FreightWaves Ocean

Dry bulk flounders as coronavirus threatens Brazilian exports

dry bulker

Once upon a time, believe it or not, stock investors were obsessed with dry bulk shipping. That Bizarro World dynamic won’t be happening again anytime soon if today’s abysmal spot rates are any indication.

Rates for Capesize bulkers (vessels with capacity of around 180,000 deadweight tons) fell yet again on Wednesday, to $3,796 per day, according to the Baltic Exchange’s 5TC index. The tentative bounce beginning in late April has long since fizzled. Futures markets currently put the full-year...

https://s29755.pcdn.co/news/dry-bulk-flounders-as-virus-threatens-brazilian-exports

LPG shipping: volatile, spot-exposed, leveraged to COVID-19

LPG ship

Crude and product tankers have garnered all the headlines in 2020, but liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) shipping could offer a clearer-cut and more binary bet on the coronavirus recovery.

Higher oil production and refining would create more propane and butane as byproducts, filling more LPG carrier cargo holds. Unlike crude and product tankers, LPG carriers face no near-term headwinds due to the unwinding of floating storage.

LPG shipping companies boast high spot-market exposure and volatility....

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/lpg-shipping-volatile-spot-exposed-leveraged-to-covid-19

Import cuts could trigger more shortages as states reopen

container terminal

After “blanking” (canceling) around 20% of Asia-to-U.S. capacity this month and next, it now appears almost certain that carriers will cut fewer sailings in July.

Ocean carriers had previously blanked about 10% of July capacity and there have been no additional trans-Pacific reductions for that month over recent weeks.

On the contrary, a rising number of previously canceled sailings have been “unblanked.” THE Alliance (Hapag-Lloyd, ONE, Yang Ming) has reinstated four China-Los Angeles voyages,...

https://s29755.pcdn.co/news/import-cuts-could-trigger-more-shortages-as-states-reopen

Tanker pitch goes back to basics as floating storage fades

crude tanker

Until very recently, the narrative in the tanker market went like this: The coronavirus has destroyed oil demand, excess oil will be forced into storage on tankers, a huge portion of the fleet will be tied up for an extended period, far fewer ships will be left in the spot market, ergo rates will rise.

Sure, the lengthy and inevitable storage drawdown will be painful for rates, but that’s the future. The near term looks great and tanker stocks are trading at a discount, so buy the stocks.

The new...

https://s29755.pcdn.co/news/tanker-pitch-goes-back-to-basics-as-floating-storage-fades

Q&A: Why Amit Mehrotra is still (very) bullish on transport stocks

amit mehrotra

COVID-19 is a game-changer for every link in the transport chain, from cargo ships to trucks, trains and air freighters. Amit Mehrotra, the managing director of air freight, surface transportation and shipping at Deutsche Bank (NYSE: DB), is one of the rare professionals who covers the entire gamut.

During a lengthy interview with FreightWaves on Monday, Mehrotra opined on coronavirus consequences for the world’s supply chains and explained why he believes some transport companies will see stock...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/qa-why-amit-mehrotra-is-still-very-bullish-on-transport-stocks

Container-ship owners in crossfire as liners slash service

container ship

Container-ship lessors represent one of the most crowded segments in the U.S.-listed shipping arena – and one of the most highly leveraged to COVID-19.

Such owners, known as “tonnage providers,” lease vessels for varying lengths of time to liner companies, which use chartered ships to complement their owned fleets. 

If global consumer demand rebounds robustly, stocks of tonnage providers should surge. If there’s an extended downturn, they face years of pain.

Liners have heavily “blanked”...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/box-ship-owners-in-crossfire-as-liners-slash-service

Why COVID-19 rebound hopes are weighing down tanker stocks

crude tanker

It was a huge day for U.S. stocks, with the Dow surging by over 900 points on news of a potential vaccine breakthrough and positive stimulus comments from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell.

Many shipping stocks, particularly dry bulk stocks, showed strong gains, with Star Bulk (NASDAQ: SBLK) surging 15%, Eagle Bulk (NASDAQ: EGLE) up 13%, Scorpio Bulkers (NYSE: SALT) up 9%, Golden Ocean (NASDAQ: GOGL) up 8% and Genco (NYSE: GNK) up 7%.

Tanker stocks were conspicuously absent from the party. 

At...

https://s29755.pcdn.co/news/why-covid-19-rebound-hopes-are-weighing-down-tanker-stocks

Container import roller coaster: down, up, down … up?

roller coaster

U.S. container imports are certainly on a wild ride.

The numbers plunged after the initial coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan, China. They briefly bounced back when delayed bookings were loaded after China came back online. Then they sank again after social-distancing rules shut down U.S. businesses and container carriers “blanked” (canceled) sailings.

Now, it looks like there could be at least some momentum in the positive direction, which might mean that container lines that blanked around 20% of...

https://s29755.pcdn.co/news/container-import-roller-coaster-down-up-down-up

IMF develops real-time intel on container, tanker, bulker moves

containers

The modern history of global trade will be divided into B.C. and A.C. — before-corona and after-corona. What happened B.C. might as well have occurred in an alternate universe and the pace of change A.C. is so frenetic that even one-month-old data has lost much of its value.

With make-or-break business decisions in the balance, the focus has predictably turned to data that signals future trends, such as container-shipping “blank sailing” information from companies such as eeSea and...

https://s29755.pcdn.co/news/imf-develops-real-time-intel-on-container-tanker-bulker-moves

Stranded crew crisis is ticking time bomb for global trade

ship crew

You may have read those Kafkaesque stories about seafarers marooned on cargo ships month after month, unable to go home at the end of their work contracts due to COVID-19 travel restrictions.

You may have thought, “How unfortunate,” then turned your attention back to your own pressing business problems amid the pandemic.

A crisis for an Indian seafarer stuck on a Liberian-flagged ship because Indonesian authorities won’t allow passage to the airport may seem distant from the challenges of a U.S....

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/stranded-crew-crisis-is-ticking-time-bomb-for-trade

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