Daily Briefing February 24 2020
Free to read: Major carriers signal a shift in mindset to tackle emissions | Coronavirus: Shippers allowed shipside loading and pickup amid packed port storage yards | Tonne-mile demand for US gulf crude shipments contracted last year| IMO group backs Arctic HFO ban
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What to watch | Analysis | Opinion | Markets | In other news
What to watch
Sustainability and regulatory chiefs from four of the five largest containership operators globally, Maersk, MSC, CMA CGM and Hapag-Lloyd, sat together for a rare common outing during an event at European Shipping Week, during which they pushed for co-ordinated R&D efforts through a new international body.
Several major Chinese container ports are letting shippers go to ships at berth to load or pick up cargo directly, as storage yards are overcrowded as a result of the coronavirus outbreak.
Cases of oxygen depletion in enclosed spaces have once again been highlighted as a cause for concern for shipping following the recent publication of two accident investigation reports by the Marshall Islands.
Russia has won a nine-year waiver from a proposed ban on heavy fuel oil in the Arctic. The IMO’s pollution subcommittee backed a ban on the use and carriage of HFO in the Arctic from July 2024, amid concerns an HFO spill could damage the region’s sensitive environment. But ships flying the flag of an Arctic coastal state and operating in those states’ sovereign waters get a waiver until July 1, 2029.
Analysis
Conventional wisdom is that rising oil exports from the US Gulf are good for crude tanker tonne-mile demand. The numbers tell a different story.
Opinion
Jutta Paulus is the politician at the vanguard of arguing the case that the EU ought to step in and regulate emissions, even without any global consensus on such an issue. She is also at the forefront of putting the argument to the shipping industry that it should cough up funding for maritime decarbonisation projects in the EU.
Markets
US-listed Greek dry bulk company Star Bulk says the last of its scrubber installations have been delayed due to the coronavirus.
Shell expects the last of the new liquefaction projects under construction to be completed by 2021 and, following that, for equilibrium to likely be restored to the market as new supply comes to a halt until the mid-2020s.
Signs of a coronavirus-related slowdown in shipping activity have become evident through bunker market figures, with official data from Singapore showing residual fuel oil inventories jumped 10% to their highest in more than nine months, in the week ended February 19.
Diana Shipping, a US-listed owner of some 42 dry bulk vessels, has said it is considering whether to trade or resell the vessels that fell through.
In other news
The global financial crisis was a wake-up call that exposed the vulnerability of the container shipping sector, but the shift to vertical integration has brought benefits to both the major carriers and customers, according to Romain Martimort.
Slow issuance of technical guidance for new requirements for shipping coal has caused Indonesian miners to lose business as buyers divert purchases to other suppliers.
The Port of Los Angeles is set to become the production headquarters for Space Exploration Technologies Corp, also known as SpaceX, after port commissioners unanimously approved a 10-year lease application.
The West of England P&I Club will acquire an unspecified “significant stake” in Stockholm-based Nordic Marine Insurance, through the purchase of the existing holdings of Alandia Försäkring for undisclosed consideration.
MPC Container Ships has raised NKr125m ($13.2m) after the successful completion of the private placement of 7,250,00 new shares in the Norwegian capital.