course will be to operate vessels without scrubbers and consume low-sulphur bunkers, or other compliant fuels, which are expected to be more expensive. As well as the commercial implications of the need to comply with IMO 2020, ship-owners and operators need to consider the accounting implications. From a ship-owner’s perspective, where a decision is taken to retrofit scrubbers any directly ...

The Facts and Figures workshop at the 2019 IUMI conference in Toronto began with committee chair Philip Graham updating the audience on the state of the global economy and shipping and offshore markets, as well as the activities and output of the committee. Vice chair Astrid Seltmann followed up with an analysis of the general global marine insurance market trends, looking in more detail at the cargo, hull, offshore energy and P&I sector. She also highlighted the role of detentions as an indicator for future claims and the increase in ...

Ships’ demolition activity has been on the rise over the last couple of weeks. In its latest weekly report, shipbroker Clarkson Platou Hellas noted that “We have witnessed several more units entering the market fray this week and as we edge closer to the end of the year, it will be interesting to see how many more units will be sold for recycling before we arrive in the next decade. Whether Owners are just dipping their toes in the market to ascertain the value of their aging vessels remains to ...

PwC’s Director, Mr. David Smith writes about the significantly higher interest from venture capital, towards the field of maritime technology. Venture capital interest in maritime technology has grown significantly in recent years. As barriers to adoption fall, there is still scope for even higher levels of investment. Historically, the maritime sector was an enthusiastic adopter, indeed pioneer, of new technology. However, there is a widespread perception within the industry that, in recent decades, shipping companies have been slow to capitalise on the benefits of new software and emerging digital technology. ...

As part of a series of initiatives aimed at bringing greater transparency to fuel costs resulting from the new IMO 2020 low-sulphur regulation, Drewry is pleased to announce the publication of its first low-sulphur reference bunker index tracker. In recent months, both shippers and forwarders have expressed confusion and concern over the timing and transparency of the new charges being introduced by carriers as they transition from IFO 380 (intermediate fuel oil) to the new, low-sulphur fuel standard. Drewry’s new low-sulphur BAF index, which will be updated quarterly, provides a ...