Arb News

Marine shock mitigation technology provider Allsalt Maritime Corporation announced Thursday it has opened new sales and support offices in the U.S. and Singapore in response to market growth in the commercial and recreational boating industries.Victoria, B.C.-based Allsalt Maritime, owner of the Shoxs and Kinetix brands, said its new U.S. office is located in Edgewater, Fla., and will be led by newly appointed brand development and U.S. managing director Lisa Wood, a marketing and business development professional with more than 20 years of experience managing brands such as Stanley…

Measures for preventing air pollution from ships as well as energy efficiency requirements for ships are in the spotlight at a training event for eight countries in the Red Sea, Gulf of Aden and the Gulf.The participating countries are Bahrain, Djibouti, Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan and United Arb Emirates.The regional workshop in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia (17-19 September) has covered International Maritime Organization (IMO) 's MARPOL Annex VI treaty, which limits the main air pollutants contained in ships exhaust gas, including sulphur oxides and nitrous oxides, and includes energy-efficiency measures aimed at reducing greenhouse…

U.S. shipments of liquefied natural gas are expected to fall to their lowest level in six months in April, after a leading U.S. supplier shut units for maintenance at a time when a glut of supply has driven some worldwide prices to near three-year lows.Based on exports through April 10, the United States is on track to sell roughly 91.5 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) of natural gas as LNG, which would be the lowest since October. That compares with an estimated record 139.8 bcfd shipped in March…

Rhine water levels hit record lows in October; river is a key fuel transport hub for Europe.Low water levels on the Rhine river have caused a fuel supply deficit in parts of Europe's industrial heartlands that is sucking up cargoes from more than 10,000 km away in Singapore.Following a long, scorching summer, water levels on the Rhine - a key commodity shipping lane connecting industrial centres in Switzerland, Germany, France and the Netherlands to major seaports - fell to record lows…

Unusually bloated gasoline inventories in the U.S. during peak summer driving season has kept the transatlantic arb barely workable. EIA data indicates that gasoline imports into the U.S. East Coast (PADD 1) for June averaged 549 kb/d so far, down by 15.4 percent m-o-m. As such, an atypical influx of LR tankers carrying gasoline from Europe have been fixed to the East in recent weeks. At least 6 LR2 and LR1 tankers loaded with gasoline are heading from the ARA region to AG/Singapore in June.

A tanker of gasoline en route to New York Harbor from Europe has been diverted to a Caribbean storage hub because a narrow window of opportunity for shipping profitably to the U.S. East Coast appears to have shut, traders said. At least 16 tankers carrying some 600,000 tonnes of gasoline blending components were booked early in April to send fuel from Europe to the East Coast. Since, a Long-Range 2 (LR2) vessel AMOREA, floating offshore carrying summer-grade RBOB gasoline, known as F2-grade, set sail to New York. An LR2 going to New York was uncommon to begin with, but the recent closing of the arb, or the window, caused the vessel to be diverted to the BORCO storage hub in the Caribbean, according to Reuters vessel tracking data and three sources with knowledge of the matter.

Transportation electrification (TE) is starting to impact California like no other state, maybe unlike any other place in the world. Essentially, and eventually, TE depends on replacing gasoline and diesel engines with renewably generated electric power. This could include just about every car, truck, fork lift, drayage vehicle, train and ship in California. For the freight industry, including the maritime sector, TE presents complex challenges. In recent months, CA has started wrestling with “heavy-duty” freight transportation electrification.

The Asian Aframax market is currently stable but seems to be facing a more positive outlook on the back of short-term time charters as well as an increase in third decade cargoes. Rates for an Indonesia/Japan run basis 80 kt are hovering around w100 to w102.5, while rates for the AG/East route basis 80 kt stand at w115. Reflecting firmer owner sentiment, TD14 inched up steadily w-o-w to w100.78 which translates into daily earnings of around $8,700/day. At least three Aframaxes…

The Long Range (LR) 2 tanker market in the East of Suez has been languishing in the doldrums for almost two weeks. LR2 rates on the AG/Japan route, basis 75 kt, nosedived from w120 at the beginning of January to current levels of w80. Earnings for a round voyage on the benchmark route are hovering around barely breakeven levels at $2,000/day. A slew of refinery outages which have lowered CPP exports as well as a pile up of prompt tonnage in the region have culminated in the perfect storm.

In a stark reminder of how volatile shipping markets can be, sentiment in the previously weak Asian Aframax market has flipped while the LR2 market continues its downward slide. The Aframax market in the East of Suez firmed rapidly with rates for the Indo/Japan route up by w22.5 points w-o-w to w132.5 due to a flurry of pre- Lunar New Year activity. Among fixtures heard, BP placed a vessel on subjects for an Indo-Aus voyage at w132.5 basis 80,000 mt. Rates for the AG/East route gained by w5 points from the previous week to w115.

The biggest divergence between U.S. and Asian gas prices in a year has created an opportunity for tankers delivering liquefied natural gas, with most departures from a key Louisiana terminal in the last month-and-a-half heading toward East Asia, shipping data released on Wednesday show. The facility, Sabine Pass, owned by Cheniere Energy Inc, opened last year as the first LNG export terminal in the U.S. Lower 48 states. The United States has been exporting gas out of Alaska since 1969. U.S.

Asia’s crude tanker market faces the double whammy of a flood of newbuild deliveries and a cut in OPEC production in Q1 2017. On the supply side, net capacity growth is estimated to be around 5 percent for VLCCs, 9.6 percent for Suezmaxes and 7 percent for the Aframaxes/LR2 segment in 2017. At least 50 percent of the newbuild VLCCs and Suezmaxes will be delivered in Q1, worsening the oversupply of tonnage. On the demand side, OPEC’s planned output cut of 1.2 mmb/d starting January will lead to less crude export cargoes with the VLCC segment bearing most of the brunt.

The prices of WTI and Brent crude briefly rose above $50/bbl during intraday trading on Thursday, the highest level seen since the end of July 2015, giving traders a brief moment of optimism, says a report from Alibra Shipping Research. But since then, prices have trended downwards. WTI currently hovers around the $48.92/bbl mark on NYMEX. Similarly, Brent is trading at around $48.91/bbl on ICE. Analysts expect a further correction in crude prices because supply remains so abundant. Iran’s oil exports are expected to rise a further 200,000 bbl to reach 2.2m bpd by the middle of this summer. Last Friday, rig counts in the US did not decline for the first time in 17 weeks, possibly indicating that America intends to ramp up oil production again.

The California Air Resources Board has fined the China Navigation Co. Pte. Ltd. $129,500 for failure to switch its engines over from heavy diesel bunker fuel to cleaner, low-sulfur fuel when close to the California coast, as required by state law. CARB’s Ocean-Going Vessel Fuel regulation is a critical part of California’s plan to attain air quality standards in Southern California and across the state. On December 28, 2012, an ARB inspector found that the vessel Chenan, managed by the China Navigation Co. Pte. Ltd., operated within Regulated California Waters (i.e. 24 miles or less from the coast) on noncompliant heavy fuel oil on 12 separate days (four voyages) between August 5 and December 28, 2012, while en route to and departing from the Port of Los Angeles.

The reduction in the new 2016 Worldscale flat rates  of Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCC) has led to spot rates increasing as owners look for equivalent 2015 returns, says tanker market assessments from the Baltic Exchange. Thus we are now seeing rates for long east of around WS 107.5/110 on 270,000 tonnes with rates to the US Gulf hovering in the very low WS 60s. Brokers are saying rates remain under pressure here as charterers work quietly and for those who can take either new-buildings, ex-drydock or tonnage over 15 years old a discount is achievable. In West Africa, rates to China eased due to pressure on Middle East Gulf tonnage with WS 100 just concluded, representing a drop of 7.5/10 points from the start of the week.

Diesel and heating oil exports will increase to the United States from Europe, traders said, reversing the usual flow, as refineries on the U.S. East Coast struggle against extreme cold that has partly frozen the Delaware River. On Friday New York heating oil's premium to European gasoil spiked to its highest level since the January 2014 'polar vortex', as temperatures dropped as low as -18 degrees centigrade (-0.4 Fahrenheit), knocking a number of key refineries offline. Traditionally the United States has sent diesel to Europe, where the fuel is much more commonly used in cars, while European refiners have sent excess gasoline cargoes across the Atlantic. A so-called 'reverse-arbitrage' trade has been underway since the start of February as a cold snap on the U.S.

The California Air Resources Board has fined four shipping companies a combined $146,719 for failing to switch from dirty diesel “bunker” fuel to cleaner, low-sulfur marine distillate fuel upon entering Regulated California Waters – within 24 nautical miles of the California coast. “State anti-pollution laws require shippers to do their part to protect air quality,” said ARB Enforcement Chief Jim Ryden. “Shippers who comply are helping to protect the health of those who live, work, and go to schools near ports and shipping lanes. Many Californians don’t realize that diesel soot and other pollutants can also travel far inland to impact communities nowhere near the sea.

The California Air Resources Board (ARB) issued an advisory to owners or operators of oceangoing vessels visiting California ports offering guidance for complying with the state’s fuel regulations during the Air Resources Board Sunset review process. The California Oceangoing Vessel (OGV) Fuel Regulation includes a sunset provision which states that the requirements of the California OGV Fuel Regulation will cease to apply if the United States adopts and enforces requirements…

ASRY issued a statement detailing the yard's recent operational and business developments. After appointing Resolute Maritime Services as the agents in Greece an increased activity from Greek market can be observed at ASRY including one of the leading owners from Greece, Maran Tankers Management, sending their VLCC for docking in ASRY. Apart from routine drydocking jobs and hull treatment the main job was the installation of owner-supplied Becker Mewis Duct. This is the 12th duct ASRY has installed, and second on a VLCC, which only required a record 10 days for complete installation, proving their proficiency in that field. May also saw the extensive dry-docking repairs of Singapore-owned Offshore Supply/Tug ‘Jaya Concordia’…

The regulatory advisory has been posted to the Shore Power website. This regulatory advisory describes steps the Air Resources Board (ARB) is taking to assist vessel fleets with the transition to the 2014 compliance requirements under the Airborne Toxic Control Measure for Auxiliary Diesel Engines Operated on Ocean-Going Vessels At-Berth in a California Port (Regulation). California’s ports, terminals, and most of the vessel fleets have made substantial investments in new equipment and practices to transform their operations and meet the requirements of the Regulation. These vessel fleets need some flexibility during the transition period from January 1 June 30, 2014, to implement the new practices.

Forms for the At-Berth Regulation Advisory have been posted to the Shore Power website. As specified in the December 2013 Regulatory Advisory, fleets need to notify ARB of their intention to qualify for temporary relief under each scenario they intend to use. Fleets also need to provide evidence that they have made a good faith effort to comply with the At-Berth Regulation. To do this, fleets must complete the "December 2013 Regulatory Advisory Notification" form and return it by March 21, 2014. In addition, fleets are required to provide verification of their claims. An information webinar will take place on March 6, 2014 to discuss the forms.

Russian Urals crude weakened in the Baltic on Wednesday due to a number of unsold cargoes while Kazakh CPC continued to strengthen due to a lack of sweet barrels. In the Platts window, Trafigura bought a cargo of Urals from Eni at dated Brent minus $1.30 a barrel, some 35 cents weaker than previous price estimates, traders said. Total bid for a cargo of CPC at dated Brent minus 40 cents, some 10 cents stronger than previous price estimates. The price of Urals in southern Europe moved closer to parity with dated Brent due to an absence of Iraq's Kirkuk crude, strong demand and attractive refining margins, traders said. Urals differentials in the Mediterranean were between minus 20 cents per barrel and parity with the North Sea benchmark, traders said Tuesday.

Port staff received news that the Port of Hueneme was among the awardees to receive funds through the EPA’s Diesel Emissions Reduction Act (DERA). The funds will be used to complete an enhanced phase II to the Port’s existing Shore Power Project that will allow additional vessels to simultaneously connect to the Port’s Shore Power system. Following passage of AB 32 by the state assembly, programs were put in place to allow ships at berth in California ports to turn off their more polluting marine engines dramatically reducing greenhouse gas emissions.