BIMCO notes stunning comeback to Q2 agricultural exports nearly triple freight ratesAs agricultural dry bulk commodities exports took a dive in the first quarter of this year and painted a gloomy picture for Panamax and Handymax freight rates, a stunning second quarter comeback have nearly tripled freight rates.
The total orderbook for dry bulk, container and tanker ships has reached its lowest point in 17 years as COVID-19 has massively slowed contracting (-50%) while deliveries of new vessels have proved more resilient (-2%).The orderbooks for bulk carriers and containerships in particular have fallen sharply. At 63.
Oil product tankers earnings have skyrocketed in the first half of 2020, while the sale and purchase (S&P) activity of the oil product tanker market has slowed to the lowest level since 2016. Data from VesselsValue highlight that in the first five months of 2020, only 2.8 million deadweight tons (DWT) of oil product tankers have shifted hands in the second-hand market
The Baltic Exchange's main sea freight index recorded its biggest ever daily percentage jump on Wednesday, propelled by surging capesize rates due to a spike in iron-ore shipments.The Baltic dry index, which tracks rates for ships ferrying dry bulk commodities and reflects rates for capesize, panamax and supramax vessels, rose 192 points, or about 18.2%, to 1,246, its highest since Dec. 17.
Transits through the Suez Canal, the beating heart of the Egyptian economy, have stayed remarkably resilient to the fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic if judging by total transits of the three commercial shipping sectors which are up 8% year-on-year. This is despite bleak economic growth prospects world-wide following the pandemic
The sulfur regulation from the International Maritime Organization (IMO) that came into force on 1 January 2020 took the center stage in the shipping industry at outset of the new decade. Four months on, the spotlights have turned to the coronavirus and the OPEC+ oil price war.The outlook for global economic growth remains bleak as the world is faced with the largest recession since the Great
The coronavirus outbreak has affected all aspects of the shipping industry, lowering, if not wiping out, demand growth prospects for the year across all segments. The outbreak has also affected fleet development, says shipping association BIMCO.Contracting activity has fallen, demolition activity, which had been high
If one ever needed proof that, no matter how dire the situation, there is always a silver lining, look no further than the crude tanker market, which has seen it day rates skyrocket in the face of a global pandemic that has effectively ground world commerce to a crawl.As is the case with other gravity defying business phenomena, geopolitics is a central factor
Even before the effects of the coronavirus, the ‘Phase One’ agreement between China and the US failed to boost volumes of the implicated goods in January. In fact, exports of the manufactured, agricultural and energy goods included in the deal were down 26% from January 2017, which serves as the base year for the agreement.
For several months last year, a steady stream of ships was observed dredging sand in a North Korean bay then transporting it to China, a Washington-based think-tank said on Wednesday.The extraction of sand from North Korea to China would violate a 2017 U.N. Security Council resolution that prohibits North Korea from “supplying, selling, or transferring sand”
Norway's national economic crime unit raided the local office of international shipping company Teekay Offshore this week on suspicion of illegally exporting waste, the agency, known as Okokrim, said on Thursday.In recent years, courts in Europe using tougher regulations have fined shipping companies for transporting hazardous waste for disposal in cases that have added to complexities for
Keppel Offshore & Marine Ltd (Keppel O&M) delivered the 6000m3 Trailing Suction Hopper Dredger (TSHD) Sanderus to Jan De Nul Group.The Ultra-Low Emission vessel (ULEv) is the fourth dredger that Keppel O&M has delivered to Jan De Nul Group.According to a press release from the shipbuilder, this follows the delivery of three 3500m3 TSHDs earlier this year