Daily Briefing December 5 2019
Free to read: Ethane to feed China’s gas shipbuilding ambition | Salvage industry said to be in ‘decline phase’ | ISU accepts realities of salvage sector | Top 10: Marine Insurance
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
CSSC’s subsidiary yards are poised for a boost from ethane carrier orders once US-China trade relations thaw. These contracts would allow the yards to scale the value chain and qualify for LNG shipbuilding projects, say observers.
The salvage industry is struggling to find income-generating work. As a result, major corporates are set to quit the sector, an academic has told an industry conference.
The International Salvage Union is responding to the realities of its business environment as it continues to move its focus away from the Lloyd’s Open Form.
Analysis
Jon Hancock takes top slot among this year’s global insurance power-brokers following his cracking down on underperforming marine syndicates as part of a major shake-up of Lloyd’s portfolio.
Opinion
The Lloyd’s List group will launch 2020 with its annual Executive Meeting of shipping leaders and analysts to share views on how best to navigate what is forecast be a year of instability. Speakers will include Lena Sellgren, chief economist, Business Sweden (left) and Michelle Wiese Bockmann, markets editor, Lloyd’s List.
What will be the key issues shaping shipping during the next 12 months? Take part in the Lloyd’s List annual market survey and have your say on the big questions that will determine the shipping market outlook for 2020.
Markets
Vale, Brazil’s main miner, expects to restore full volumes of iron ore in 2022. It is anticipating output of up to 400m tonnes in 2022, a level it had hoped to achieve this year.
Overcapacity and the trade war continue to haunt container shipping. Freight demand and vessel supply are still out of balance.
In other news
Armed pirates have abducted 19 seafarers from a Navios Maritime Holdings-owned tanker off Nigeria. The attackers boarded the Hong-Kong flagged 296,988 dwt Nave Constellation late on December 3 after it had departed Bonny Offshore Terminal, Lloyd’s List Intelligence reported.
International Maritime Organization secretary-general Kitack Lim is to serve another four years at the helm of the global maritime regulator.
The American Club forecasts stronger returns on its investments will help offset a loss-making year, with the end-of-year 2019 deficit shrinking to $15m.
CMA CGM and Total have signed a liquefied natural gas supply deal to supply fuel for the carrier’s fleet of 15,000 teu LNG-powered vessels when they are delivered from 2021.
The US has imposed further sanctions on Venezuela, identifying six oil tankers that deliver petroleum products from the South American nation to Cuba as “blocked property”.
Dredging at the Port of Virginia to take its channel depths to 55 ft by 2024 has started, according to port officials.
Drewry has published its first low-sulphur reference bunker index tracker as the container shipping sector switches to bunkering low-sulphur fuel ahead of next month’s IMO 2020 deadline.
Unifeeder, the European feeder network and shortsea unit of DP World, has acquired a 77% stake in the Feedertech Group.