Company News
Payment of Ransom to Pirates Held Not to Be Contrary to Public Policy
pircay
The UK High Court of Justice, Queen’s Bench Division, Commercial Court ruled that it is wrong to categorize the payment of ransom to Somali pirates for return of a hijacked vessel, its crew, and its cargo as contrary to public policy. In the instant case, plaintiff owned cargo on a vessel that was hijacked on [...]
Long haul ships slow down their speed to battle rising fuel costs
tanker
The jump in oil prices is forcing shipping companies particularly those that travel on long routes to reduce their speed on high seas and save ‘bunker charges’ that is the amount spent on fuel. Senior executives of Dubai-based shipping companies said that the slowing down a ship’s speed by anything in between two to three [...]
IMO Secretary-General opens new branch of the Arab Academy in Port Said
“I could not think of a better way to formally start the “Year of the Seafarer” other than by commissioning a new training centre, such as the new branch of the Arab Academy in Port Said.” So said IMO Secretary-General Efthimios E. Mitropoulos on Saturday, 9 January, as he formally opened an extension to the [...]
Will Shipping Stocks Sail In 2010?
cargo
It often pays to be a contrarian when making investment decisions. Looking at investing in areas most others are abandoning can often lead to very rewarding investment candidates. After a terrible 2008, shares in dry bulk shipping stocks began to look cheap. As we look back on 2009, shares have not participated in the rally [...]
South Korea’s Mobile Harbor Aims to Make Waves in Shipping
cargo
Now any city can be a harbor city, say researchers at the Korean Advanced Institute of Science and Technology. Institute President Suh Nam-pyo says he got the idea for the mobile harbor on a trip to Singapore. “When we got near a harbor there, I saw all these ships waiting out there, I am guessing, [...]
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 [...]
Shipbuilders Feared to Shed Jobs
ship
South Korea has remained the world’s largest ship maker this year, but concerns are mounting that a number of medium- and small-sized firms may go for huge restructuring next year, shedding jobs. SLS shipbuilding, the nation’s eighth-largest maker, filed Sunday for a bankruptcy prevention program. The smaller-sized 21st Century Shipbuilding followed suit one day later.
Both [...]
Shipping assets attractive for cash-rich companies
cargo
With the prices of shipping assets dipping sharply, cash- rich companies have the opportunity to acquire vessels to generate high returns, a shipping analyst said. “Currently, liquidity is hard to find with many shipowners cancelling orders for newbuilds, leading to a slump in demand for new vessels. As prices of shipping assets have greatly reduced, [...]
China’s shipbuilding industry output value up 29.2% in Jan-Nov
The total industrial output value of China’s shipbuilding industry increased 29.2% year on year to RMB 494.3 billion in the first 11 months of this year, said the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology in a statement on its website. The growth rate in the first 11 months was 34.4 percentage points less than that [...]
Global containership fleet expected to increase by 6 pc
container-ship
The global containership fleet is expected to increase only by 6.1 per cent in 2009, representing “the lowest annual growth rate recorded by Alphaliner since 2000.” The report had predicted at the beginning of the year that the world boxship fleet would expand by a total of 1.85 million TEUs in 2009. According to Exim [...]
