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

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What to watch

Governments have endorsed industry proposed protocols for safe crew changes amid the coronavirus pandemic to help resolve shipping’s ongoing humanitarian crisis

Lower fuel costs may have been as important as capacity management for container lines’ profitability this year, according to Shipping Strategy managing director Mark Williams.

Danish product tanker owner Torm sees prospects for better rates with news of a vaccine to control the coronavirus. The timing of the market recovery is however dependent on how effective it is.

Braemar Shipping Services is planning to ditch diversification and focus on its shipbroking roots, under the leadership of a new chief executive who will step up from heading its shipbroking division from the start of next year.

Analysis

Container transhipment hubs have done better than many of their import and export focused rivals during the pandemic, as carrier efforts to increase the efficiency of their networks led to greater use of hub-and-spoke services.

In our weekly briefing, container carriers are seeing strong rates due to healthy demand as the traditional peak seasons extends beyond its usual close. Meanwhile, uncertainty dominates the tanker market as pandemic lockdowns kick in, and the outlook remains mixed for dry bulk.

Opinion

Shipping has become entangled in digital jargon but it’s really very simple. Thinking vertically, up and down the supply chain rather than horizontally to other shipping sectors, is transformational, writes Richard Clayton.

Markets

Coal imports into China have the potential to increase in 2021 as compared to this year as domestic coal prices are at a very high level, but this needs a policy change from the Chinese government.

Royal Dutch Shell’s Shell Eastern Petroleum has revealed a 10-year plan to repurpose its 500,000 bpd Pulau Bukom integrated refining and chemical manufacturing site in Singapore.

Malaysia’s first commercial ship-to-ship liquefied natural gas bunkering operation has taken off the country’s south coast.

In other news

Container shipping needs to find an alternative to the bunker adjustment factor as it makes efforts to transition towards future fuels. The decarbonisation of container shipping will be paid for by carriers, but those costs will be inevitably passed through to their customers

Four people have died and one other is missing after a Turkish fishing boat capsized after being in collision with a Greek product tanker off Turkey’s southern coast

Braemar Shipping Services has appointed James Gundy as group chief executive, effective January 1, 2021. Mr Gundy has been head of the company’s shipbroking unit since joining Braemar in 2014 following the merger with ACM Shipping Group

Systemic failures of safe manning rules have led seafarers to routinely falsify records of their work and rest hours, according to a report by the World Maritime University that raises serious safety concerns and calls for significant reform

PSA Marine has become the first company in Singapore’s maritime industry to be given a green loan, successfully securing a €30m three-year sustainability-linked loan from DBS Bank for business expansion into the offshore wind market in Europe

Recovering auto volumes helped Wallenius Wilhelmsen to a $4m profit in the third quarter as the car carrier specialist emerged from the worst of its pandemic-led earnings hit

Philippines-based container terminal operator International Container Terminal Services Inc has become the latest to sign on to the TradeLens platform jointly developed by IBM and Maersk

Chemical tanker owner and operator Odfjell has committed to having a climate-neutral fleet by 2050. The target will be achieved by orders of only vessels with zero-emission technology from 2030 onwards