Archive for December, 2009
Shipping industry fund starts operations in Tianjin
cargo
China Ship Fund, the first investment fund for the Chinese shipping industry, began operations in Tianjin yesterday, mainly to support an industry caught in the middle of the economic slowdown. It was one of the ten approved industry funds by the National Development and Reform Committee.
The fund is expected to be valued at 20 billion [...]
Shipping cargo to US, Europe to become costlier from January
cargo
Container carriers have announced rate hikes from January for shipments from India to Europe and the US as they look to capitalize on a rebound in demand. The rate hikes for shipments to Europe are in the range of $100-300 (Rs4,670-14,010) for a 20ft container and $300-600 for a 40ft container. The hikes will take [...]
Will a Glut Sink Shipping Stocks in 2010?
cargo
Anyone who follows the merchant-shipping industry knows that a coming onslaught of newly built vessels threatens to create a vicious oversupply in 2010. The extent to which this burgeoning glut will, in turn, cause shipping rates to flop depends entirely on how many of the vessels on order get delayed or canceled. (Another relevant question: [...]
Somali pirates seize tanker, cargo ship
piracy
Striking into the heavily patrolled Gulf of Aden, Somali pirates seized a British-flagged chemical tanker — the first merchant vessel to be hijacked there in nearly six months, the same day that a ship was taken by brigands in the Indian Ocean, officials said Tuesday. The double hijacking late Monday shows that, a year after [...]
Dry Bulk 2010: Five Stocks to Watch
cargo
It may have been the most harrowing period in merchant shipping since German U-boats prowled the lanes of the North Atlantic during World War II. Anyone who follows the dry-bulk shipping industry knows the story: the worldwide banking-system meltdown in late 2008 yanked ship financing out from under the business. The global economic recession yanked [...]
Smooth sailing for shipping industry on cards
cargo
Having survived the financial turbulence of 2008, India’s port and shipping sector appears poised to sail into good times in the new year thanks to a slew of steps taken by the government in 2009 to remove bottlenecks. The shipping turf also saw a fierce battle between two leading private shipbuilders in a bid to [...]
Oversupply is key challenge faced by shipping lines
cargo
The year 2009 is slipping into the past leaving the global shipping business into troubled waters. Falling freight and charter rates, fallen dry bulk, liquid bulk and containerised shipment orders from shippers, rising bunker charges, banks unwillingness to finance, and above all overcapacity because of the demand-supply mismatch kept the anchor low in most of [...]
Container Ship Charter Rates Reach Fresh Lows
container-ship
The container ship charter market is ending the year close to record lows with ocean carriers’ demand for hired vessels weakening as cargo volumes shrink to seasonal lows on key east-west liner trade routes. Charter rates have stuck at seven-year lows for the past four months reflecting a slowdown in market activity as carriers shun [...]
Shipping sector hits out at Copenhagen Accord
cargo
The shipping sector has criticised the Copenhagen Accord that came out of the UN’s climate-change conference for failing to set any emissions reduction targets for the industry. The International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) said it was “disappointed” with the accord, while the UN’s International Maritime Organisation (IMO) said it was concerned by the lack of [...]
Somalia-based piracy remains an intractable problem
piracy
It’s impossible to consider Somalia’s pirates in a vacuum. The evolution of piracy in Somalia is inextricably linked to the collapse of Somalia as a nation state, ravaged by conflict between rebels and government troops. The key pirate enclave is in northeastern Somalia, in a region known as Puntland where the pirates live as an [...]
