Palm Oil News

Volvo Cars has announced that it is switching delivery of its production material to container ships using renewable biofuel.The company will use renewable fuel for inbound ocean container transport of production material destined for manufacturing plants based in Europe and the Americas, as well as all spare parts distribution made globally by ocean container transport.Volvo Cars says that it is the first global car maker to announce such a switch which will achieve an immediate reduction in fossil CO2 emissions from intercontinental ocean freight by 55,000 tonnes a year.

Eni's subsidiary Eni Sustainable Mobility and offshore services company Saipem have entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to utilize biofuels on Saipem's drilling and offshore construction vessels, focusing on operations in the Mediterranean Sea.Saipem, based in Italy, has a global fleet of 45 vessels for construction and drilling."The MoU represents an important milestone for Eni and Saipem, confirming the mutual commitment to diversifying energy sources and to reducing the carbon footprint across offshore operations…

Indonesia's navy seized two tankers carrying crude palm oil, palm olein, and methanol for what it said were permit and paperwork violations, in an operation, conducted a day before a palm oil export ban took effect, it said on Thursday.MT World Progress violated vessel specifications in its travel document, while the other ship, MT Annabelle carried methanol without a permit, said the navy, which has been deployed to enforce the export ban, which took effect midnight Wednesday.MT World Progress was traveling from Dumai on Sumatra island towards India carrying 34,854.3 tonnes of palm olein, whi

Indonesia deployed navy ships and hundreds of personnel on Wednesday, including intelligence assets, in an effort to thwart illegal shipments of refined palm oil olein, just hours away from an export ban aimed at taming surging cooking oil prices.The new rules were due to take effect at midnight local time (1700 GMT), and the navy and other agencies had been instructed to step up patrols of Indonesian waters to ensure compliance, said navy spokesperson Julius Widjojono.Palm oil futures on the Malaysia exchange surged by 9.8% on Wednesday…

Indonesia's government will revoke rules requiring exporters of coal and palm oil to use domestic shipping companies for shipments, Coordinating Minister for Maritime and Investment Affairs Luhut Pandjaitan told reporters on Wednesday.Indonesia, the world's biggest thermal coal exporter, issued regulations in 2018 requiring its coal and palm oil exporters to use domestic shipping companies, which were due to come into force this May.The government has since concluded that the rule would be disruptive for exports and President Joko Widodo has ordered it to be revoked…

Singapore-based shipping company Unix Line PTE Ltd. pleaded guilty in U.S. federal court to a violation of the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships.Unix Line admitted that its crew members onboard the 16,408 gross-ton oceangoing motor tanker Zao Galaxy knowingly failed to record in the vessel’s oil record book the overboard discharge of oily bilge water without the use of required pollution-prevention equipment, during the vessel’s voyage from the Philippines to Richmond, Calif.According to the plea agreement, Unix Line is the operator of the Zao Galaxy, which set sail carrying a cargo of palm oil from the Philippines on January 21, 2019, bound for Richmond. On February 11, 2019, the Zao Galaxy arrived in Richmond, where it underwent a U.S. Coast Guard inspection and examination.

The six activists who were detained for 33 hours on board a shipment carrying dirty palm oil into Europe have been released by Spanish authorities in Algeciras.The Greenpeace International volunteers climbed onto the Stolt Tenacity tanker at dawn on Saturday, and delayed its journey from Indonesia to The Netherlands for almost two days.The climbers were protesting a 185-metre long cargo loaded with palm oil products from Wilmar, the biggest palm oil trader in the world, which trades in palm oil associated with rainforest destruction.Wilmar is a major supplier to global snack food giant Mondelez, one of the world’s largest buyers of palm oil…

Golden-Agri Stena, a joint venture between Sweden based tanker shipping company Stena Bulk and Indonesia’s largest palm oil producer Golden Agri-Resources, has started a new joint venture with Japan's Bay Crest Management for the the operation and commercial management of chemical tankers.The new joint venture, GSB Tankers, will commence operation on January 1, 2019, managing 18 chemical tankers to start, with the aim of managing 30 vessels within the next two years.The joint venture will operate out of the existing premises of Golden-Agri Stena.

Total is determined to push ahead with its plans to drill for oil in the Amazon basin, it said on Friday as Greenpeace activists interrupted its annual general meeting in protest at the project.The French oil major wants to explore Brazil's Foz do Amazonas basin, but Brazil's environmental agency rejected its licence application on Tuesday for a fourth time.As the company's annual general meeting opened in Paris on Friday, four activists from Greenpeace descended by rope from the ceiling above the stage…

Indonesia will postpone until 2020 trade rules requiring exporters of coal and crude palm oil to use only Indonesian-flagged vessels, Industry Minister Airlangga Hartarto said, among efforts to increase foreign exchange reserves. The rules, due to take effect this month and intended to boost the archipelago's shipping industry, were initially postponed in February after raising concerns in coal and palm oil industries over the availability of local vessels. "The timing will be adjusted…

The chemical tankers market is projected to grow from USD 26.63 billion in 2017 to USD 33.11 billion by 2022, at a CAGR of 4.5% between 2017 and 2022, said a research report. The flourishing chemical industry and increasing use of water transportation for transferring chemicals from one place to another across the globe are the major driving factors for the growth of the chemical tankers market, said Report Linker. Chemical tankers market includes revenues earned through shipping of chemicals and related products. The growth of the chemical tankers market is expected to be adversely impacted by the political unrest in the Middle East & Africa region as this region is one of the leading markets for chemical tankers.

Indonesia has postponed indefinitely the application of new rules that would limit shipments of coal and palm oil exports to only national shipping companies, a Coordinating Economic Ministry official said on Tuesday. The rule will only be applied once vessel requirements have been calculated and satisfied by the trade ministry, shipping industry and coal and palm oil exporters, Elen Setiadi, acting chief of trade and industry at the Coordinating Economic Ministry, told Reuters by phone.

Subdued ordering and a narrowing in the tonnage supply-demand gap from late 2018 is expected to support a recovery in the chemical shipping market, according to the latest edition of the Chemical Forecaster, published by global shipping consultancy Drewry. Drewry estimates that tonne-mile demand of chemical commodities will grow at 3.8% on a year-on-year basis in 2017, of which the organic trade is likely to grow only at 1.5%. By contrast, inorganic and vegoil tonne-miles are expected to increase by 6.3% and 6.5%. Drewry estimates that the global chemical trade will grow at 3.3% in 2017, owing to the strong vegetable oil trade from Southeast Asia to South Asia.

Hong Kong stepped up efforts on Wednesday to clean up a massive palm oil spill, with authorities scooping up more than 90 tonnes of foul-smelling, styrofoam-like clumps in one of the worst environmental disasters to blight the territory's waters. Dead fish, shells, rocks, plastic bottles and other rubbish could still be found coated with globules of palm oil on beaches across the Chinese-controlled territory six days after the spill caused after two vessels collided in the Pearl River estuary. The government said it had scooped up 93 tonnes of oil waste, most of it congealed, and the amount left floating on the sea surface had fallen significantly.

LOUIS DREYFUS ARMATEURS Group (LDA) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with palm oil plantation company Golden Agri-Resources (GAR) to develop maritime logistics business opportunities in Indonesia. The MOU signed between GAR and LDA focuses on developing logistics in Indonesia for the next five years with planned acquisitions and investments amounting to around $100 million. In 2014, LDA and GAR established a joint venture company dedicated to transport LDA and GAR cargoes within Indonesian waters. In 2016, this JV transported 4,500,000 metric tons of various cargoes. “This new step in our partnership with GAR confirms LDA’s strategy to keep strong links with Indonesia where our Group has been active for more than 25 years…

Despite global improvements, kidnappings are on the rise, with 44 crew captured for ransom in 2016, 24 of them in Nigeria, up from 10 in the first half of 2015. The Gulf of Guinea accounted for seven of the world’s 10 kidnapping incidents, with armed gangs boarding vessels 30 to 120 NM from shore. Nigerian attacks are often violent, accounting for eight of the nine vessels fired upon worldwide. IMB says many further assaults go unreported by shipowners. IMB reported two further kidnap incidents off Sabah, where tugs and barges were targeted. And in early June, a tug and barge was hijacked off Balingian, Sarawak in Malaysia and its palm oil cargo stolen.

Piracy and armed robbery at sea has fallen to its lowest levels since 1995, despite a surge in kidnappings off West Africa, according to a new report from the International Chamber of Commerce’s International Maritime Bureau (IMB). IMB’s global piracy report shows 98 incidents in the first half of 2016, compared with 134 for the same period in 2015. When piracy was at its highest, in 2010 and 2003, IMB recorded 445 attacks a year. In the first half of 2016, IMB recorded 72 vessels boarded, five hijackings, and a further 12 attempted attacks. Nine ships were fired upon. Sixty-four crew were taken hostage onboard, down from 250 in the same period last year. “This drop in world piracy is encouraging news.

A U.S. warship took its first delivery of Italian-made biofuel on Thursday as part of the Navy's programme to use more alternative energy. The USS Mason was refuelled alongside an Italian vessel, the Andrea Doria, in the seas off of Italy's southern coast with a mix produced by Italy's Eni that has 5.5 percent palm oil biofuel blended into marine fuel. The two destroyers travelled at about 5 knots side by side with a supply ship, the Etna, between them pumping the fuel to both ships through large black tubes. "It's a first today," U.S. Navy Secretary Ray Mabus told Reuters aboard the Mason.

The surge of piracy in South-East Asia waters continues as ships passing the Straits of Malacca and Singapore are falling victim to acts of piracy, says Clyde & Co. Whilst Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia operate anti-piracy patrols in the area, it has limited resources. The sheltered coast and islands also makes it easier for robbers to operate. As piracy rampages on, Indonesia and Malaysia has taken efforts to jointly increase security. By far, the most significant incident suggests activities going beyond the usual act of armed robbery or theft on board ship. On 11 June 2015, eight men armed with pistols and machetes boarded the Orkim Harmony a Malaysian registered tanker whilst it was nearing the end of her voyage.

Shin Yang Shipping Corp Bhd (Syscorp) has shifted the focus of its container shipping business to domestic routes in the face of continued volatility in the international container shipping market, reports the Star. The leading Malaysian shipping company has realigned its focus to domestic container shipping routes with some 95% of its 14 container ships deployed on routes within Malaysia, group financial controller Richard Ling said. “A majority of these container ships ply Sarawak, Sabah and Peninsular Malaysia ports,” he told StarBiz. However, domestic container shipping operation remains “very competitive” with reduced demand, Ling said, and this has squeezed the profit margins of shippers.

On the back of low bunker prices and more new buildings to be delivered in 2016, chemical shipping freight rates for both contracts of affreightment and spot cargoes will be under pressure throughout 2016, as there are some new operators looking to break into the long-haul trade routes, according to the latest edition of the Chemical Forecaster, published by global shipping consultancy Drewry. More and more larger vessels were delivered during 2015; a total of 193 ships, aggregating 7.4 million dwt with an average vessel size of 38,390 dwt hit the water during the year.

Indonesia will keep the export tax for crude palm oil at zero in April, unchanged from March, Nurlaila Nur Muhammad, the director of export of agriculture and forestry products at the Trade Ministry, said on Monday.   The export tax for Indonesian cocoa beans will stay at 10 percent for April, also unchanged from March, said Muhammad. (Reporting by Wilda Asmarini and Bernadette Christina Munthe; Writing by Fransiska Nangoy; Editing by Christian Schmollinger)

French wheat exports to Indonesia are on hold as traders await the approval of a food safety agreement between the two countries, something exporters say is being delayed by Indonesia in retaliation against a French palm oil tax plan. A farm ministry official from Indonesia, the world's largest producer of palm oil, said the delay was a procedural one, and denied any link to the proposed tax. France's additional tax on palm oil, due to come into force next year, is billed as an environmental levy on a product associated with deforestation and other environmental damage. The delay to exports from the European Union's largest grain exporter was on the agenda of France's Secretary of State for Trade Matthias Fekl when he travelled to Indonesia earlier this month.