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What to watch   |   Analysis   |   Opinion   |   Markets   |   In other news

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What to watch

From public relations handling to seafarer criminalisation, the crew change crisis and the industry’s pollution compensation regime, last weekend’s spectacular casualty off Mauritius is another catastrophic own goal for shipping. It would be better if the grounding of Wakashio had not happened. But given it did, attention must now focus on both the adequacy of the immediate reaction and the longer view.

West of England Ship Owners Mutual Insurance Association (Luxembourg) has given its strongest indication yet that a third successive rate hike is in the offing at the coming renewal round.

Fuel oil products with off-spec sediment content have resurfaced in the Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp region after a similar high-sediment level problem was found at the start of the year, as well as in Singapore. While concerns about off-spec bunkers have grown as more blends enter the bunker stream in the wake of IMO 2020 regulations.

The week in charts: July’s tonne-mile demand figures for crude oil tankers fell sharply, Lloyd’s List Intelligence data shows, particularly from the Middle East and West Africa. It looks like August demand will follow a similar pattern. Meanwhile, carriers appear more optimistic about container demand.

Analysis

For decades, airlines have found leasing the easiest way to get their hands on Airbuses and Boeings, and the model has even dictated some of the characteristics of the sector. So what will the rise of leasing during the past decade mean for our industry?

Opinion

Lloyd’s List Podcast: On the podcast this week David Osler talks to two of shipping’s recent intake of leaders setting out their stalls as chair and president of industry associations. Lindsay Malen-Habib is the new president of the American Salvage Association and Susan Oatway is the first woman chair of the Institute of Chartered Shipbrokers — they talk us through their roles and their priorities.

Markets

The port of Hamburg has followed in the footsteps of Rotterdam and Antwerp to report the damning impact of the coronavirus on its business, with container throughput between January and June down 12.4% compared with the first six months of 2019.

India’s crude oil imports fell to their lowest in a decade in July as fuel demand slowed amid coronavirus-induced lockdowns and sliding refining throughput. The nation’s demand for oil products also remains subdued.

Chemical tankers giant Odfjell has posted stronger profits for the second quarter of the year on the back of high spot rates, saying it experienced only limited effects from the coronavirus pandemic so far. 

In other news

The Japanese-owned capesize Wakashio is heading for a scuttling site off Mauritius almost a month after it hit a coral reef, spilling fuel oil into the Indian Ocean.

The oil pollution incident from the grounded 203,103 dwt bulk carrier Wakashio is threatening an ecological catastrophe around the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius, but compensation for the disaster may be limited a UN report states.

Navios Logistics has become a key earnings contributor for the Angeliki Frangou-led group against the backdrop of a struggling dry bulk market and in the second quarter of the year the 63.8%-owned subsidiary provided 61% of Navios Holdings’ revenues.

Maritime police — or pirates dressed like them — from Somalia’s semi-autonomous Puntland region boarded the chemical tanker Aegean II after it developed engine problems in the Socotra Gap. There was a dispute over its security team’s weapons, according to reports.

Hyundai Mipo has agreed a $410m deal with Bahri for tanker newbuilds. The win has provided timely support to the South Korean builder amid a severe order drought. Orders won since July have topped $1.8bn, compared with $2bn secured in the first half of the year.

The UN has rejected claims that it inspected and cleared the cargo of Rhosus, the ship that delivered some 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate to the port of Beirut in 2013.

Performance Shipping has sold its last containership, completing its transformation into a pure tanker owner.

Tanker owner TOP Ships has adopted a series of ‘shareholder-friendly’ measures to try to steady the company’s share price.

StealthGas has posted its best results since 2013. The Greek gas shipowner was cushioned against effect of coronavirus on spot rates as part of the fleet was time chartered ahead of outbreak.