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Matthew Lewis News

30 Jan 2024

UK's Cameron to Discuss Houthi Attacks on Shipping on Oman Visit

© aylerein / Adobe Stock

British Foreign Secretary David Cameron will travel to Oman on Tuesday where he is expected to call for stability over ongoing Houthi attacks in the Red Sea and de-escalating of tensions in the Middle East, the foreign office said on Tuesday.Cameron, on his fourth visit to the Middle East, will travel to Oman to meet his counterpart Badr Albusaidi to discuss how to diminish tensions across the region.The Houthi attacks on international shipping lines in the Red Sea will be a major focus of his discussions…

26 Dec 2023

UK to Send Navy Ship to Guyana Amid Venezuela Border Dispute

(File photo: LPhot Luke / U.K. Royal Navy)

Britain will deploy a naval ship off Guyana later this month, its ministry of defense said on Sunday, as the South American nation faces a border dispute with neighbor Venezuela over the oil-rich Essequibo region.The deployment follows a visit by a British junior foreign minister to Guyana earlier this month, intended to offer the UK's support for the country, an ally and former British colony.Guyana and Venezuela agreed earlier this month to avoid any use of force and not to escalate tensions in the long-running dispute.Venezuelan Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino said in a social media post

26 Dec 2023

Fire Put Out on Nuclear-powered Cargo Ship

(Photo: Vadim Tolbatov, CC BY-SA 4.0)

Russia said on Monday that emergency workers had put out a fire on a Soviet-era nuclear-powered cargo-icebreaker ship and the state company which runs the vessel said there had been no casualties and no threat to the security of the reactor.The fire broke out on Sunday in one of the cabins of the Soviet-made Sevmorput ship, which is currently at dock in the northern Russian city of Murmansk, the emergency ministry said.The fire, which at its peak covered an area of about 30 square meters (323 square feet)…

29 Nov 2023

Oil Loadings from Black Sea Ports Remain Suspended

© Vladimir / Adobe Stock

Oil loadings from the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk and the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) terminal have not resumed due to an ongoing storm forcing exporters to look for alternative routes, three sources familiar with exports told Reuters on Wednesday.Novorossiysk and the CPC terminal account for about 2 million barrels of oil per day (bpd) from Russia and Kazakhstan."A storm warning is in effect in Novorossiysk. It is raining, and the wave height is from two to four meters…

15 Nov 2023

US Appeals Court Scraps Sempra's Port Arthur LNG Emissions Permit

(Image: Sempra)

A U.S. court has removed an emissions permit for Sempra's Port Arthur LNG export terminal in Texas, potentially halting construction of the facility.In its decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit on Tuesday found that the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) failed to impose the same emissions limits on the Port Arthur plant as on other projects, including the Rio Grande LNG project which is now under construction.The approximately 13.5 million-metric…

07 Nov 2023

Russian Firm Says Baltic Telecoms Cable was Severed as Chinese Ship Passed Over

Chinese ship NewNew Polar Bear (previously known as Baltic Fulmar) in 2020. (Photo: Alf van Beem)

A Russian fiber optic cable under the Baltic Sea was completely severed last month when a Chinese container ship passed over it, state company Rostelecom said on Tuesday.Finnish investigators have already said they suspect the vessel, the NewNew Polar Bear, of causing serious damage to the nearby Balticconnector gas pipeline by dragging its anchor over the sea bed during the same voyage.Two other Baltic telecoms cables were damaged on the same night of Oct. 7 along the route that the ship was travelling…

30 Aug 2023

US Offshore Wind Sector Faces Key Test After Weak Gulf Auction

© Fokke Baarssen / Adobe Stock

The low interest in the first-ever auction of offshore wind farm development rights in the Gulf of Mexico marks a potentially serious setback for U.S. President Joe Biden’s green energy agenda, and the U.S. offshore wind sector in general.U.S. officials had touted the auction as a key milestone in Biden’s agenda to make offshore wind a cornerstone of U.S. efforts to fight fossil-fuel-driven climate change.But with only a single bid of $5.6 million emerging for the rights to 102…

25 Jul 2023

Iranian Oil Remains Stuck Off US Coast

A cargo of sanctioned Iranian crude oil that was confiscated by the U.S. has sat off the Texas coast for eight weeks, unable to unload because commercial agents fear any vessel that takes it will be shunned by customers, people familiar with the matter said.Suez Rajan, a Marshall Islands-flagged tanker, has been anchored off Galveston, about 50 miles (80 km) outside of Houston, since May 30, with ship agents refusing to accept it. The Suezmax requires a lightering agent to transfer the crude to smaller ships, as its size and weight restrict it from directly entering the port.Shipping companies are worried that lightering the Iranian crude onto their vessels would lead other oil buyers to shun their ships on future voyages…

07 Jul 2023

Chevron Says Its Managed Tanker Not Involved in Collision

© Sundry Photography / Adobe Stock

The Bahamas-flagged Richmond Voyager was not involved in any collision in the Gulf, its manager, U.S. oil major Chevron, told Reuters on Friday, after Iran said it had a court order to seize the vessel.The U.S. Navy said on Wednesday that it had intervened to prevent Iran from seizing two commercial tankers including the Richmond Voyager in the Gulf of Oman, in the latest in a series of attacks on ships in the area since 2019.Iranian naval personnel had fired multiple, long bursts…

25 Apr 2023

Ukraine's Grain Export Success Placates Market Despite Russia's Threats

© kolyadzinskaya / Adobe Stock

Ukraine has shipped significantly more grain over the last several months than originally expected, especially corn, easing worries that were prominent last year over the country’s export program.But Russia now claims it will not support the Black Sea grain deal beyond May 18 due to obstacles on its own food and fertilizer exports. That deal was signed last July to allow shipments from Ukrainian seaports, overseen jointly by Russia, Ukraine, Turkey and the United Nations.Traders…

13 Apr 2023

Employers Say Union is Disrupting Work at Southern California Seaports

© angeldibilio / Adobe Stock

The Pacific Maritime Association on Thursday said the largest longshore union local on the West Coast disrupted work at the nation's busiest seaport complex for the second week in a row, as labor talks covering 22,000 dockworkers from California to Washington state approach the one-year mark.Frustration is growing over the lack of resolution in the talks, which started in May.

21 Mar 2023

US Firm Says Mexican Authorities Illegally Seized Its Port Terminal

© Viktor Ketal / Adobe Stock

U.S. construction materials firm Vulcan Materials Co said on Monday that Mexican security forces illegally took possession last week of its port terminal in southern Mexico, as an extended legal battle over its nearby limestone mining activities plays out.The incident took place last Tuesday night at the terminal in the popular tourist hub of Playa del Carmen, and follows a five-year fight with the government over Vulcan's concessions punctuated by sharp criticism from the country's president last year.Vulcan…

16 Mar 2023

Exxon Considers Selling Stake in LNG Terminal Offshore Italy

©Terminale GNL Adriatico

Exxon Mobil Corp is considering selling its majority stake in Italy's main regasification terminal as part of a wider strategy to divest from non-core assets, the company said in a statement on Wednesday. The Rovigo liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal is owned by Exxon's subsidiary ExxonMobil Italiana Gas (70.7%), QatarEnergy subsidiary Qatar Terminal Company Limited (22%) and Snam Spa SRG.MI (7.3%). Snam, an Italian gas grid operator, has the first right of refusal should a partner decide to divest.

27 Feb 2023

US Retailers' Ocean Shipping Price Woes Ending as New Delays Threaten

Collapsing ocean shipping rates are not all good news for U.S. retailers, who paid as much as $20,000 to move a container of goods during the worst pandemic disruptions, as they now are bracing for delays due to plummeting demand.Carriers like MSC and Maersk are trying to prop up prices by cancelling voyages and that could spark a new round of cargo delays as containers get bumped from one ship to the next, experts said ahead of a major U.S. ocean shipping conference in Long Beach…

05 Jan 2023

Lack of Dredging Could Delay Chevron's Venezuela Oil Exports

© momentscatcher / Adobe Stock

A shipping channel snafu is slowing Chevron Corp’s efforts to load tankers at one of its four Venezuelan joint ventures and bring heavy crude to the United States, three people familiar with the matter said on Wednesday.Washington in November authorized the last major U.S. firm still operating in Venezuela to restore lost output and begin exporting oil as a way to encourage talks between Nicolas Maduro’s government and the country’s political opposition.But a plan to move heavy…

29 Dec 2022

Ship Insurers to Cancel War Cover for Russia, Ukraine

© Evgeny / Adobe Stock

Ship insurers said they are cancelling war risk cover across Russia, Ukraine and Belarus, following an exit from the region by reinsurers in the face of steep losses.Reinsurers, who insure the insurers, typically renew their 12-month contracts with insurance clients on Jan. 1, giving them the first opportunity to scale back exposure since the war in Ukraine started, after being hit this year by losses related to the conflict and from Hurricane Ian in Florida.P&I (protection and indemnity) clubs American…

31 Oct 2022

US Charges former Boxer Over $1 Billion Containership Cocaine Seizure

Photo of MCS Gayane moored in Philadelphia after U.S. Customs and Border Protection's record cocaine seizure in 2019. (Photo: U.S. Customs and Border Protection)

A former heavyweight boxer from Montenegro was charged by the U.S. Department of Justice on Monday with trafficking in 22 tons of cocaine worth over $1 billion, most of which was part of one of the largest cocaine seizures in American history.Goran Gogic, 43, was arrested on Sunday night while trying to board a flight to Zurich from Miami International Airport, after being indicted by a grand jury in New York.Prosecutors charged Gogic with three counts of violating the federal Maritime Drug Law Enforcement Act, and one count of conspiracy.

19 Oct 2022

US Corn, Soy Exports Lag Normal Autumn Pace Amid River Shipping Woes

© Branden / Adobe Stock

U.S. soybean exports are trailing their normal autumn pace despite rising supplies from an accelerating harvest, as low river levels have slowed the flow of grain barges to export terminals, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) data issued on Monday.Corn exports are also lagging their typical harvest-time rate, weekly USDA export inspections data showed.Low water on the Mississippi River and its tributaries has slowed the delivery of grain barges to export terminals along the Gulf Coast, where some 60% of U.S.

19 Oct 2022

Transnet Agrees Wage Deal with Majority Labor Union

© petert2 / Adobe Stock

South African state-owned logistics firm Transnet said on Monday it had agreed a three-year wage deal with the union representing the majority of its workers, ending a two-week strike that had hit commodities exports and piled up millions in losses."Transnet and the company's majority union United Transport and Allied Trade Union (UNTU) reached a three-year wage agreement today," it said in a statement, adding the deal would bring most of its employees back to work.UNTU members…

18 Aug 2022

Oil Companies Work Around Jones Act to Supply US Fuel Markets

U.S. oil companies are working around a century-old shipping law to supply fuel to the U.S. East Coast, according to data from Refinitiv and oil trading sources, as high demand for gasoline and global disruptions in fuel markets sent prices higher.Traders are increasingly sending unfinished gasoline components from the Gulf Coast to Buckeye Partners LP’s terminal in the Bahamas, also known as Borco, where they are blended into finished gasoline to be sent to the U.S. East Coast. The uncommon trade is a sign of heavy demand for products up and down the coast, home of some of the nation's largest consumer markets.The trade represents a legal workaround to the Jones Act, which requires goods moved between U.S. ports to be carried by ships built domestically and staffed by U.S.

27 May 2022

Italy's Draghi Discusses Unblocking Ports with Ukraine's Zelenskiy

© Only Fabrizio / Adobe Stock

Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi and Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, discussed ways to free up exports to tackle the food crisis that is threatening the world's poorest countries, Draghi's office said on Friday.Russia's blockade of Ukrainian ports has prevented shipments of grain, a major export product of both countries. Russia accuses Ukraine of mining the ports and Ukraine has described the Russian position as "blackmail."In a phone call, Draghi assured Zelenskiy…

03 May 2022

U.S. LNG Exports Drop. Europe Remains Top Destination

Illustration - Credit: Cameron LNG

U.S. exports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) fell about 8% last month, according to preliminary Refinitiv vessel tracking data on Monday, but Europe remained the top importer as the continent secures alternate supply following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.U.S. LNG exports to all destinations came to about 7.10 million tonnes (MT) last month, according to Refinitiv, down from a record high 7.67 MT in March.Europe was the top importer of U.S. LNG for a fifth straight month, taking about 64% of U.S. exports, according to the data.

29 Apr 2022

Port of Antwerp Overcoming Loss of Russian Shipping Export Trade -CEO

© VanderWolf Images / Adobe Stock

The Port of Antwerp is adapting to losing shipping trade with Russia and its merger with the neighboring Port of Zeebrugge is set to boost overall volumes in coming years, the group's chief executive said on Thursday.Global shipping companies including leading container lines have cut business ties with Russia due to Moscow's invasion of Ukraine and the imposition of Western sanctions. While food and medical shipments are still allowed, overall exports to Russia have been hit…