Daily Briefing May 6 2020
Free to read: Tightening bank credit to hold back oil recovery | Trade credit insurers brace for wave of defaults | English shipping law takes lockdown in its stride | Spot rates obscure true picture of carrier turmoil
Good morning. Here’s our quick view of everything you need to know today.
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What to watch | Analysis | Markets | In other news
What to watch
The fallout from the Hin Leong insolvency has prompted banks to tighten the screws on credit to fuel traders, potentially weighing on contango plays that have recently bolstered tanker rates.
Shipping litigation and arbitration in London have weathered the coronavirus lockdown surprisingly well, and greater use of videoconferencing and electronic documents is likely to remain in place even after the crisis has ended, according to legal experts.
Analysis
Stable spot freight rates are masking the “disastrous effect” that the coronavirus pandemic is having on carrier earnings, as carriers slash capacity in a drive to cope with reduced demand.
Before coronavirus, the focus of container shipping boardrooms was the International Maritime Organization’s sulphur cap rules, decarbonisation and digitalisation. Now, a seemingly inevitable global financial downturn is likely to be the sector’s biggest test.
A storm is heading for the trade credit insurance sector as the health crisis threatens company insolvencies and payment defaults on a scale never seen before.
Markets
Spot rates for charters of liquefied natural gas carriers continue to decline to historic lows, augmenting expectations of a challenging second quarter of the year for owners and operators.
India has imported two cargoes of liquefied petroleum gas from Russia, marking the start of a new trade lane for handysize LPG carriers.
In other news
CDB Financial Leasing, the leasing arm of policy lender China Development Bank, has announced $417.6m worth of orders for eight newcastlemax dry bulkers at three Chinese yards.
Economic headwinds have cast a shadow across Yangzijiang Shipbuilding’s outlook for winning new orders, according to a research note by United Overseas Bank.
The US and UK have dispatched warships to the Barents Sea in a joint naval exercise, signalling to Russia they will not accept its efforts to dominate shipping throughout the region.
Norden, a Danish dry bulk and tanker owner and operator, says the coronavirus pandemic and resultant macroeconomic slowdown have increased charterparty and operational risks.
First Ship Lease Trust, the Singapore-based tanker and containership owner, has posted an increased first-quarter profit after selling three tankers to take advantage of a strong tanker market.
Performance Shipping said it expects to make a profit for the first quarter of the year as it rebrands as a tanker specialist.
Hill Dickinson’s former head of shipping Julian Clark has joined rival outfit Ince.