Daily Briefing February 10 2020
Free to read: Coronavirus: Shipping prepares for the worst but hopes for a swift bounce back | Cosco VLCCs attract charterer interest after sanctions lifted | The Lloyd’s List Podcast: Shipping infected by coronavirus
Good morning. Here’s our quick view of everything you need to know today.
The Lloyd’s List Daily Briefing is brought to you by the Lloyd’s List News Desk.
What to watch | Analysis | Opinion | Markets | In other news
What to watch
The coronavirus outbreak has paralysed markets and infected almost every aspect of the industry and in doing so has offered a stark reminder of the frailty and importance of the industry’s human element.
GasLog founder and chairman Peter G. Livanos has underlined his belief in the liquefied natural gas shipping market after the group unveiled $162m in impairment losses on six older steam turbine vessels.
The reactivated VLCC fleet under Cosco Shipping Tanker (Dalian), which had been blacklisted by the US until last Friday, has a total of 22 units as of February 7. Freeing the tonnage comes as tanker earnings have been experiencing a freefall led by the VLCC sector during the past weeks.
The impact of the coronavirus outbreak could be the catalyst for a wider restructuring of the supply chain, according to the head of the US’ major third-party logistics body.
Analysis
The Lloyds List Podcast: Shipping seems to have initially underestimated quite how significant the impact of the coronavirus outbreak was going to be. This week we get the latest market analysis from BIMCO’s chief analyst Peter Sand, we talk to Andrew Rigden Green, a leading shipping lawyer from Stephenson Harwood about charterparty risk, and we have the inside track on the latest market disruption direct from our China editor Cichen Shen.
Dr Aleka Sheppard founded the London Shipping Law Centre in 1994, in what she now admits to be an outburst of naïve enthusiasm. The organisation has just celebrated its silver jubilee and is still going strong, and will be around for years to come, she tells Lloyd’s List.
Smart ports are entirely feasible given the advances in information technology, but the human element remains a challenge to their implementation, delegates were told at the AAPA Smart Ports conference.
The week in charts: Baltic capesize index crash, EU proposes 40% carbon intensity reduction.
Opinion
The developments from the first month of the 0.5% sulphur cap have been rapid and with potentially long-lasting implications, writes Anastassios Adamopoulos.
Shipping will experience a significant degree of disruption in the coming decade. It might be unsettling but the end result will be a more sustainable, safer, innovative and agile industry. That’s the message expected from the Lloyd’s List Maritime and Logistics Summit in Doha on February 18, writes Richard Clayton.
Markets
Many LNG developers and shipping players saw stock market losses as news of CNOOC’s force majeure adds to further fears concerning the health of LNG demand. LNG spot prices in Asia have already fallen to historic lows.
Low LNG prices back buying interest in new and developing markets, including for current and future LNG bunkering needs. Non-LNG producing countries are now keen on factoring in bunkering capabilities at just marginal costs into new gas-to-power projects.
In other news
Western Australia’s iron ore port of Dampier was closed on Friday as the tropical cyclone Damien hit the category three level, while Port Hedland 250 km away had begun clearing vessels, piling further woes on the dry bulk market.
Negative market conditions for liquefied natural gas carriers have pushed GasLog and its subsidiary GasLog Partners to take hefty impairment charges on six steam turbine vessels, dragging them into the red for both the fourth quarter and full year of 2019.
Shipping banker Markus Wenker is leaving Hellenic Bank after nearly four years of heading the Cypriot institution’s advance into the ship finance sector.
Top Ships, the Nasdaq-listed tanker owner, confirmed that it has agreed to sell two of its medium range two product tankers.
The International Chamber of Shipping said the global community must do more to tackle piracy in the Gulf of Guinea, where 90% of global reported kidnappings last year occurred.
Le Havre, France’s leading container port, will receive aid to cushion impact of industrial action and help rebuild customer confidence after several months of on-off disruptions.