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Handymax News

24 Jan 2024

New Handymax for Nova Marine Carriers

Sider Harmony. Image courtesy Nova Marine Carriers

Nova Marine Carriers, the Lugano-based group, controlled by the Romeo and Gozzi/Bolfo families, has taken delivery of a new 38,593 dwt handymax vessel, built in 2019, in Shanghai, acquiring it from a Japanese group.This is the Iris Harmony, renamed Sider Harmony, a latest generation bulk carrier (180 meters long by 30 meters wide) which will be technically managed by the Greek company Pegasus Ocean Services Inc (of the Halkidon/Pegasus group).

09 Nov 2023

World's First: Japanese Firms to Looking to Build Sustainable Bulk Carriers for Copper Transport from Chile

Signing ceremony
First from left, Masashi Suda, President, NBP
Second from left, Koichi Kawamura, Director, OSHIMA
Third from left, Norihiko Nonaka, Managing Executive Officer, SUMITOMO
Fourth from left, Máximo Pacheco, Chairman of the Board, CODELCO - Credit: NYK Lines

Japan's NYK Line said Thursday its NYK Bulk & Project Carriers Ltd. (NBP), Oshima Shipbuilding Co., Ltd. (OSHIMA), and Sumitomo Corporation (SUMITOMO) had signed a memorandum of understanding to study, design, and construct the world’s first Handymax bulk carrier (ammonia dual fuel type) dedicated to the transport of copper products, that will reduce CO2 emissions to zero.The MoU signing comes just a year after Corporación Nacional del Cobre de Chile (CODELCO), a Chilean state-owned company and one of the world's leading copper producers, and NYK Bulk & Project Carriers Ltd.

24 Jul 2023

Ship Recycling: Prices Continue to Fall

© Gudellaphoto / Adobe Stock

Prices continue to struggle across the major ship recycling markets, reports cash buyer GMS.Bangladesh further declined after depreciating currencies and sustained credit struggles, while Turkey suffered similarly with declining steel plate prices, the Lira, and its vessel prices.The supply of tonnage seems to have increased slightly over the last couple of weeks, particularly from the Chinese market. This has left owners and cash buyers chasing various recycling destinations amidst weakening prices.As forecasted a few weeks ago…

12 Jul 2023

Scorpio Sells 2013-built Tanker for $32.5 Million

Scorpio Tankers announced it has sold a medium range (MR) product tanker for $32.5 million.The Monaco-headquartered shipowner said the sale closed this month, but did not disclose the buyer.The vessel is the 183-meter-long STI Ville, built in 2013 by South Korea's Hyundai Mipo Dockyard.Scorpio noted that the ship is unencumbered and that it will make no debt repayments associated with the sale.Scorpio Tankers currently owns, lease finances leases or bareboat charters-in 112 product tankers, including 39 LR2 tankers, 59 MR tankers and 14 Handymax tankers.

28 Jun 2023

Scorpio Tankers Wins $1 Billion Credit for New Vessels

Scorpio Tankers has received commitments from a group of financial institutions for a previously announced $1.0 billion term loan and revolving credit facility.The over-subscribed Credit Facility was capped at an amount of $1.0 billion, and is expected to be used to finance 45 product tankers. Scorpio Tankers currently owns, lease finances or bareboat charters-in 113 product tankers (39 LR2 tankers, 60 MR tankers and 14 Handymax tankers) with an average age of 7.4 years.The Credit Facility is expected to consist of a 50% term loan and a 50% revolving loan, and has a final maturity of five years from the signing date (but not later than June 30, 2028).Emanuele Lauro, Chairman and CEO of the company, said: “We appreciate our lenders and their commitment to the company.

13 Mar 2023

Scorpio Exercises Purchase Options on Six Tankers

Scorpio Tankers announced Monday it has exercised the purchase options on six ships.The company said it has given notice to exercise its purchase options on 2016-built LR2 product tankers STI Grace and STI Jermyn, 2019-built LR2 product tanker STI Lavender, 2019-built MR product tankers STI Magnetic and STI Marshall and 2020-built MR product tanker STI Miracle. The leases bear interest at LIBOR plus a margin of 3.5% per annum, Scorpio said.The purchase, which is expected to occur in May 2023, will result in a debt reduction of $149.8 million for the company.Scorpio Tankers currently owns, finance leases or bareboat charters-in 113 product tankers, including 39 LR2 tankers, 60 MR tankers and 14 Handymax tankers, with an average age of 7.1 years.

14 Feb 2023

Eco Marine Power Inks Deal on Joint Eco Ship Study

Impression of Aquarius Eco Handymax (Copyright Eco Marine Power)

A "major shipping company" based in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Eco Marine Power Co., Ltd. (EMP) of Japan have agreed to undertake a joint Eco Ship technical study related to renewable energy solutions for ships including Aquarius Marine Solar Power, EnergySail and Aquarius MRE, according to EMP. The study will also include investigating innovative methods to improve energy efficiency onboard ships via the use of energy saving devices including propeller modifications and the use of more energy efficient electrical devices.Additionally…

22 Sep 2022

Scorpio Tankers Buys LR2 Product Tanker

Shipowner Scorpio Tankers announced this week that it has exercised a purchase option for an LR2 product tanker that is currently leased.The 2016-built, 109,999 dwt STI Sanctity was acquired as part of the acquisition of Navig8 Product Tankers in 2017. The lease bears interest at LIBOR plus a margin of 5.4% per annum.The purchase, which is expected to occur in the first quarter of 2023, is expected to result in a debt reduction of $27.8 million for the company, Scorpio said.Scorpio Tankers currently owns, lease finances or bareboat charters-in 113 product tankers, including 39 LR2 tankers, 60 MR tankers and 14 Handymax tankers, with an average age of 6.7 years.

27 Apr 2022

Decarbonization: Zero-Emission Handymax Bulker Concept Debuts

Image courtesy Eco Marine Power

The global push for decarbonization in the transport sector has predictably inspired a wave of new designs for the shipping sector, including a new 'Zero-Emission Handymax Bulker' design from the hands of Eco Marine Power, a design that incorporates renewable energy solutions, electric propulsion and fuel cells.The ship design concept is known as the Aquarius Eco Handymax II and all the technologies currently encompassed in the design are either currently available or under-development.The…

04 Nov 2021

AiP Granted for GEV's 430t C-H2 Carrier

Credit: GEV

Australian energy transportation company Global Energy Ventures (GEV) has secured an Approval-in-Principle (AiP) from the American Bureau of Shipping for its pilot-scale 430 tonne C-H2 Carrier vessel.AIP for the Handymax vessel, which GEV intends to be the first commercial-scale vessel available for the marine transport of hydrogen, follows an ABS AIP which GEV received in July this year for a compressed hydrogen vessel with a 2,000-tonne capacity.“Hydrogen has a significant role to play in global decarbonization initiatives both within shipping and the wider economy.

07 Oct 2021

Crude Oil Tanker Demolishing Hits 39-month High -BIMCO

© tittip / Adobe Stock

Has the lid finally come off for crude oil tanker demolition in 2021? If judged by the 1.9 million DWT of capacity that was removed in September, the answer is “yes”, says shipping organization BIMCO. Despite this, it is still too early, however, to declare a sudden U-turn, as we have only seen 2.2 million DWT scrapped in the previous eight months of this year.For the month of September, 15 crude oil tankers, three oil product tankers, two small Handymax bulkers and no containerships have been demolished.

15 Jul 2021

Low River Water Levels Choke Argentine's Ag Exports

© studio new art/AdobeStock

Ships leaving the Argentine agricultural ports hub of Rosario on the Parana River are having to reduce cargos by thousands of tonnes due to low water levels, the local head of logistics said on Wednesday, amid growing environmental concerns.Dryness in Brazil, where the Parana originates, has diminished cargo traffic and sparked worries by environmentalists about dredging the river below certain depths. The dryness has reduced the amount of cargo that can be carried by ships at the height of the Argentine corn and soy export season."Handymax ships are leaving port with 9…

15 Jul 2021

Parched Argentine River Cuts Into Grains Exports

© aerrant / Adobe Stock

Ships leaving the Argentine agricultural ports hub of Rosario on the Parana River are having to reduce cargos by thousands of tonnes due to low water levels, the local head of logistics said on Wednesday, amid growing environmental concerns.Dryness in Brazil, where the Parana originates, has diminished cargo traffic and sparked worries by environmentalists about dredging the river below certain depths. The dryness has reduced the amount of cargo that can be carried by ships at the height of the Argentine corn and soy export season."Handymax ships are leaving port with 9…

17 May 2021

Taiwan Navigation Selects Inmarsat's Fleet Connect

Mobile satellite communications company Inmarsat said JRC (Japan Radio Company Co. Ltd.) has joined its group of Certified Application Providers (CAP) offering applications via Inmarsat’s dedicated Fleet Connect bandwidth.The announcement follows the trial of JRC’s Smart Ship Viewer (SSV) bridge solution onboard Taiwan Navigation’s Handymax bulk carrier Tai Splendor. As a result of the trial, Taiwan Navigation has now contracted to use Fleet Connect and JRC’s Smart Ship Viewer across its eight newbuildings and eight existing vessels.“The SSV is a networked bridge and communications management solution with capabilities including ship monitoring…

25 Mar 2021

Secondhand Bulker Market on Pace for Record Year -BIMCO

© owr / Adobe Stock

The ownership of dry bulk ships has changed hands at blistering speed in the first three months of 2021, says shipping organization BIMCO, pointing out that the course is now set for a record year in the bulk ship sale and purchase market.A total of 794 ships were bought and sold in 2020, with the smaller sectors of Handysize and Supramax being most popular. Not even three months into 2021, 279 dry bulk ships have been traded, with Panamax bulkers being the most popular single ship size and accounting for 82 of the trades.

03 Dec 2020

Did You Know?: 47% of all Newbuild Dry Bulkers Sport Scrubbers

Source: BIMCO

We have known it all along; the bigger the bunker fuel consumption of the ship, the more likely it is that shipowners will choose an SOx scrubber as the tool to comply with the IMO 2020 sulfur cap.Whiles only three Handysize bulkers in total have been delivered from the newbuilding yards with a scrubber fitted in 2020, one in three Handymax bulkers were delivered with scrubbers installed.Most scrubber-fitted bulkers were delivered in the Panamax sub-sector, that saw 81 units out of 150…

01 Sep 2020

BIMCO: Agriculture Exports Make "Stunning Comeback"

© Zsolt Biczó/AdobeStock

BIMCO notes stunning comeback to Q2 agricultural exports nearly triple freight ratesAs agricultural dry bulk commodities exports took a dive in the first quarter of this year and painted a gloomy picture for Panamax and Handymax freight rates, a stunning second quarter comeback have nearly tripled freight rates.While total agricultural export volumes are now solidly up in the first half of the year, they are not mind-blowingly high, and export volumes in the first quarter of 2020 certainly offered little help.

13 Aug 2020

Containerships Overtake Tankers as Most Scrubber-fitted Sector -BIMCO

© aerial-drone / Adobe Stock

Containerships with a collective cargo carrying capacity of 5.3 million 20-foot equivalent units (TEU) are now fitted with an exhaust gas cleaning system (scrubber) to remove sulphur oxides (SOx) from the exhaust gasses generated by the combustion processes in marine engines and thereby comply with the IMO 2020 global sulphur regulation which came into force on January 1, 2020.By the start of July, the share of the containership fleet with scrubbers installed exceeded that of the crude oil tanker fleet.

08 Apr 2020

Coronavirus Disrupts Supply of Ships and Demand -BIMCO

© Carabay / Adobe Stock

The coronavirus outbreak has affected all aspects of the shipping industry, lowering, if not wiping out, demand growth prospects for the year across all segments. The outbreak has also affected fleet development, says shipping association BIMCO.Contracting activity has fallen, demolition activity, which had been high, is now being limited by restrictions around the world and deliveries of new vessels are delayed.“The coronavirus has certainty replaced the IMO 2020 sulphur regulation as the talking point of the year.

19 Jan 2020

Tsuneishi Delivers 500th TESS Design Bulker

Japanese shipbuilding major Tsuneishi Shipbuilding delivered the 500th newbuilding in long running bulker range the Tsuneishi Economical Standard Ship (TESS).The TESS64 Aeroline bulker Sarita was delivered to Ugland Shipping by Tsuneshi Heavy Industries (Cebu) in November last year marked the 500th vessel of a TEES design to be delivered."As indicated by its name “TESS”, the TESS series features fuel consumption performance with excellent economy, and high versatility that is easy to use. TESS, our representative brand, has been a favorite with customers since the first ship was completed in 1984," said a press release.While Handymax bulk carriers used to have a deadweight of 36…

11 Jun 2020

Alfa Laval Unveils Scrubber for Smaller Ships

(Image: Alfa Laval)

Alfa Laval introduced its PureSOx Express, a new version of its open-loop scrubber system delivered as a fully enclosed module and specifically designed for use on board smaller ships.Adapted for a simple and cost-efficient fit, the new system is engineered to reduce the investment cost, engineering time and physical work of installing a SOx scrubber on board vessels such as handymax bulkers or product tankers, where the cost of installing a scrubber for SOx compliance has sometimes…

23 Apr 2020

Overcapacity and low demand growth set the tone in the 2010s -BIMCO

Over the past decade, the developing world economy has allowed for strong growth in shipping activities, with the demand for transport never having been higher. However, the benefits of this growth have been limited due to the industry jeopardizing the good times by ordering too many ships.In the 2010s, the supple of ships has largely outgrown demand, putting freight rates under pressure persistently and causing challenging conditions for the dry bulk market. A total of 413 million DWT has flooded the marked since the turn of the decade…

25 May 2020

Iranian Fuel Tanker Moors at Venezuela's El Palito Refinery

The first of five Iranian tankers carrying fuel to Venezuela has moored at Venezuela's El Palito refinery, Iran's English-language Press TV reported on Monday.Iran is providing Venezuela with 1.53 million barrels of gasoline and components in a move criticised by U.S. authorities as both nations are under U.S. sanctions, according to the governments, sources and calculations by TankerTrackers.com."The Iranian oil/chem Handymax tanker, FORTUNE, which loaded 43 million liters of gasoline during mid-March at Port Shahid Rajaee, Iran, has now moored at berth 2 at the refinery of El Palito, Venezuela, situated west of capital city, Caracas," tweeted TankerTrackers.com.A second vessel, the Forest, entered the Caribbean Sea on Saturday. The three remaining vessels were crossing the Atlantic.