Erik Nikolai Stavseth News

The Baltic Exchange's main sea freight index, tracking rates for ships carrying industrial commodities, slumped to an all-time low on Tuesday, as worries over demand from top importer China and huge oversupply of vessels battered sentiment. The overall index, which gauges the cost of shipping dry bulk cargoes including iron ore, cement, grain, coal and fertiliser, was down 5 points, or 1.06 percent, at 468 points, the lowest in records that date back to January 1985. "The outlook is clearly very poor," said Tony Foster, of British shipping asset manager Marine Capital. Adding to the new year gloom, world stocks fell again on Tuesday after their worst first-day performance in years…

The cost of shipping crude surged to all destinations, amid speculation that bookings are increasing to load crude. According to a report in Bloomberg, the oil tanker rates soared to the highest in seven years amid an acceleration in the number of bookings and signs that the ships are being delayed when unloading due to a lack of space in on-land storage tanks. Day rates for 2 million-barrel carrying ships sailing to Japan from Saudi Arabia, the industry’s benchmark route, surged to $111,359, the highest since July 2008, according to the Baltic Exchange in London. Rates to the three destinations monitored by the Baltic Exchange in London all rose on Wednesday by 21 percent as measured by the industry’s standard Worldscale system.

Chief Shipping Analyst at BIMCO, Peter Sand will be one of the speakers at the upcoming Marine Money Ship Finance Forum in Singapore. This is the 14th annual forum and it will take place at 22-23 September 2015. Peter Sand will deliver the introductory presentation to the panel discussion titled: “Quantifying the tanker market boom? What are the triggers for the extension or the curtailing of current rates?” scheduled for September 22nd. The other panellists are: Paddy Rodgers, CEO of Euronav, Hew Crooks, CFO & Partner at Ridgebury Tankers, Cyril Ducau, Deputy CFO at Quantum Pacific Shipping, Frans van de Bospoort, MD & Global Head of the Tanker Group at DVB Bank and Erik Nikolai Stavseth, shipping analyst at Arctic Securities. The session is modified by Alan Hatton, CEO of FSL Trust.

Millions of stranded barrels underscore glut; elevated freight rates complicate search for buyers. A shadowy build up of oil has intensified in the Atlantic Basin with homeless cargoes of crude turning into unintentional floating storage - another sign the global surplus has some way to go before clearing. Off the coast of West Africa and in the waters of the North Sea, vessels holding millions of barrels of oil have become, in effect, accidental storage, as their owners fight for buyers. These are competing with new loadings, as well as time-chartered cargoes that major trading houses such as Unipec and Trafigura booked to store crude months ago and are now selling. "It's pretty bad," one West African crude oil trader said.

Some of the world's biggest oil traders have booked supertankers to store at least 25 million barrels at sea in recent days, seeking to take advantage of the crash in crude prices and make a profit down the line. Floating storage levels are expected to increase further in coming weeks as trading companies adopt a strategy that was last used in 2009 when prices slumped and led to over 100 million barrels of oil being parked on tankers at sea before stocks were sold off. The play is also driving up tanker hire rates, and shipping firms have seen their share prices surge in recent days. In the past week, trading firms including Trafigura…

Crude oil tanker earnings on the major Middle East route fell to their lowest in nearly three months as a slowdown in business in recent days battered rate sentiment. The world's benchmark VLCC export route from the Middle East Gulf (MEG) to Japan <DFRT-ME-JAP> on Monday reached W37.93 in the worldscale measure of freight rates, or $8,142 a day when translated into average earnings - its lowest since June 23. That compared with W38.25 or $8,827 a day on Friday and W42.68 or $15,142 a day last Monday. "Activity was very low last week leaving freight rates under pressure," Arctic Securities analyst Erik Nikolai Stavseth said on Monday. In January, average earnings reached just over $61,000 a day - their highest since February 2010, before the rally loststeam.

Global law firm White & Case LLP announced the availability of a new report, "Restructuring & Beyond: The marine industry's routes to safety." The report focuses on survival strategies for those affected by the industry's downturn as well as emerging opportunities for companies, banks and investors. "Market equilibrium remains out of balance, and risks remain for the maritime sector," said Christopher Frampton, Partner and Global Head of the Asset Finance Practice of White & Case. "We have seen some contraction in the bank market. This, together with continued demand for capital, presents opportunities for alternate sources of finance.

The supply of crude oil cargoes for the largest tankers rose 32 percent so far this year, as Saudi Arabia boosted exports to compensate for the possibility of fewer Iranian cargoes, Arctic Securities ASA said. Very large crude carriers hauled 97 million metric tons of oil in the first 11 weeks of the year, up from 73.7 million tons during the same period of 2011, Oslo-based analyst Erik Nikolai Stavseth said by phone. Shipments strengthened as Saudi Arabia boosted production before an embargo on Iranian oil takes effect in July, he said. The U.S., the world’s largest oil consumer, imported an average of 1.5 million barrels a day from Saudi Arabia this year, on course for the highest quarterly average since September, 2008, according to preliminary data from the Energy Department.