Pacific Basin Shipping News

The Port of Los Angeles has recognized the achievements of more than two dozen shipping lines and carriers for participating in the Port’s Vessel Speed Reduction Program (VSRP), an air quality and annual incentive program for vessel operators who reduce their speed as they approach or depart the port.The voluntary program is one of many sustainability efforts currently underway at the Port to reduce emissions and decarbonize operations.Emission reductions are achieved under the…

Hong-Kong-headquartered dry bulk shipowner Pacific Basin Shipping said it sees methanol as its best option as it pursues commercially viable zero-emissions vessels.In May 2022, the company entered into a memorandum of understanding with Nihon Shipyard Co., Ltd and Mitsui & Co., Ltd to cooperate on the development of zero-emission vessels and potential investment in related green fuel bunkering infrastructure."We have collectively now completed our feasibility assessment of the various potential green fuels (covering fuel characteristics, availability and scalability, technical pros and cons, lifetime operating and capital costs, etc.)…

For the second year straight, US-based Pangaea Logistics ranks highest among dry bulk owners based on Time Charter Earnings (TCE), according to a recent market benchmarking report.Notably, the Rhode Island-headquartered shipowner's 53.7% TCE performance is well above Hong Kong's Pacific Basin Shipping Ltd. (24.3%) and Thailand's Thoresen Thai Agencies (23.5%) in second and third place respectively.The Vesselindex Performance Report by Danish maritime advisors Liengaard & Roschmann measures the TCE performance of 25 individual companies in relation to the earning potential of their respective fleets, making sure that no company is neither penalized nor getting an advantage from inferior/superior fleet compositions.

Ardmore Shipping Corporation (NYSE: ASC) (“Ardmore”) has announced the appointment of Dr. Kirsi Tikka to the company’s Board of Directors.Dr. Tikka has over 30 years of shipping experience having recently retired from the American Bureau of Shipping  (“ABS”) in July 2019. She joined ABS in 2001 and held various specialist and leadership positions within ABS including as ABS Executive Vice President Global Marine, Europe Division President, and as Vice President and Chief Engineer, Global.

The dry bulk freight market is expected to benefit in the second half of 2019 and early 2020 from many larger ships being taken out of service for several weeks for scrubber installation, said Hong Kong-based Pacific Basin Shipping Limited.The maritime transport company engaged in international dry bulk shipping through the operation of a fleet of vessels to carry diverse cargoes for many of the world's leading commodity groups said: "We believe the market for smaller dry bulk ships like ours will benefit also over the longer term, as they will consume more expensive low-sulphur fuel and therefore be incentivized to operate at slower…

Hong Kong-based dry bulk shipping company Pacific Basin Shipping Limited has closed a new USD 115 million 7-year reducing revolving credit facility secured over 10 of the Company’s owned ships.The new facility is supported by a syndicate of three leading international banks, said a press release from the dry bulk shipping company.Borrowings under the facility will carry an interest cost of Libor plus 1.35%, extend the Company’s overall amortisation profile and enhance its financial flexibility, it said.Peter Schulz, CFO of Pacific Basin, said: “We are very pleased with the terms of this new facility which further increases our funding…

Global dry bulk net fleet growth in 2018 was largely unchanged at 2.9% year on year due to reduced newbuilding deliveries and much reduced scrapping because of the improved freight market, said a report by Pacific Basin Shipping.The provider of international dry bulk shipping through the operation of a fleet of vessels to carry diverse cargoes for many of the world's leading commodity groups said that, now close to zero, scrapping cannot reduce any further and will potentially increase due to the growing number of old vessels and the increasing burden of environmental regulation.Growth in the dry bulk fleet was concentrated in the larger Panamax and Capesize segments in which capacity expanded 3.2% compared to 2.8% in 2017, it said.The global fleet of Handysize and Supramax ships in which

The Hong Kong-based maritime transport company Pacific Basin Shipping, has announced unaudited interim net profit of US$30.8 million (HK$241.74 million), compared with a net loss of US$12 million last year.The international dry bulk shipping company declared an interim dividend of HK$2.5 cents.Pacific Basin's Handysize and Supramax daily TCE earnings outperformed the market indices by 19% and 11% respectively. It has secured a US$325 million revolving credit facility that significantly extends its repayment profile and lowers our finance costs."We acquired five modern vessels including four funded 50% by equity, which will grow our owned fleet to 111 ships Including chartered ships…

Hong Kong-based dry bulk shipping company Pacific Basin has closed a USD 325 million 7-year reducing revolving credit facility secured over 50 of the company’s owned ships. The new facility is supported by a syndicate of eight leading international banks, refinances several of Pacific Basin’s existing credit facilities and raises fresh capital on previously un-mortgaged vessels. Borrowings under the facility will carry a very competitive interest cost of Libor plus 1.5%, significantly extend the Company’s overall amortisation profile and enhance its financial flexibility. The average age of these 50 ships is 11 years and the facility will effectively extend their repayment profile by an additional 11 years to an average age of 22 years.

Hong Kong-based dry bulker company Pacific Basin Shipping has decided to acquire four bulkers with 50% equity funding. "On May 14, 2018, PB Vessels Holding Limited, a subsidiary of the company, entered into four separate ship contracts for the purchase of vessels," said a press statement. The four bulkers are a 58,000 dwt Supramax built in 2010, a 64,000 dwt Supramax resale newbuild, a 37,000 dwt Handysize constructed in 2015 and a 37,000 dwt Handysize resale newbuild. The consideration payable to sellers will be satisfied in a combination of (i) a conditional issue to such Sellers (or their nominees) of 170,760,137 New Shares in aggregate at HK$2.036 per Share under the General Mandate amounting to HK$347…

Pacific Basin Shipping Limited has announced its conditional agreement to acquire five dry bulk vessels for a total consideration of US$104.6 million. The consideration will take the form of 216,903,274 new Pacific Basin shares to be issued to the ships’ sellers amounting to US$46.1 million in aggregate, cash of US$38.0 million in aggregate, conditionally raised through a placing of new Pacific Basin shares to institutional investors, with HSBC as placing agent and US$20.5 million to be funded from the Group’s cash. The acquisition of the ships and the share placing are all conditional upon the Hong Kong Stock Exchange’s approval of the listing of the vessel consideration shares and the placing shares respectively, which we expect to be granted within several days.

Dry bulk shipping company Pacific Basin Shipping Limited has deployed KVH’s mini-VSAT Broadband solution on its entire fleet of 99 owned ships as part of its effort to modernize ship-shore communications. “Satellite communications continue to become more cost-effective over time as requirements rapidly grow for bandwidth and speed,” said Capt. Uttam K. Jaiswal, general manager – marine at Pacific Basin, a Hong Kong based owner and operator of Handysize and Supramax dry bulk ships.

The world’s largest single-deck bulk/log carrier, Olive Bay, arrived Thursday at The Northwest Seaport Alliance’s West Hylebos log terminal in Tacoma. The terminal, operated by Seattle-based Merrill & Ring Forest Products, welcomed Pacific Basin Shipping’s Olive Bay, the largest ship in the Chinese log business to call the West Coast. Built in 2015 specifically to carry logs, the ship is 190 meters long and 32 meters wide. It can hold up to 8 million board-feet of logs, which is significantly more than the 5 million-board-foot capacity of most log ships to call Tacoma.

Odfjell SE’s Extraordinary General Meeting, held December 9, 2015, supported the Nomination Committee's proposal and elected Klaus Nyborg as new director of the Board. Nyborg, a Danish citizen, owns no shares in Odfjell SE and has no formal ties to major shareholders of the company, according to Odfjell. Nyborg was recently Interim CEO of DS Norden AS from 2014-2015, where he has also been on the board since 2012, and chairman since 2015. He also serves board director of several other companies, including being chairman of A/S United Shipping & Trading Company and BAWAT A/S.

The second Annual Danish Maritime Forum, scheduled for October 7-8, 2015, in Copenhagen, brings together a wealth of global maritime leaders to address present and long-term challenges for industry. Discussions at this year’s Danish Maritime Forum are influenced by volatility in global markets and uncertainties about future growth and will focus on how the maritime industry can address these challenges in both the short and long term. Other topical issues will include the New Chinese Silk Road, the global energy outlook and the future of ocean governance.

Pacific Basin Shipping cut its half-year underlying losses by 32 per cent to US$14.6 million from a year ago, thanks to stringent cost-cutting efforts that helped it mitigate an anaemic dry-commodities shipping market. Hong Kong-listed Pacific Basin, the world's largest carrier of minor bulk cargo such as cement, bauxite and sugar, eked out US$5.8 million in net profit in the first half. The company booked an unrealised derivative income of USD16.7 million mainly from an increase in average oil prices when compared to the end of 2014, which affected its bunker fuel swap contracts. Revenue fell 30% year on year to USD634.6 million. Mats Berglund…

Dry bulk shipowner Pacific Basin Shipping announced a total of US$132 million (HK$1 billion) impairment charges on chartered-in vessel contracts and bunker fuel swaps. The Hong Kong-listed company informed the stock exchange that  it took US$101 million provisions mainly for a pool of long-term vessel charters it entered in 2010. The reason cited is the weak shipping market performance and oil prices which sank to a 5-1/2 year low. “The board also wishes to draw the attention of the company’s shareholders and potential investors to the announcements relating to the impairment of the group’s towage assets and the loss on the disposal of the group’s harbour towage business,” says the statement.

Pacific Basin Shipping Limited has sold to Smit Lamnalco its entire shareholding in PB Towage Australia (PBTA), including all its harbor towage operations and 16 harbor tugs and two additional assests (one harbor tug and one barge) currently owned by other PB companies. The transaction is expected to complete in January 2015 and will constitute the sale of Pacific Basin's entire harbor towage assets and activities. Mats Berglund, CEO of Pacific Basin, said, "Pacific Basin has been engaged in the harbor towage business since 2007. PB Towage Australia has done a great job for its customers, establishing itself as a leading provider of harbor towage services with a good reputation as a safe and quality-conscious operator.

Focus on the Bulk Sectors – Facing a Crisis or Ample Opportunities? The Sea Asia conference focused on the bulk markets this afternoon with a lively debate among panelists on where the tanker and dry bulk shipping markets are heading. The session was the highlight of the afternoon’s proceedings which followed on from the opening session on container market trades this morning. The show, which articulates the Voice of the Asian maritime communities, has captured the imagination of the global shipping community.

Cooperation Broadens Project Management, Marine Cargo and Logistics Capabilities in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Crowley Maritime Corporation's solutions group and PB Towage Ltd., part of the Pacific Basin Shipping group, have formed a business alliance that combines their respective services and regional positioning to collectively broaden their project management, marine project cargo and logistics capabilities in Southeast Asia and Oceania. The alliance will enable the companies to provide comprehensive project management, project cargo transportation, logistics, ocean towing, offshore support, salvage support and bulk cargo transportation solutions to oil and gas…

According to reports, Hyundai Heavy Industries Co., led declines among shipyard stocks on concern of fewer orders for vessels this year after bulk rates fell the most since June 1989. Hyundai Heavy dropped 6.6 percent, the biggest decline in almost five months, to close at 382,500 won. Unit Hyundai Mipo Dockyard Co. declined 6.5 percent, the largest loss in two months, to 244,000 won. Bulk rates plunged last week on concern economic slowdowns in China, the world's biggest buyer of iron ore used to make steel, and the U.S. may reduce trade demand for commodities and consumer goods. Demand from China, Asia's second-largest economy, last year helped lift fees to a record, prompting vessel orders. Shipping lines including STX Pan Ocean Co. and Pacific Basin Shipping Ltd.

Experienced shipping and finance professionals in new board for USTC companies. One of the biggest and fastest expanding companies in Denmark, A/S United Shipping & Trading Co Ltd. headquartered in Middelfart, is strengthening its organization with a new board of directors who will also take up positions in its subsidiaries Bunker Holding A/S and Uni-Tankers A/S. The composition of the board aims to encompass the expertise required to enable the parent company and its two shipping related subsidiaries to further develop in a difficult market.

HONOLULU - The Coast Guard continues to monitor a grounded ship at the entrance to Barbers Point Harbor. The Cape Flattery and crew were inbound to Barbers Point Harbor at about 7 a.m. to offload cement when it ran aground about 400 yards from the entrance. The current plan is for the ship's owner to complete a salvage plan and have all necessary tugs in place before a high tide at about 8 p.m. The four tugs are on scene to assist in refloating the Cape Flattery. At this point there is no apparent pollution or hull damage. Coast Guard inspectors are currently interviewing the captain and crew and investigating the cause of the accident. The Coast Guard Cutter Washington remains on scene with the Cape Flattery as a communications platform and to monitor any developments.