Decarbonisation is increasing the risk of stranded assets across most sectors of shipping. Holding out for the next big fuel has its advantages, but fleet renewal cannot be delayed indefinitely

In this edition of the monthly maritime markets outlook: The link between floating storage and the tanker outlook for late 2020 and early 2021 | Dry bulk markets with a focus on China’s steel figures | What idle dry bulk fleet figures tell us about the pace of China’s economic recovery | Shipping’s scrubber gamble

Fees on carbon-intensive goods sounds suspiciously like tariffs. The maritime industry will clearly wonder what manner of goods these might be, what the ‘fees or quotas’ would look like and how they might affect the number of boxes on ships

Hafnia will work with Arq to optimise bunker blends that meet environmental standards and maximise cost efficiencies. The company aims to expand the trial runs for the 450 vessels it operates from mid-2021 

Lloyd’s Register’s new Maritime Decarbonisation Hub will seek to accelerate decarbonisation, help reduce carbon intensity and deploy zero-emissions ships by 2030

French energy company Total has ordered four new LNG-powered aframax tankers to be delivered in 2023 from two Norwegian companies. The company already has two LNG-fuelled very large crude carriers joining in 2022

Hundreds more container vessels may go on order in the next two years, with a focus on 23,000 teu and 12,000 teu to 15,000 teu units. These vessels are likely to be fitted with scrubbers or LNG propulsion, which appear to be the preferred pathways among container lines to comply with emission rules

The per kilogram cost of producing hydrogen in Australia needs to come down first before it can compete internationally. South Australia is looking to tap its vast wind and solar resources to export clean hydrogen

A new report calls on the EU to ban scrubbers, prohibit the use of heavy fuel oil and take on more measures to cut emissions from maritime transport

With decarbonisation now driving many shipping decisions, and with ongoing uncertainty about which greener marine fuels will emerge to replace fossil fuels, the prospects for wind technology in commercial shipping are strengthening. The support of Cargill, one of the world’s biggest ship charterers, will add further weight to the development of the wind power industry

The price spread between low- and high-sulphur fuel has decreased to the point that the economics of retrofits make little sense. At the same time, the number of containerships using scrubbers this year has doubled. But demand for ships could now lead to a slowdown in retrofits

Announcement came as NYK took delivery of its LNG-fueled car carrier Sakura Leader, which is said to be able to trim CO2 emissions per unit of transport by up to 40% compared to similar types of vessels using conventional heavy fuel oil bunkers