Daily Briefing January 11 2021
Free to read: Regulation is key to shipping’s green push, Lloyd’s List survey finds | Container lines: Profiting or profiteering? | The Lloyd’s List Podcast: Containers cashing in and carbon clarity
Good morning. Here’s our quick view of everything you need to know today.
The Lloyd’s List Daily Briefing is brought to you by the Lloyd’s List News Desk.
What to watch | Analysis | Opinion | Markets | In other news
What to watch
Regulatory action is now one of the most important factors for shipping’s decarbonisation prospects, according to the first ever Lloyd’s List shipping decarbonisation survey.
Recent complaints by shippers have seen regulators showing an interest in box carriers again. But is there really any case to answer?
The Lloyd’s List Podcast: We examine whether shippers’ complaints that box lines are profiteering hold any water. We also turn to the results of the Lloyd’s List Decarbonisation Survey conducted late last year in search of some much-needed clarity regarding carbon reduction.
Analysis
It would be better to focus on the most-polluting ships rather than trying to impose greener fuels on the entire shipping industry, a Mare forum webinar heard.
Small craft specialist Shipowners’ Club will diversify risk through covering niche tonnage and by geographical spread rather than turning to new lines such as hull, chief executive Simon Swallow tells Lloyd’s List.
Transparency is now the watchword for compliance officers up and down international supply chains, especially as US Customs and Border Protection steps up its efforts regarding cargo produced under conditions of forced labour.
Opinion
Future fuels are important but what about ship design, new materials, changing trade patterns, and the role of the seafarer? asks Richard Clayton.
Markets
Spot freight rates on the major container trades have continued their relentless march north, with new historical highs at the start of 2021.
China’s leasing houses have experienced a meaningful slowdown in their lending to shipping for 2020 amid the coronavirus disruptions.
The number of vessels at anchor in San Pedro Bay reached a record this week as a conveyor belt of containerships collided with a fog bank that prevented ships moving to berth.
In other news
Spot rates for the scarce liquefied natural gas fleet have broken $320,00 as growing demand for the commodity and limited vessel supply continue to prop up the sector.
The port of Oakland is gearing up for more volume and faster trade with the arrival of three new cranes and a ‘first-call’ liner service operated by CMA CGM coming to the facility in mid-January.
Dalian Port Co will be renamed as Liaoning Port Co as the company edges closer to finalising the takeover of a smaller neighbouring rival.
All charges have been dropped against seven stowaways arrested at gunpoint after special forces stormed Liberia-flagged product tanker Nave Andromeda off the Isle of Wight last October, Hampshire Constabulary has confirmed.
Australia has imposed a two-year ban on a livestock carrier for endangering safety and the environment, the most severe ban it has issued.
Shipowning and investment company United Overseas Group, run by Peter Georgiopoulos and Leonidas Vrondissis, has taken control of Dubai-based United Arab Chemical Carriers.
Four Gulf countries are set to resume shipping links with Qatar, following a diplomatic resolution to a dispute that has kept the gas-rich sheikhdom isolated within the region since June 2017.