Average spot rates have not been above Nordic American’s daily operating cost of $8,000 since late August, according to Baltic Exchange data

Three Cosco newbuildings currently trading clean as tanker markets experience protracted weakness

A market downturn and lack of appetite for orders by traditional shipowners prompts the Chinese shipbuilding giant to establish ties with cargo interests. Brokers predict demand from the processing facility could spark demand for up to 30 very large crude carriers

The tanker owner saw increased earnings in the third quarter of the year raising its total profits for 2020 to over $530m. But deteriorating market conditions mean the next few months may be tougher

Sources says the deal covers 14 Maersk medium range product tankers built between 2016 and 2020 and will see each vessel sold to CDB Leasing for over $30m

The reduced need for tankers follows falling demand for oil as European countries impose lockdown measures to ward off the coronavirus pandemic, as well as from the prospect of increased supplies of oil from nearby Libya

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 

The big downside risk factor is multiple peaks of coronavirus that will leave oil demand hanging in the balance. Oil tanker demand could contract by up to 5.9% next year, according to Cleaves

The three firm 93,000 cu m LPG carriers are scheduled to be delivered in January, March and May 2023. If Petredec exercises options for the other three, the vessels will be ready in the second and third quarters of the same year, according to a company statement

Chief executive says the results reflect ‘to a large extent’ the low freight market of the previous quarter that closed at end-June

Eastern Pacific Shipping has agreed to exercise an option for another dual-fuel LPG vessel, while BW LPG has initiated a trial for a very large gas carrier which has been retrofitted with LPG dual-fuel propulsion technology

Poten expects Indian LPG consumption to increase by 2% in 2020, rising by 17% in the next five years compared with about 40% growth in the past five years

If the global LPG fleet is anything to go by, hundreds more small-scale LNG carriers may be required to support economies switching from LPG to LNG, one expert suggests 

In its latest report, Gibson argued that ‘carbon taxes might be the only way to make future fuels more competitive’. The ship brokerage also pointed out owners’ reluctance to invest in liquefied natural gas-fueled ships because of a lack of guidance from the IMO

The contract will start in the first quarter of 2021 following the completion of remaining work at the import terminal in India

The new company is focused on small-scale LNG projects and recently carried out Malaysia’s first bunkering operation. The budding LNG player is backed by Stolt-Nielsen, Golar LNG and Hoegh LNG and has been developing rapidly since being formed in 2018