THE annual convention of the International Bunkering Industry Association is perhaps not traditionally the highest profile event in the industry’s calendar, but with the sulphur cap on everyone’s horizon this year’s shindig has attracted a bit more interest, so we sent our chief correspondent Richard Clayton and our man with 2020 vision Anastassios Adamopoulos to Copenhagen this week to find out what all the fuss was about.

 While there may have been an element of preaching to the choir when it comes to the environmentally-savvy and regulatory proactive Danish crowd, the discussions regarding safety, technology and compliance offered up a useful insight into the industry’s preparedness in the wake of recent discussions at the IMO.

Meanwhile, over in the US it’s the LNG sector that is keeping everyone excited right now. With freight rates heading to potentially unprecedented peaks, it will be no surprise if a rash of contracting gives the shipyards something to celebrate come Lunar New Year 2019. But on the demand side, the US is increasingly interesting when it comes to gas.

The plan for Mexico’s first LNG export terminal has taken a big step forward. Sempra Energy, the US group that aims to build the Energía Costa Azul LNG plant in Baja California, about 50 miles south of San Diego, has signed heads of agreements with Total of France and Mitsui and Tokyo Gas of Japan. The announcements come as several companies are working on plans to develop new LNG export plants along the Gulf of Mexico coast of the US. Our US editorial team, Eric Watkins in Los Angeles and Mark Feuchec in Boston, join Richard to discuss the view of the market from a US perspective.