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Special report: forward freight agreement controversy swirls around Baltic Exchange

Fairplay, the weekly shipping magazine founded in 1883, which sadly is set to publish its last edition and shut its doors next month, is going out with a bang. It has published a special report examining how the forward freight agreements (FFAs) market, which uses the Baltic Exchange as its index, will be affected by the IMO’s low sulphur fuel regulation changes. It’s a long, thorough and important article, but …

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Zim Q3 revenues highest in four years, but profits fall

Zim may have recorded its highest quarterly revenues in four years ($841m versus $817m in 2017), but profits fell dramatically in the three months to September. Hellenic Shipping News reports Zim’s ebitda fell almost half, year on year, to $44.3m, compared with $84m on 2017. Despite this, chief executive Eli Glickman sounded upbeat, noting that the carrier had been facing a “challenging and volatile” business environment. Mr Glickman suggested the coming quarters …

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MPC gambles on scrubbers

Fast-growing Norwegian feeder vessel owner MPC Container Ships has placed firm orders for the installation of exhaust gas cleaning system scrubbers on five of its ships, with options on 50 more of its 68-strong fleet, reports Ship & Bunker.
MPC said its decision to invest in scrubber technology was in response to “significant interest from charterers”, who would otherwise need to use the more expensive low-sulphur fuel (LSFO) when the IMO’s 0.5% …

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UK updates code of practice for autonomous ships

“It is not if, but when”, said James Fanshawe, chair of the Maritime Autonomous Systems Regulatory Working Group, at the launch of version 2 of the Maritime Autonomous Surface Ships (MASS) UK Code of Practice this week.
Indeed, the Yara Birkeland, an autonomous battery-powered cargo ship has been developed by a Norwegian agriculture company to carry fertilizer 37 miles down a fjord, to its production plant at the port of Larvik.
After …

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Agility reports 12% Q3 earnings increase

Agility posted its results this morning, revealing a KD20m ($65.7m) third-quarter net profit, up 12.3% year-on-year. Revenues rose 10%, while for the first nine months, net profit was up 19.7% to KD58.9m.
Agility Global Integrated Logistics saw gross revenues rise to KD292.2m, up 7%, in the third quarter. Net revenue increases (+5.15%) were driven by air freight, up 15.6% and contract logistics, up 6.4%. Ocean freight net revenue was up 4.2%.
“We …

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Dubai’s DP World sues China over Djibouti trade zone

The row in the Horn of Africa between DP World and the government of Djibouti rumbles on, and now appears to be dragging the Chinese government to the courts. The Dubai operator is suing it for the investment of state-owned port operator China Merchants and its role in acquiring a 23.5% stake in Djibouti’s state-owned port authority [PDSA] and subsequent development of an adjacent free trade zone. PDSA has been …

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Jack Ma bemoans ‘stupid’ trade war; but South-east Asia is upbeat

Alibaba founder Jack Ma has called the trade war “the most stupid thing in this world”. While tensions rise, with an increasing expectation that the US will add more tariffs on Chinese exports next year, Mr Ma argued that in fact China was soon to become a major buyer of foreign products, as the services sector, rather than manufacturing, was now powering its job growth.
Not everyone, however, is set to …

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Chinese economy slowing faster than expected – worst yet to come

Bad tidings loom for China, with its economy reportedly slowing far faster than expected. The South China Morning Post reports the situation is likely to spur Beijing into introducing new growth-supporting measures to avoid returning to its “battle-tested” strategy of large-scale monetary and fiscal stimulus. Even so, the news will be particularly concerning for an economy that has yet to experience the full force of its trade war with the …

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Trump’s next tariff blow could be 10 times worse for US shoppers

Bloomberg is reporting that the next round of China-US tariffs could be the costliest yet for American consumers. According to the report, the US will announce tariffs on all remaining Chinese imports by early December, with the impact on consumers as much as 10 times worse than the tariffs thus far implemented. Expected to take effect in February, they would hit finished goods including iPhones and Nike trainers – so …

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