Daily Briefing April 21 2020
Free to read: Consolidation pays off for carriers during crisis | ONE volumes point to tough first quarter for container lines | ‘Dire implications’ seen for tankers if floating storage fails to offset demand contraction
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What to watch | Analysis | Opinion | Markets | In other news
What to watch
Consolidation of liner shipping carriers appears to have borne fruit, as seen in their ability to stabilise freight rates amid the unprecedented economic shock wave brought about by the coronavirus pandemic.
BIMCO has warned of “dire implications” for the oil tanker shipping market and projected an end to the unexpected rates rally of the first quarter, with earnings facing “massive downward pressure” beyond April.
Ocean Network Express has provided the first evidence of the impact of blanked sailings on carriers’ lifted volumes.
Analysis
Between the lines: Container shipping could stand to lose a collective $23.4bn in 2020 in the event of a 10% drop in volumes, Sea-Intelligence reveals in its latest analysis.
Shipping is under intense pressure to meet sustainability targets as directed by the International Maritime Organization even though the industry’s track record of producing clear and concise guidance over the past 30 years has not been good, according to the American Bureau of Shipping.
Freight forwarders may see volume declines of 20%-30% in air and sea freight in the second quarter of this year with a “trough” of 30%-50% in April, according to investment analysts Jefferies.
Opinion
Lloyd’s List Podcast:The doom-laden forecasts have been coming thick and fast, warning of the steepest downturn since the Great Depression of the 1930s. To help put these figures into context we have drafted in Tom Rogers, head of macroeconomic consulting for Asia at Oxford Economics, and our China editor Cichen Shen.
Markets
The United Nations is investigating an 11,000-tonne jet fuel shipment to the eastern Libyan port of Benghazi on a tanker owned by UAE-based shipping company Gulf Shipping FZC for possible contravention of an international arms embargo.
Brazil’s mining giant Vale has revised downwards its forecast for iron ore production for 2020 given additional safety measures related to the coronavirus outbreak.
In other news
Oman’s Sohar Port has joined the SEA-LNG coalition to promote its investment in liquefied natural gas bunkering facilities and the use of LNG as a marine fuel.
Postponed environmental negotiations cannot be held virtually, at least for now, as the International Maritime Organization lacks the necessary tools to host them, IMO secretary-general Kitack Lim has said.
The North Carolina State Ports Authority continues its efforts to boost the throughput capacity at the port of Wilmington, and this month has more than tripled the facility’s number of refrigerated container plugs to 775 from 225.
The South Carolina Ports Authority cites adverse effects of the coronavirus pandemic in revising lower its container outlook for fiscal year 2020, which runs from July 2019 to June 2020. It now forecasts 1.345m teu versus 1.364m teu in fiscal year 2019.
The crew of a containership are being held against their will after it was boarded by pirates.
Colombian authorities are investigating the death of the master of the containership Spirit of Hamburg, according to Zeaborn Ship Management.