Daily Briefing November 13 2019
Free to read: Main shipping lobbies edging closer to mandatory R&D fund | Rosneft grapples with unsold Venezuelan crude as exports slow to trickle | Ports detail the impact of climate change
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What to watch | Analysis | Markets | In other news
What to watch
Five of the biggest shipping associations are considering a proposal for an official mandatory research and development fund that could generate hundreds of millions of dollars annually to help the sector decarbonise.
Crude exports from Venezuela have dwindled to multi-decade lows as Russian oil company Rosneft, now responsible for sales, resorts to ship-to-ship transfers and prolonged floating storage off Malaysia to disguise the origin and destination of unsold cargoes.
A global freight forwarding body has called for a “a more transparent, equitable and business-orientated process” for determining detention and demurrage charges for ocean freight containers in the US and other key markets.
Analysis
The frequency of extreme weather events is increasing. Ports and harbours are bearing the brunt in disruption and maintenance costs.
Markets
Global volume figures contracted during September, shrinking by 0.4%, but not all the blame can be put on the US-China trade war, according to analysis by Sea-Intelligence.
Singapore is thought to have accumulated more than one tenth of its peak annual bunker sales volume of compliant fuel oil and marine gasoil.
In other news
Torvald Klaveness, an Oslo-based shipowner and operator in a number of segments, has decided to scale down activity in the supramax dry bulk sector.
Danish product tanker owner Torm is optimistic firming market will be maintained. It decides to add 10 more scrubbers to its fleet, bringing the total to 44. As with other industry participants, it has seen installation delays.
Crude oil tanker giant Euronav is reported to have taken further steps to ensure the availability of low-sulphur fuel.
Port operator International Container Terminal Services, Inc is reaping the benefits from its investments in new terminals in Papua New Guinea, which saw a continuing ramp-up in volumes and contributed to a 5% overall rise to 2.5m teu in the third quarter of 2019, from 2.4m teu in the previous corresponding quarter.
German shipowner MPC Capital has bought a 50% strategic stake in tanker broker specialist Albis Shipping and Transport.
In yet another indication of shifting supply chains, intra-Asia feeder line RCL is providing a direct link between the southern China manufacturing hub of Dongguan and Cambodia.
The Sino-US trade war continues to impact throughput adversely, according to the directors of California’s ports of Los Angeles, Long Beach and Oakland which collectively carry some 50% of the nation's container traffic.