The chemical tanker segment, often difficult to distinguish from the product tanker one, is poised for growth over the next few months, on the back of increased demolitions and a slowdown in net fleet growth, as well as new export markets coming into play. In a recent report, shipbroker Banchero Costa said that “charter rates for IMO I/II chemical tankers have remained relatively steady over the last 12 months, despite last year seeing the highest newbuilding deliveries since 2011. Benchmark newbuilding prices in Oct 2019 were estimated at about 28 ...

As of 1 January 2020, the sulphur content of marine fuels may not exceed 0.5 percent. How are the ship crews preparing for the transition? We visited the “Cartagena Express” in Hamburg to find out. At the largest container handling facility in the Port of Hamburg, the 2,800-metre-long Burchardkai quay is bustling with activity. In one-minute intervals, container gantry cranes are hoisting boxes weighing tonnes onto the 333-metre-long “Cartagena Express”. The ship operates on our SWX service, which connects Europe and South America. Captain Christian Nikolai and his chief engineer, ...

The plastic continent — and how to tackle it — may be hogging the headlines, but the shipping industry – frowned upon as a notorious polluter on a massive scale – is also being effectively reined in and compelled by law to go green. EU legislation and the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) are wielding their increasingly environmental sustainability vision and doing so in a holistic manner that is impacting shipping worldwide. Indeed the targeted spheres are: • Sea transport of toxic waste • Dismantling of ships • Sulphur emissions In ...

Just four VLCCs and five Suezmaxes have been scrapped during the Jan-October period, with most owners refraining from selling their older ships for demolition, altering the tanker market fundamentals. In its latest weekly report, shipbroker Gibson said that “one of the key developments in tanker supply this year has been a near absence of the demolition activity. During the 1st ten months of 2019 just 30 tankers over 25,000 dwt were reported sold for scrap. About half of all demolition activity has been in the Handy/MR size group, with 17 ...

Capesize Over the past week the Capesize market has broken out of its recent range bound zone to the downside. It has now dropped below the $20,000 level on 5TC, which hasn’t been seen since early July. With ample tonnage in the ballaster line-up, and minimal market cargoes seen out Brazil, the C3 market was seen to shed more than $2, settling at $18.002 by Friday. In the Pacific Basin, the C5 market initially lifted strongly early on in the week, but it too was seen to collapse by mid-week ...

A significant recent judgment by the Genoa Court of Appeal examined the extent and nature of the informative duties imposed on shipbrokers under Italian law. Facts The case concerned the potential liability of a shipbroker in the conclusion of a charter contract in light of certain statements made by the shipbroker to the contracting parties. In particular, during the negotiations, the broker told the charterers that the shipowners “are German owners and they are very punctual and precise but very strict in their terms”. The charter was concluded, but remained ...

The transitional period regarding shipping fuels, with the pending introduction of low-sulphur fuels, come 2020, has started to cause some “headaches” for ship owners. According to Intermodal’s latest weekly report, “with less than two months before the end of the year, the shipping and refining industries have already taken measures and invested to accommodate the IMO 2020 regulations. As the implementation date for the 0.5% sulphur cap approaches, the U.S. EIA expects that the swing in petroleum product pricing will be most acute in 2020 and the effects on prices ...

The oil market has recently been shaken up by geopolitical events, but volatility in the price difference between low and high sulphur fuel cannot be explained by that alone – the uncertainty is the chaos factor. The uncertainty of the upcoming IMO 2020 Sulphur cap regulation (IMO2020) is having a big impact on the bunker market. Whereas, the price for Marine Gas Oil Low Sulphur (MGO LS) has largely remained stable, the price for High Sulphur Fuel oil (HSFO) has been become increasingly more volatile in recent months. The HSFO-MGO ...

Lacklustre seaborne trade growth figures should serve as a “warning” that national policies can have a negative impact on the maritime trade and development aspirations of all. UNCTAD secretary-general Mukhisa Kituyi made that comment in response to growth of just 2.7% in 2018, down from 4.1% in 2017 – the headline figure of the United Nations’ latest Review of Maritime Transport 2019 (RMT). Containerised trade growth was particularly hard hit, falling from 6% in 2017 to 2.6% in 2018. Mr Kituyi blamed the dip in maritime trade growth on several ...

The dry bulk market seems to be settling down to yet another bearish period, after third quarter’s rebound. In its latest weekly report, shipbroker Allied Shipbroking noted that “with the dry bulk market having shown a gradual downward correction over the past couple of weeks, a gradual pessimism seems to be creeping back into the market. Yet, when you look at the numbers a bit more closely it seems as though the market has been plagued by a bearish outlook for some time now, while few seem to have been ...

The accumulated growth rate for US inbound containers has almost been cut in off half from 5.1% in 2018 to 2.6% in August of 2019. Towards the end of 2018, US retailers frontloaded consumer goods ahead of the planned tariff hike in January 2019. While another US tariff hike of 10% on Chinese goods worth USD 160 billion is planned for 15 December, BIMCO does not expect the same frontloading to occur this time around, due to heightened uncertainty about the rumoured trade deal. According to communication by the US ...

The IMO specification change will limit Sulphur content in ships’ fuel oil from 3.5 to 0.5 percent from January 2020. This will shift a large amount of bunker demand from high-Sulphur fuel oil (HSFO) to low-Sulphur fuel oil (LSFO) and gasoil across regions, especially in China. According to ESAI Energy’s newly published China’s Changing Bunker Market Special Report, we expected the production to rise from currently 430,000 b/d to 550,000 b/d by early 2020, as China takes advantage of the opportunity to target greater LSFO exports and even dominate the ...

The disappointing figures related to the demolition activity this year have continued over the course of the past week as well, in yet another indication, that the gradual improvement of the freight rate market during 2019 has deterred many owners from scrapping their older ships. In its latest weekly report, shipbroker Clarkson Platou Hellas said that “with the tail end of Diwali celebrations and other varied global public holidays in the early part of the week, the market has not got off the ground and remained flat with very little ...

A new GHG Pathway Model from the latest Maritime Forecast to 2050 report can help the maritime industry to assess and prepare for the effects of regulatory and technological change in reducing world fleet greenhouse gas emissions. “Meeting International Maritime Organization (IMO) targets for reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from shipping will take mandatory requirements for individual ships, and other policy measures to support the development and use of new fuels and technologies,” says Tore Longva, one of the lead authors of the Maritime Forecast to 2050, and Principal Consultant ...

ABS Chairman, President and CEO, Christopher J. Wiernicki, mapped out the future of marine fuels in a high-profile speech at the 15 th annual World Shipping Summit yesterday. “Technology advances of the next decade may entirely change our view of the future, but based on what we see today we can identify three developmental pathways for future fuels distinguished by the onboard technologies they require. These are: the LNG or light gas pathway, the bio/synthetic pathway and the alcohol and heavy gas pathway,” he said. “Within each of these pathways ...