Daily Briefing November 22 2019
Free to read: Fredriksen’s Seadrill decision signals billionaire’s exit strategy preparations in play | Choice of digitalisation routes open to shipping | Shipping should shape its own path to decarbonisation | India ratifies Hong Kong Convention on ship recycling
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What to watch | Analysis | Opinion | Markets | In other news
What to watch
John Fredriksen’s decision to step down as chairman of rig owner Seadrill, coupled with the departure of key executive Birgitte Vartdal, further signals the 75-year-old shipping billionaire is preparing an exit strategy for his eventual departure from the maritime industry.
The shipping industry will inevitably see a digital transformation happening but it may catch some companies by surprise, while others may be grudgingly forced to adopt it, a panel at the Lloyd’s List Hong Kong Innovation Forum heard.
Shipping must show more progress on its path to decarbonisation to avoid being included in the EU Emissions Trading System, a panel at Lloyd’s List Hong Kong Innovation Forum heard. A carbon levy may lead to an easier market-based mechanism that can create a level playing field for all firms.
India has ratified the International Maritime Organization’s Hong Kong Convention on ship recycling, becoming the first ship recycling country to do so and bringing the convention closer to ratification.
A suggestion by the European Commission to extend a crucial regulation that protects vessel-sharing alliances until April 2024, has divided opinion among industry stakeholders.
Analysis
Ricaurte Vásquez needs water. A lot of water. The Panama Canal administrator may be in charge of a waterway that links two of the world’s greatest oceans, but that is the wrong sort of water, he tells Lloyd’s List.
Opinion
All around the developed world there are people who would rather see the ports silt up rather than have their waters deepened a few feet to facilitate trade and help with the dispersal of flood waters, writes Michael Grey. It never used to be so controversial; if you wanted to keep the land drier, you built up the banks and dredged out the drains.
Markets
Fixture inactivity stalls box time charter equivalent progress, but limited supply is ensuring daily rates hold firm across much of the market.
Singapore-based AG&P took a calculated bet that conditions are now ripe for small-scale liquefied natural gas developments to prosper when it purchased an equity stake in Norwegian player, Kanfer Shipping.
In other news
Maersk Tankers will bareboat charter eight product tankers and three suezmax tankers from BP Shipping, which will then time charter the vessels under a three-year deal at an unspecified rate. No transaction costs or bareboat charter periods were provided.
John Fredriksen has stepped down as chairman of Seadrill. He will remain the top shareholder as industry veteran Glen Ole Rødland takes over.
Proman Stena Bulk, a joint venture formed last month, has confirmed it has placed an order for two methanol-fuelled medium range tankers at China’s Guangzhou Shipyard International, with the first to be delivered in 2022.
Port Tampa Bay is growing — since 2012 its operating revenue has risen 46%, its lease revenue is up 68%, its container throughput has skyrocketed 165% and its cargo generally is up more than 21%.
Singapore-based BW LPG reinforces its bullish stance on the very large gas carrier market and says sustained US LPG production growth, as well as no further newbuild orders, remain key to a balanced market.
Birgitte Vartdal, head of John Fredriksen’s dry bulk unit Golden Ocean, is stepping down after almost 10 years at the Oslo-based company.
Star Bulk Carriers returned to profit in the third quarter of the year and announced the introduction of a “transparent dividend policy’’ with its first payment in seven years.
Liquefied natural gas sellers with contracts linked to price movements of sour crudes may lose up to $15bn in unearned revenue once the International Maritime Organization’s 0.5% sulphur limit on marine fuels takes effect, according to Wood Mackenzie, the energy and commodity research agency.
Rita Jansen, who arrived in Dubai in 1992 and is now a partner at InceGD, has won the Lloyd’s List Lifetime Achievement Award for the softer skills of mentoring, inspiration and encouragement.