Daily Briefing December 21 2020
Free to read: Shipping Outlook 2021: This year was just a taster of the disruption yet to come | Regulatory and dry bulk outlooks | Record box rates | The Lloyd’s List podcast: Will tankers recover before 2022?
Good morning. Here’s our quick view of everything you need to know today.
The Lloyd’s List Daily Briefing is brought to you by the Lloyd’s List News Desk.
What to watch | Analysis | Opinion | Markets | In other news
What to watch
Outlook 2021: Shipping’s resilience has been tested this year, but a low orderbook doesn’t save a market and the immediate future is riddled with uncertainty. Mid-term, the business models which survived this year may not be set up for a future requiring financial flexibility, transparency, a smarter approach to digital integration and of course sufficient foresight to survive the decarbonisation transition.
Readers can access our Outlook for all the shipping sectors by clicking here. This also includes our look ahead for the regulators in 2021, when the European Commission will unveil exactly how it wants to regulate shipping emissions, and the International Maritime Organization may have begun its own debate on market-based measures.
Sizzling container shipping spot markets have shown little sign of cooling, with the latest Shanghai Containerised Freight Index surging to new highs. Spot rates on the Asia-Europe trade have climbed above $3,000 per teu for the first time in their history.
Analysis
2021 Outlook — Dry bulk: Optimism surrounds the new year prospects for dry bulk markets, given the low fleet growth and the expectations of returning demand following the coronavirus pandemic. However, caution is advised, as bullishness at the start of previous years has failed to materialise.
Opinion
Coronavirus has piled unprecedented pressures on global supply chains, writes Janet Porter, and the UK has the added problem of Brexit to deal with. But after years of investment surely the ports sector should be better prepared?
A low orderbook never saved a market — you need demand to recover. Oil needs to return to pre-pandemic levels before you can recalibrate the supply demand of the fleet and think about a more sustainable upturn, so says veteran equity analyst Jonathan Chappell. He talks tankers turbulence with Lloyd’s List Editor Richard Meade this week, and sets out his forecast to 2022.
Markets
The International Energy Agency said that global coal demand will continue to slide after a partial recovery in 2021.
US Gulf Coast refineries are now reaching their capacity to process light sweet crude oils, and — barring any investment to boost that capacity — have a much-reduced need for imported supplies due to ample domestic production.
In other news
Mitsui OSK Lines says it has stepped up internal measures to prevent any future accidents akin to the Wakashio, which grounded on a coral reef off Mauritius in July, causing widespread pollution in pristine waters.
Norwegian shipowner Grieg Star and Finnish technology company Wärtsilä will build the world’s first tanker that both carries and is powered by green ammonia.
Star Bulk Carriers has clinched a deal to buy three 10-year-old capesize bulkers from ER Capital Holding for a combination of shares and cash.
Rio Tinto, one of the world’s largest miners, has named Jakob Stausholm as its new chief executive.
Eastern Pacific Shipping will invest in nine start-ups in its second MaritimeTech Accelerator programme backed by US seed funding firm Techstars.
SPD Financial Leasing, a relatively young but fast-growing Chinese ship lessor, announced it has ordered six kamsarmax dry bulkers at Nantong Cosco KHI Ship Engineering.
A first negative pressure ambulance has been put into service in Greece, courtesy of a dry bulk shipping company, as the country strives to bring a second wave of the coronavirus under control.