Howe Robinson News

The Baltic Exchange has appointed a new chief commercial officer; Janet Sykes, former head of communications at shipping services provider Clarksons Platou, will join the Baltic Exchange on July 3. Sykes worked at Clarksons Platou between 2010 and 2017 where she was responsible for all internal and external communication and marketing. She was previously head of marketing at the Baltic Exchange (2001-2010) and has previously worked as shipbroker at Howe Robinson (1991-2000). Baltic Exchange chief executive, Mark Jackson, said, “We're delighted that Janet Sykes will be joining the team. She has global shipping experience with a strong focus on the derivative markets and data products.

The pain of the current container market downturn extends beyond carriers, says Drewry's Container Insight Weekly. Some independent ship-owners are faced with either lowering charter rates to help save ailing carriers or risking their assets going idle. Much of the focus on the recent slump in the container shipping market has focused on the bottom lines of the operators moving cargo on the water, with ever-diminishing profits (that have now almost universally turned to losses) being the driver of a new round of M&A and alliance forming. However, less is known about the financial health of the roughly other half of ship owners who charter their assets out.

Norwegian-born billionaire John Fredriksen has teamed up with investment bank Arctic Securities to form a ship broking company aimed at taking on bigger rivals and betting on a recovery in the global shipping market. Many segments of the shipping industry, including dry bulk commodities, are struggling with tougher conditions due to world economic worries and a surfeit of vessels. Fredriksen, via his family's investment company Geveran Trading Co, and Oslo-headquartered Arctic Securities said on Monday they had established a 50-50 joint venture broking company, Arctic Shipping Norway, which they expect to start operations in the first half of this year. "I am truly convinced that both the shipping and the offshore markets will recover.

Top ship broker Clarkson is seeking to acquire Norwegian brokerage and investment bank RS Platou for 281.2 million pounds ($441 million) in a deal that would create one of the sector's biggest players globally. The deal would be the latest in an industry which has suffered one of its worst-ever downturns in the past five years. Owners ordered large numbers of vessels between 2007 and 2009, just as the global economy started to slow, creating a glut. Prospects have brightened recently as world trade picks up and the glut of ships is absorbed, but recovery remains fragile. In the meantime, many ship brokers view larger operations with global teams as the best way to position for a full market revival.

Shipping market prospects picking up after record downturn; shipbroker M&A deals have gathered pace this year. ICAP's shipping business is in merger talks with rival shipbroker Howe Robinson, the latest potential tie-up among sector players looking for scale after years of freight market turmoil. The shipping industry has suffered one of its worst ever downturns in the past five years. Owners ordered large numbers of vessels between 2007 and 2009, just as the global economy started to slow. Prospects have brightened recently as world trade picks up and the glut of ships is absorbed, but recovery remains fragile. In the meantime, many shipbrokers view larger operations with global teams as the best way to position for a full market revival.

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.

Plunging rates for chartering container vessels that carry consumer goods means a slowdown and losses for shipping lines in what is traditionally their busiest time of the year, according to a report on Bloomberg.com. As reported earlier today on MarineLink.com, MOL has revised its FY2011 downward, projecting a revenue drop of 6.3% from previous guidance. According to the Bloomberg report, fees for hiring vessels have fallen 9.3 percent since the end of April, citing the Howe Robinson Container Index. Last year, the index surged 56 percent in the period, as lines added ships on demand from U.S. and European retailers restocking for the back-to-school and holiday shopping periods.

International shipbroker and consultant Galbraith’s Ltd has appointed Nick Hubbard as its new managing director. Hubbard has twenty-five years’ experience as a shipbroker, most recently as a senior director and major shareholder at Howe Robinson Shipbrokers in London. He said, “This is an exciting opportunity for me. Galbraith’s is an internationally known and highly respected company which operates with a strong team ethic and has more than its share of high-performing brokers. Galbraith’s chairman Richard Sayer, said, “Separating the roles of chairman and managing director is simply a matter of good corporate governance. Since I joined Galbraith’s in 2002, my role has been akin to that of a senior partner in a limited company whose ethos is to operate as a partnership of equals.

Norilsk Nickel is building its own fleet of ships to capitalize on the melting of the polar ice caps. The company ordered five reinforced cargo vessels that can plow through the waters north of as new sea routes open. Moscow-based , the world's biggest producer of nickel, is spending at least $467 million to buy reinforced vessels rather than rent both freighters and icebreaker escorts. Global warming, while threatening environmental disasters, is creating economic opportunity for ship owners, makers of ocean cargo vessels and tour operators. New routes may expand access to the world's second-biggest oil supply, deliver wheat to 30% faster and increase Arctic tourism as much as 50% in a decade, Bloomberg reported. 's Aker Yards and 's Samsung Heavy Industries Co.

Early last year, “experts” were warning of a prolonged slump in the box trades, fueled by reckless over-ordering by irresponsible carriers and shipbuilders offering special deals on price. Howe Robinson's Container Index had sunk to a low point of 451 in January and leading liner company executives were attending hastily convened crisis summits to discuss possible lay-up schemes and other short-term survival strategies. Less than two years on, the market has paused briefly for breath after what brokers describe as an unbelievable recovery, both in its scale and speed. Last week's Howe Robinson index was just over 1104, slightly down on the previous couple of weeks but nevertheless attained in a consistent climb that, until now, has seen no breaks.

Liner shipping is traditionally a cyclical business, subject to dramatic peaks and troughs and sudden changes in fortune in individual trade lanes. Today's ebullience among all sectors of container shipping, including its various intermediaries, compares starkly with the situation in the latter part of 2001, when the market had hit a low point and the prophets of doom were out in force. Yet, only a year before that, market analysts had been talking of inexorable growth in seaborne containerized transport. Right now, the industry exudes confidence that the bull market for deepsea carriers will continue through 2004, after what proved generally to be a boom time for the liner shipping world last year, on the back of a rebounding world economy.

As a range of container ship charter indices reach their highest ever levels, the inevitable question must be, how long can this bull run last? Container ship charter rates have reached highest ever levels across a broad range of sizes with Howe Robinson’s container charter index edging up further this week, to another record of 1571.5. According to the broker’s second quarter container charter market review, “doubters have questioned the sustainability of the charter market since it started to move upwards in January 2002”. In that time, its index has spiraled by almost 250% - from 450.

There is certainly no let-up yet in the containership ordering spree as charter rates scale new heights, carriers continue to report record results. The Howe Robinson Container Charter Index has climbed to a new record of 1588.4, up by just over 252% since its January 2002 low point of 451. Records are being broken on a weekly basis as liner companies extend their investment programs, ordering new and ever larger ships many of which will not now deliver until 2007 or 2008. Among leading lines believed to be contracting or at least discussing new tonnage in recent days are CMA CGM, Evergreen, Mitsui OSK and Orient Overseas Container Line.

As Howe Robinson’s Container Index smashed through 1750 points this week, leading container carriers announced yet another round of new orders, leaving analysts once again torn between jubilation and concern as they struggle to understand mad markets and which way they are heading. Amongst new contracts reported this week is an order for the first super post panamax container ships to be built in China. China Shipping Container Lines is continuing its dramatic expansion with an order for four, option one, 8,500 teu container carriers at Shanghai’s Hudong-Zhonghua shipyard, a division of the China State Shipbuilding Corporation. With a length of 334 metres and deliveries of the $93m-plus ships scheduled for the last quarter of 2007 and 2008…

The giant containerships, which act as a floating conveyor-belt for international trade, are struggling to maintain volumes in the face of global slow down, shipping analysts said. "The continued recession environment will act as a plague on the markets," said a recent report by the New York-based Commonwealth Group. Analysts said it was the container carrying behemoths on the trans-Pacific trades that had started to suffer first, largely because of U.S. slow down. Many can load over 6,000 truck-sized units at once, packed with anything from refrigerated fruit and shellfish through to televisions and cars. "My impression is the transPacific…