Drewry: Capesize Charter Rates to Go Up
Drewry maintains a positive outlook on the dry bulk market and expects charter rates to improve from current levels, driven by moderate increases in vessel demand and low growth in vessel supply as a result of restrained new ordering and a thin orderbook, according to the latest edition of the Dry Bulk Forecaster, published by global shipping consultancy Drewry.The uncertainty surrounding the dry bulk market, driven by trade wars could, nonetheless, slow down the increase in charter rates. A game of tariffs and counter- tariffs is underway with US at the centre of most of the tussles and it seems unlikely that trade wrangles will end soon.But trade wars might not have a direct negative impact on dry bulk trade.
Dry Bulk Shipping Outlook Good
The dry bulk commodity imports into and exports out of China we have seen in the first half of 2016 are very positive – and nothing short of extraordinary, says BIMCO. But, putting it into perspective, compared to the devastating freight rate levels over the same period, it highlights that something is very wrong in the dry bulk market. The market is nowhere near balanced. BIMCO’s data on seaborne iron ore imports into China, shows a growth of 9.6% for H1-2016 as compared to H1-2015. With seaborne coal volumes shipped into China during H1-2016 being on par with H2-2015, this represents a 5.0% growth on H1-2015. A continued surge in thermal coal imports seems limited…
Container, Cruise Records at Marseilles Fos amid Oil Slump
Total 2013 throughput at Marseilles Fos confirmed containers, steel industry bulks, LNG and cruise traffic as the growth drivers at the French port. In contrast, a mounting decline in crude oil and petroleum volumes pegged overall cargo to 80 million metric tons for the year, down 7% on 2012. Oil and gas still accounts for more than half the cargo handled at one of the world’s biggest oil ports, but volumes have been eroded by the restructuring of Europe’s refinery industry. At just over 46MT, last year’s oil and gas total was 12% and some 5MT lower than in 2012 and 13MT worse than in 2011.
EU Says China to Rein in Steel and Shipbuilding
The European Union has told China that it will face a growing threat of trade penalties unless it curbs breakneck capacity expansion in steel and shipbuilding, EU diplomats said on Tuesday. The diplomats said EU Industry Commissioner Guenter Verheugen had delivered the warning during a round of high-level meetings in Beijing. They said feelings were running high over the two sectors because steel was an important industry in nearly all of the EU's 27 member states and because the EU's own shipbuilding industry had just been through a painful round of consolidation. An EU spokesman in Beijing, Michael Jennings, said later that Verheugen strongly distanced himself from any suggestion that the EU was close to initiating any measures on steel or shipbuilding.
