Daily Briefing December 24 2020
Free to read: No Christmas cheer for stranded bulkers | Hapag-Lloyd orders new dual-fuel boxships | Deal will create largest gas carrier fleet | Eagle Bulk raises $25m for new purchases
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What to watch | Analysis | Markets | In other news
What to watch
At least 31 panamaxes and post panamaxes, and three capesizes, loaded with coal at eastern Australian ports since July through to November, are at anchorages outside terminals at Caofeidian, Huanghua, Tangshan and Bayuquan. A number of vessels have been diverted to other destinations including Japan, India and South Korea
Hapag-Lloyd has ordered six 23,500-plus teu dual-fuel boxships for around $1bn. The German carrier, the world’s fifth-largest with over 1.7m teu capacity in its fleet, announced that the South Korean yard Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering will build the vessels and deliver them between April and December 2023
Oslo-listed Epic Gas has acquired J. Lauritzen’s Lauritzen Kosan unit, in an all-share deal that will give J. Lauritzen a 27% stake in what will emerge as the world’s largest gas carrier fleet. BW Epic Kosan, as it will be known once the transaction closes in the first quarter of 2021, will bring together Epic’s 43 pressurised gas vessels and Lauritzen Kosan’s 34 gas carriers
Analysis
Eagle Bulk has raised $25m in a share offering and will use the funds for vessels acquisitions, the company’s chief executive has told Lloyd’s List. Gary Vogel said the goal is to continue to develop the company based on positive supply-demand fundamentals and attractively-priced secondhand tonnage
Markets
The dry bulk sales and purchase market has been active, with a number of deals reported. US-based Genco Shipping & Trading has been busy, acquiring three modern fuel-efficient ultramaxes in exchange for six older non-core handysize vessels, while there was also activity involving Diana Shipping and Eagle Bulk
Six-figure P&I payouts incurred while vessels were under pilotage have topped $1.8bn in the last 20 years, according to new analysis from the International Group of P&I Clubs. The IG’s research found 1,046 such incidents between 1999 and 2019 in which liabilities topped $100,000
In other news
Singapore is forging ahead with real world applications of additive manufacturing, more popularly known as 3D printing, with a joint industry project involving key local industry players being one of six to be awarded funding