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Rates Rise News

01 Mar 2024

US Offshore Wind: Down but Not Out

© Eric Dale Creative / Adobe Stock

“The winds of change are blowing wild and free.” – Bob DylanIn the U.S. offshore wind industry, developments over recent months have placed an exclamation point on the word “wild”. Yes, the wind still blows “free”, but mounting challenges have proven that harnessing its power offshore is anything but. In fact, far from it, as rising materials costs, high interest rates, labor shortages and supply chain delays, among other issues, have delivered heavy blows to the commercial viability of several projects.

02 Mar 2023

Dry Bulk Vessel Rates Rise on Stronger Vessel Demand

© EdVal / Adobe Stock

The Baltic Exchange's main sea freight index, tracking rates for ships carrying dry bulk commodities, rose to its highest level since early January on Thursday, supported by stronger rates across all vessel segments.The overall index, which factors in rates for capesize, panamax and supramax shipping vessels, rose 46 points, or about 4.2%, to 1,145, its highest since Jan.

16 Sep 2021

Maersk Lifts 2021 Outlook Again as Freight Rates Rise

Image Credit: VanderWolf Images / AdobeStock

Danish shipping group A.P. Moller-Maersk lifted its 2021 outlook again on Thursday, riding the rise in freight rates which has resulted from a congested global supply chain.The coronavirus pandemic has prompted shortages of container ships and logjams at ports at a time of high consumer spending, sending the cost of transporting freight to record levels."The strong result is driven by the continuation of the exceptional market situation within Ocean, which have led to further increases in both long- and short-term container freight rates…

15 Sep 2020

Baltic Index Gains as Capesize Vessel Rates Rise

© mrnai / Adobe Stock

The Baltic Exchange's main sea freight index rose for a second consecutive session on Tuesday, buoyed by stronger rates for capesize vessels.The Baltic dry index, which tracks rates for ships ferrying dry bulk commodities and reflects rates for capesize, panamax and supramax vessels, was up seven points, or 0.5%, at 1,289 points.The capesize index gained 24 points, or 1.3%, at 1,922 points, hitting its highest since Sept.

28 Nov 2019

Container Contract Rates Rise in November

The ongoing trend of downward pressure on long-term contracted ocean freight rates appears to have been broken, or at least temporarily derailed, with marginal increases seen across the board in November.According to the latest XSI Public Indices report from Xeneta, which provides unique business intelligence based on real-time crowd-sourced data from the world’s leading shippers, global rates climbed by 0.9% over the last month. This disrupts a long-term pattern of decline that, with the exception of a sizable and unexpected rise in May, has been ongoing since Summer 2018.Oslo-based Xeneta’s XSI Public Indices report utilities over 110 million data points, covering over 160,000 port-to-port pairings, to provide unparalleled insight into the very latest market moves.

28 Mar 2019

Container Rates Alert: Box Industry Builds

File Image: Marad

Small yet significant rises in European import and export activity, combined with increased Far East imports and continued growth in US exports has fuelled a moderate improvement in long-term global container rates in March. The trend, identified in the latest XSI Public Indices report from Xeneta, builds on the positive rates development recorded last month, which effectively halted a decline underway since August 2018.Oslo-based Xeneta, a leading ocean freight rate benchmarking and market analytics platform…

20 Jun 2017

Fitch: Boxship Rates Rise, Capacity Still Key

Fitch Ratings' Report: What Investors Want to Know: Container Shipping. Container shipping companies have benefited from a modest increase in freight rates since the start of the year, but a sustainable recovery in the container market will only be achieved by reaching a viable supply/demand balance through capacity cuts, Fitch Ratings says. Container transport volumes outstripped capacity growth in 2016 for the first time since 2010-2011, helped by a higher rate of vessel scrapping and delayed deliveries. We expect this to be only a temporary reversal, as net capacity growth will accelerate in 2017 and 2018, exceeding demand growth and contributing to increased overcapacity.

23 Feb 2017

Asia Dry Bulk-Capesize Rates Up on Increased Traffic

Record iron ore prices fuelling capesize chartering boom; freight rates rise by around $1 per tonne in a week. Freight rates for large capesize dry cargo vessels on key Asian routes, which hit multi-week highs on Wednesday, are set to continue to climb next week on buoyant iron ore cargo volumes, brokers said. More than 30 capesize fixtures were reported in the week to Feb. 22, almost double the number in the last two months, according to data on the Reuters Eikon terminal. "The capesize market should continue to push higher for now - it's all looking good," a Singapore-based capesize broker said on Thursday. The surge in charters for capesize vessels…

06 Jan 2017

Spot box rates rise above 5-year average - Drewry

Spot container freight rates on the major East-West routes reached a 20-month high this week and have risen above the average of the last 5 years. The latest weekly reading is $1,770/40ft container for the composite index, reflecting increases on individual lanes to $1,785 for the Rotterdam-New York index (up $4 this week), $2,210 for the Shanghai-Rotterdam index (up $257 this week) and $2,106 for the Shanghai-Los Angeles index (up $545 this week). On the back of 1 January GRIs, the World Container Index between Shanghai and Rotterdam rose by 13% to reach $2,210 this week. Drewry expects the volume upsurge on account of an early Chinese New Year to support further increases next week.

05 Jan 2017

Spot Box Rates Rise Above 5-Year Average

Spot container freight rates on the major East-West routes reached a 20-month high this week and have risen above the average of the last 5 years, said a report by Drewry. The latest weekly reading is $1,770/40ft container for the composite index, reflecting increases on individual lanes to $1,785 for the Rotterdam-New York index (up $4 this week), $2,210 for the Shanghai-Rotterdam index (up $257 this week) and $2,106 for the Shanghai-Los Angeles index (up $545 this week). On the back of 1 January GRIs, the World Container Index between Shanghai and Rotterdam rose by 13% to reach $2,210 this week. Drewry expects the volume upsurge on account of an early Chinese New Year to support further increases next week.

15 Dec 2016

North Asian MR Rates Rise on Strong Winter Demand

© Igor Terekhov / Adobe Stock

The medium range (MR) tanker market in the North Asia has firmed this week, with rates recovering from last month’s lowest levels in 2016 as charterers rushed to fix an influx of fresh cargoes before the holiday season. Rates for the key South Korea-Japan route grew by $20,000 w-o-w to $290,000 while rates for the key South Korea-Singapore route jumped by $75,000 w-o-w to $380,000. Rates for the key Singapore-Japan route basis 30kt were up by w17.5 points w-o-w to w125 points. Robust winter heating demand, increasing Chinese product exports as well as weather delays lent support to MR rates.

05 Jul 2016

Drewry: Container Shipping Rates Have Bottomed Out, Forecast to Rise

(Photo: Greg Trauthwein)

Container freight rates are forecast to rise modestly over the next 18 months from the all-time lows reached recently, but this will not be sufficient to rescue the industry from substantial losses in 2016, according to the latest Container Forecaster report published by global shipping consultancy Drewry. Liner shipping has had a torrid time so far in 2016 with spot freight rate volatility reaching unprecedented levels, while unit industry income has fallen to record lows. There are distinct parallels between what is happening now and the depths of the 2008/09 global financial crisis.

03 Jun 2016

Asia-N.Europe Box Rates Rise 6 pct

Freight rates for transporting containers from ports in Asia to Northern Europe rose 5.7 percent to $761 per 20-foot container (TEU) in the week ended on Friday, a source with access to data from the Shanghai Containerized Freight Index told Reuters. It was the second consecutive week with rising freight rates. In the week to Friday, container freight rates fell 3.2 percent from Asia to ports in the Mediterranean, rose 8.1 percent to ports on the U.S. West Coast and was up 3.9 percent to ports on the U.S. East Coast. Maersk Line, the global market leader with a market share of around 15 percent and part of Danish shipping and oil group A.P.

10 May 2016

IUMI Welcomes Revised York-Antwerp Rules

In general, the International Union of Marine Insurance (IUMI) welcomes the revised York-Antwerp Rules (YAR 2016) which were adopted by the Comité Maritime International (CMI) at its conference in New York last week. The York-Antwerp Rules (YAR) is a set of rules by which General Average (GA) is adjusted (see detailed explanation in the notes below). IUMI has a particular interest in their content as, on average, the GA system increases the cost of maritime casualties by between 10%-30% largely due to interest (7% p.a. under the 1994 and 1974 YAR), commission (2%) on nearly all expenses and sacrifices, and adjusters' fees. The process of collecting GA security from all the cargo interests…

01 Apr 2016

Asia Tankers-VLCC Rate Direction Uncertain

MidEast VLCC rates rise by more than $24,000 per day; China and Saudi Arabia fuel chartering surge. Freight rates for very large crude carriers (VLCCs), which hit a two-week high on Thursday, face an uncertain direction next week, brokers said. Port delays could help create a shortage of tonnage that could push rates higher, but charterers may cool fixture activity to put a ceiling on rates. "It's difficult to call which way the market is going to go," a Singapore-based supertanker broker said. "Earlier this week I thought the market was getting toppy and expected charterers to go back into their shells. But that didn't happen," the broker said. "Middle East rates are probably 90 now," on the Worldscale measure, the broker said.

04 Sep 2015

Asia Tankers-VLCC Rates Will See More Volatility

VLCC market to be "hot" in Q4 -VLCC broker. Freight rates for very large crude carriers (VLCCs) face a roller-coaster ride on uncertain cargo volumes and vessel supply ahead of a fourth-quarter boom, brokers said. Charter rates, which have rebounded sharply, could fall as more supertankers become available for charter in the last 10 days of this month, a Singapore-based VLCC ship broker said on Friday. Rates from the Middle East to Japan have climbed 17 points on the Worldscale measure after hitting a six-and-a-half year low on Aug. 26. That is equivalent in average earnings of almost $21,000 per day. Supertanker rates from West Africa to China have also recovered.

27 May 2015

Tanker Demand Picks-up in Canada

Canada’s role in the oil industry has changed dramatically in recent years driven by synthetic crude oil production in the oil sands of Alberta. New plans for Energy East, a cross-Canada West to East pipeline with a capacity of 1,100kb/day are being put forward to allow the movement of diluted domestic oil from the West to the import dependant Eastern provinces. With a light sweet requirement in the Eastern provinces the question might be raised on why there is a need for a pipeline to transport the heavy bituminous oil sands from the West if Eastern refineries could not process them. Suncor are looking to add a coker to their Montreal refinery which would allow for oil sand processing and for East Canada…

05 Nov 2014

TEN Charters up to Two Suezmax Shuttle Tankers

Tsakos Energy Navigation Ltd., a crude, product and LNG tanker operator, reached an agreement for a long-term time charter to a national oil company of a new DP2 suezmax shuttle tanker for delivery in the first quarter of 2017, with an option for a second vessel. This project will make a positive contribution to TEN’s bottom line. Shuttle tankers are a highly specialized sector, which calls for state of the art vessels specifically designed for oil transport from an offshore field. Typically, such vessels are committed to industrial projects for long periods and function in a complex operational environment. Nikolas P. Tsakos, President and CEO of TEN commented, “We are pleased to continue our expansion into this niche segment together with a first-class end user.

19 Aug 2014

Private Equity Knocks on Shipping's Door

Shipping is currently attracting a great deal of interest from investors in the private equity sector, according to UK-based accountants Moore Stephens, members of shipping trade organization Maritime London and as reported in its fortnightly 'London Matters'. In its Shipping Group newsletter 'Bottom Line' Moore Stephens notes that it has been estimated that at least USD7-bn  of private equity funding could find its way into shipping this year. The shipping industry, however, still accounts for only a tiny percentage of overall private equity investment, so there is arguably scope for significantly more. The timing appears to be good. A shipping industry emerging from a protracted slump offers potentially exciting opportunities for private equity investors.

08 Aug 2014

Mideast Crude Tanker Rates Struggle in Ship Glut

Crude oil tanker earnings on the major Middle East route were steady this week, helped by light bookings although rates have yet to rebound after a recent surge late last month. The world's benchmark VLCC export route from the Middle East Gulf (MEG) to Japan <DFRT-ME-JAP> on Thursday reached W42.57 in the worldscale measure of freight rates, or $14,080 a day when translated into average earnings, the latest Baltic Exchange data showed. That compared with W41.21 or $11,142 a day on Wednesday and W46.90 or $20,727 a day last Thursday. "Activity has ... revived but the tempo is firmly in the control of the charterers. Again, firm business is being overwhelmed with offers and the competition among owners remain fierce," broker Fearnleys said.

05 May 2014

Survey: O&G Research Spending to Increase

New research from Lloyd's Register Energy explores the drivers for technology and innovation in the global oil and gas industry. The Technology & Innovation Radar survey results are released today, May 5, 2014, from booth #2173 at the Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) in Houston by Lloyd’s Register Energy. It provides insight into the adoption and development of new technologies which are fundamental for the advancement of the Oil and Gas sector in addressing the global demand for energy, and to cope with the environmental challenges in the decades ahead.

28 Mar 2014

Shipping Confidence at Highest Level Since 2008

Richard Greiner

Overall confidence levels in the shipping industry rose to their highest level for almost six years in the three-month period to February 2014, according to the latest Shipping Confidence Survey from international accountant and shipping adviser Moore Stephens. Freight rates look set to improve or maintain existing levels over the next twelve months, while an increase in private equity funding is expected to have a major impact on the industry. In February 2014, the average confidence…

06 Jan 2014

MOL President Calls for Focused Growth in 2014

Koichi Muto

MOL Group president Koichi Muto issued a New Year message that reflects on 2013 while rallying for company-wide growth in 2014 as MOL prepares for 130th anniversary. “Looking back at 2013, Japan’s economy finally started to offer a glimpse of hope for pulling out of the deflation from which it has suffered for many years,” Muto said. “This can be attributed to the economic policies of Prime Minister Abe’s government, or the so-called “three arrows” of Abenomics. Last year, MOL…

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