Daily Briefing April 28 2020
Free to read: Carriers may have hit peak capacity reductions on main trades | Lines under pressure to cut obsolete low sulphur surcharges | Cosco’s $600m LNG tanker investment linked to US export projects | Sounding the horn for seafarers
Good morning. Here’s our quick view of everything you need to know today.
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What to watch | Analysis | Opinion | Markets | In other news
What to watch
The volume of capacity withdrawn from container lines’ capacity may be about to peak, according to analysis.
Container lines are facing growing pressure to suspend low-sulphur fuel surcharges and drastically cut other fuel charges levied on shippers as the fall in oil prices reduces the cost of bunker fuels.
Cosco Shipping has embarked on a $600m newbuilding plan to expand its liquefied natural gas carrier fleet, which will be backed by PetroChina’s charters linked to US projects.
The International Chamber of Shipping and the International Transport Workers’ Federation have made a call for a show of support for the hidden heroes of shipping during the pandemic.
Analysis
The health crisis has changed the maritime corporate landscape. In a few short weeks it has transformed the pace of change from what had been evolutionary to revolutionary. Technologies that were non-essential have become indispensable. The quality of communication throughout the business is the difference between efficiency and just making do.
Opinion
Only the oldest people now living have personal recollections of the Great Depression. Yet the imagery of the period is still burnt into the popular imagination, even nine decades later, writes David Osler.
Lloyd’s List Podcast: The View from Singapore.
Markets
Spot rates for very large crude carriers may be on the decline, but Egypt’s national oil company has chartered a VLCC for a contract worth far above $300,000 per day.
In other news
First quarter of the year figures from the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore revealed the predominant fuel choices of shipowners on Asian trading routes who mainly bunker in the city-state, with 96% of the ships that arrived in the Port of Singapore using compliant fuel.
TOP Ships, the Nasdaq-listed tanker owner, has acquired two newly built medium range two tankers from chief executive Evangelos Pistiolis in a joint venture with Gunvor Group.
ETF Partners, a UK-based venture capital firm that manages the Environmental Technologies Fund, has completed its first deal in the maritime sector with a $3m investment in Greece-based DeepSea Technologies.
Cosco Shipping Ports has seen its first quarter results weighed down by the coronavirus impact, but has said it will not stop expanding globally.
The United Nations’ intergovernmental trade body has set out a policy plan calling to protect maritime and other transport sectors to ensure the movement of goods during the coronavirus pandemic.
The spectre of overweight containers has again reared its head in a Marine Accident Investigation Bureau report into the collapse of three container stacks on a CMA CGM vessel.
Like much of Sweden, the port of Gothenburg has remained fully open during the coronavirus pandemic, in line with government strategy. All loading, discharge and maritime services are operating as normal and a quick glance at the recently released figures for throughput indicate that not much has changed compared with the same period last year.