In the space of 10 days shipping in and around the Black Sea region has descended into chaos with many experts now questioning how shipments can proceed in the medium-term. Last Monday, Russia decided to quit the United Nations-brokered Black Sea Grain Initiative after the Kerch Bridge was targeted...
Splash Extra July 2023
Shipping’s problematic bubble mindset
Last week, somewhat parched having been pounding the streets of London all day, I made for The Champion in the relatively trendy Notting Hill Gate district where a pub quiz was coming to its conclusion as a thirst quenching pint of Peroni hit my lips. The very first question I heard from the overly...
July 2023 Review
The 80th gathering of the Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) wrapped up at the headquarters of the International Maritime Organization on July 7 with a revised greenhouse gas (GHG) strategy announced. The levels of ambitions agreed within the revised strategy include peaking GHG...
Tonne-mile hopes for tankers
The tanker freight markets spent June becalmed with brokers reporting a balanced market degrading to a supply-saturated market in July featuring plenty of candidates for cargoes. This has led to rangebound freight markets for all sizes of crude oil tanker on many routes especially for VLCCs....
Grim expectations for liners
The same under-par economic growth in China that has affected raw materials demand there has also affected Chinese exports, excluding automobiles, exports of which have tripled in three years. Some banks are expecting a pronounced slowdown of exports if central banks in the EU and US have their way...
Heatwaves and dry bulk
China’s heatwave continues with temperatures in the more arid areas of Xinjiang province exceeding 52 Celsius but more importantly the large cities in the central and eastern areas are experiencing hotter than average temperatures. This has led to record electricity consumption and to a leap in...