Daily Briefing July 16 2020
Free to read: ‘Illogical’ airline inaction blocking Singapore crew repatriation | Dubai opens for crew changes | Allianz says shipping losses at record low
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What to watch | Analysis | Markets | In other news
What to watch
Airlines have been accused of being the biggest barrier to crew changeovers. Singapore Shipping Association said carriers must urgently introduce regular, commercial flights so that seafarers can be repatriated.
Dubai, a key hub for crew changeovers, has relaxed crew-change restrictions, with the Dubai Maritime City Authority allowing moves under certain conditions.
Large shipping losses are at an all-time low, according to Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty annual safety review.
Analysis
Attacks on seafarers have risen in the first half of the year, with 77 seafarers taken hostage or kidnapped for ransom since January.
Shipping’s progress towards a digital future is making the industry much more vulnerable to cyber-attack, according to security experts.
Weekly briefing: Loaded container volumes in the opening five months of the year were down but not nearly as bad as some in the industry feared they would be. Meanwhile, tanker earnings look steady as the traditionally weaker third quarter progresses.
Markets
Multiple liquefied natural gas cargo cancellations are expected from the US as demand continues to falter.
European ports are seeing higher levels of container availability despite volumes remaining well below pre-pandemic levels.
In other news
A tanker detained in the United Arab Emirates over links to Iran has been hijacked and its abandoned crew have returned home to India, according to a charity.
Further signs of the health of the container shipping sector have emerged as Hapag-Lloyd said it expected earnings in the first half to be higher than in the first six months of last year.
A probe into the proposed $1.8bn merger of Hyundai Heavy Industries and Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering has been halted again.
Nakilat, which owns the world’s largest fleet of liquefied natural gas carriers, said first-half net profit rose 15.5% as it reduced administrative costs and bought out minority stakes in four jointly-owned vessels.
Singapore’s Keppel Offshore & Marine has won S$73m ($52.5m) worth of floating production, storage and offloading vessel fabrication work for Japanese FPSO specialist Modec.
The Methanol Institute continues to push for the use of methanol as a marine fuel in China after joining a study led by Ministry of Transport think tank China Waterborne Transportation Research Institute, which will look at the technical and operational requirements for the use of the cleaner-burning fuel.
Struggling MPC Container Ships has secured NKr260m ($27.4) in new financing after a fully underwritten private placement of new shares at a subscription price of NKr1 each.
The manager of the American Club has named Dorothea Ioannou as its deputy chief operating officer.
Daehan Shipbuilding has emerged as the winner of a Tsakos Energy Navigation order for up to three suezmax shuttle tankers.