Tc News

Hamburg-based ship finance platform oceanis’s Q4 State of Ship Finance Report comes with a thank-you to shipping companies that are committed to the green transition.Over the past decade, oceanis has seen large changes to the ship financing landscape towards greener projects. The most obvious green financiers are the Poseidon Principles banks, the initiative launched in 2019 whose signatories manage 70% of the world’s shipping loans. At the same time, many other banks and funds are moving away from financing ‘brown’ assets and trades.

The first in a new series of 12 methanol-fueled container ships being built by Hyundai Heavy Industries for Maersk has been launched.The series will be fitted with MAN G95ME-LGIM10.5 EGR-TC engines. Compared to industry-standard vessels, these 350-meter (1,148-foot) 16,000 TEU vessels will be 20% more energy efficient per transported container. The vessels will have a 16,000m3 methanol tank, so they will be able to complete an entire round-trip, for example Asia-Europe, on green methanol.The crew accommodation and bridge will be located at the bow to enable increased container capacity.

An ailing crewmember was airlifted from a pipelay vessel in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico on Sunday, the U.S. Coast Guard said.Coast Guard Eighth District and Coast Guard Sector New Orleans command center watchstanders received a report at approximately 10 p.m. Saturday from the Solitaire of a 32-year-old crewmember aboard experiencing severe abdominal pain.Sector New Orleans watchstanders coordinated the launch of a Coast Guard Air Station New Orleans MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter aircrew to assist.

Mexico plans to build a liquefied natural gas (LNG) export hub worth between $4 billion and $5 billion in the Gulf of Mexico that will help serve European demand, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said on Tuesday.The planned LNG facility in the port of Coatzacoalcos, in the eastern state of Veracruz, would transport gas by boat to Europe, Lopez Obrador said."We're about to promote private sector involvement, it's going to be an investment of $4-5 billion this plant," he told a regular news conference.Lopez Obrador had previously floated the idea of an LNG plant in Coatzacoalcos, alongside

Navios Maritime Holdings Inc. on Wednesday announced it has reached a deal to sell its 36-vessel dry bulk fleet to Navios Maritime Partners L.P. approximately $835 million.Navios Holdings, which holds a 10.3% interest in the US publicly listed shipping company Navios Partners, with the sale officially exited direct fleet ownership. Going forward, the company said kit plans to focus on growing Navios South American Logistics Inc. business."We believe Navios Logistics is a leading…

IMO's Technical Cooperation Committee at its 71st session (TC 71) (20-24 September) has approved the establishment of an IMO Regional Presence Office (RPO) for the Pacific Islands region. If approved at the thirty-fourth extraordinary session of the Council (08 - 12 November 2021), this will see the Pacific Region become the sixth to feature an IMO RPO.The existing RPOs are: Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire for west and central Africa (Francophone); Accra, Ghana for west and central Africa (Anglophone)…

Classification society DNV said its recently released updates to its rules for ship classification include a raft of new class notations designed to enable the maritime industry to tackle the decarbonization challenge. The new updates include “Fuel Ready”, a class notation that offers shipowners the option to prepare for a later conversion to multiple different alternative fuel options, and “Gas fueled ammonia” for ammonia fueled vessels.DNV’s annual report on the energy transition…

President Joe Biden on Wednesday signed a new raft of executive actions to combat climate change, including pausing new oil and gas leases on federal land and cutting fossil fuel subsidies, as he pursues green policies he billed as a boon for job creation.The orders map out the direction for the Democratic president's climate change and environmental agenda and reverse the policies of his Republican predecessor, Donald Trump, who sought to maximize U.S. oil, gas, and coal output by removing regulations and easing environmental reviews."In my view…

U.S. President Joe Biden on Wednesday announced America's return to the international Paris Agreement to fight climate change, the centerpiece of a raft of day-one executive orders aimed at restoring U.S. leadership in combating global warming.The announcements also included a sweeping order to review all of former President Donald Trump's actions weakening climate change protections, the revocation of a vital permit for TC Energy's Keystone XL oil pipeline project from Canada…

The International Maritime Organization (IMO) has published its remote meetings calendar for the rest of 2020 after its initial agenda of IMO Council and Committees sessions was scrapped due to the coronavirus pandemic.The first scheduled meeting is set to be a simultaneous, remote extraordinary sessions of all Committees (expected to be held 16-18 September), to address procedural matters. This follows decisions of the IMO Council's thirty second extraordinary session (summary here C.ES 32)…

COVID-19 has hit the vehicle carrier market hard. The world vehicle demand has dropped by c.35%. Consequently, shipping these vehicles has fallen considerably.The only order to take place earlier this year is one from NYK line for a large LCTC for $95 million.No deals have taken place since the beginning of the year, this is a figure we have not seen historically. A break of five months on the S&P side of things in the Vehicle carrier market. One of the main reasons for this low period and a fall in the values is the drop in rates for the 6…

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.

If one ever needed proof that, no matter how dire the situation, there is always a silver lining, look no further than the crude tanker market, which has seen it day rates skyrocket in the face of a global pandemic that has effectively ground world commerce to a crawl.As is the case with other gravity defying business phenomena, geopolitics is a central factor, in this case a battle between Russia and Saudi Arabia to flood the world with oil in the face of declining demand and…

Diana Shipping announced the cancellation of the time charter contract with Al Ghurair Resources International, Dubai, for one of its Post-Panamax dry bulk vessels, the m/v Polymnia, as announced on October 10, 2019.According to the global shipping company specializing in the ownership of dry bulk vessels, charterers have exercised their right to cancel the time charter contract since the vessel was not delivered, due to unforeseen events, unrelated to the condition of the vessel, during the pre-agreed period.The m/v Polymnia is currently chartered, as previously announced, to Cargill International S.A., Geneva, at a gross charter rate of US$16,000 per day, minus a 4.75% commission paid to third parties.

Greek dry bulk owner Diana Shipping announced that, through a separate wholly-owned subsidiary, it has entered into a time charter contract with Al Ghurair Resources International L.L.C., Dubai, for one of its Post-Panamax dry bulk vessels, the m/v Polymnia.According to a press release from the global shipping company specializing in the ownership of dry bulk vessels, the gross charter rate is US$14,500 per day, minus a 5% commission paid to third parties, for a period of minimum 12 months to about 14 months.The charter is expected to commence on October 23, 2019, it said. The “Polymnia” is a 98,704 dwt Post-Panamax dry bulk vessel built in 2012. This employment is anticipated to generate approximately US$5.22 million of gross revenue for the minimum scheduled period of the time charter.

Dutch energy and commodities group Vitol and South Korea's H-Line Shipping have executed a 10-year time-charter agreement for a newbuild, latest generation LNG carrier.The commodity trader said that the 174,000m3 vessel with XDF propulsion is to be built at Korea’s Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries (HSHI) and is due for delivery in late 2021.Vitol also holds extension options and the ability to exercise additional LNG carriers to support its further growth in the LNG industry through this partnership with H-line.Pablo Galante Escobar, Vitol’s head of LNG said: “We are very excited to have concluded this contract with H-Line, a top class Korean shipowner, which represents Vitol’s second long-term charter of a modern 174,000 m3 LNG carrier.

Japanese shipping gaint Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha (NYK) has signed a new long-term contract with Total Gas & Power Chartering Limited (TGPCL), a subsidiary of Total, a leading oil and energy company headquartered in France.The contract calls for TGPCL to charter from NYK a newly built liquefied natural gas (LNG) carrier that will be built by Samsung Heavy Industries Co. Ltd. in Korea and scheduled for delivery in 2021.The LNG carrier will be equipped with a WinGD-made dual-fuel slow-speed diesel engine (i.e., X-DF diesel engine) that has superior fuel-consumption efficiency and can operate on marine gas oil or boil-off gas stored in the cargo tank.The carrier will also feature a re-liquefaction system that can use surplus boil-off gas effectively.The cargo tank will be a 174…

International Maritime Organization (IMO) announced that it is committed to ensuring the implementation of all its treaties.By carefully matching the needs of recipient countries with resources available from donors, the Organization's technical cooperation program is the essential component in helping all governments to fulfill their responsibilities, the UN body said.With a strong focus on capacity building and training, the technical cooperation program makes a strong and continuing contribution to sustainable development. IMO's Technical Cooperation Committee (TC 69) is meeting (25-27 June) to review activities carried out in 2018…

Finnish shipping company Meriaura has signed new time charter-in agreements covering five vessels.The five vessels that will join the company’s fleet include a deck cargo carrier, two multipurpose-heavy lift dry cargo vessels and two traditional dry bulk carriers said a press note from Meriaura, specializing in the transport of industrial raw materials and project cargo on the Baltic Sea and in Europe.M/S Enough Talk is a deck cargo carrier of the same type and size as Meriaura’s deck cargo carriers Aura and Meri. Time chartering of M/S Enough Talk significantly increases Meriaura’s cargo capacity and position in the field of demanding project cargo shipments in Northern Europe.

Marine organisms such as barnacles and zebra mussels have been a long-standing nuisance to ship hulls, causing exterior damage, increased power and fuel consumption and environmental concerns. While anti-fouling coatings help to prevent biofouling,  a new research study suggests that an innovative approach to marine coatings may solve the problem of barnacle and zebra mussel fouling, an approach stems from the MOSI (Marine Organism Sensory Interference) concept. MOSI uses a unique coating tech to interfere with the sensory ability of juvenile barnacles…

Nordic American Tankers Limited (NAT) has fixed a one year or more time charter (TC) for one of the NAT suezmax vessels.NAT's Samsung built suezmax, the Nordic Zenith, has obtained a term contract. The new contract is expected to commence on expiration of the present spot employment and it could last 12 to 15 months.The contract was entered into with the first-class charterer, Equinor, an energy company headquartered in Norway. Equinor is a major stocklisted company and one of the largest of its type worldwide."Last year we entered into a term contract with the same user for a period of minimum 3 years," said a press release from the Bermuda-based tanker company.Over the years, NAT has bought several vessels built at Samsung Shipyard in South Korea, including the Nordic Zenith.

Greek shipping company Tsakos Energy Navigation (TEN) announced the contract for the building of two suezmax crude tankers which upon delivery will enter into minimum five maximum 12-year contracts to a significant oil major.The time charter equivalent revenues from these two fixtures, over the duration of the respective contacts, is expected at a minimum $110 million and could reach $300 million should employment be extended to its maximum period. “We are immensely proud to have further solidified our relationship with one of the world’s top oil majors which again highlights’ TEN’s position as an “owner of choice” to “blue-chip” charterers across the globe…

BIMCO's Peter Sand, in a new report, weighs in on the implications for the Dry Bulk sectors.Chinese imports of iron ore keep falling, while its crude steel production keeps growing. China’s increased use of scrap metal for its production of crude steel is fundamentally critical to the dry bulk shipping industry. Mostly Capesize ships are impacted by this, way beyond the temporary iron ore export disruptions in Brazil and Australia.Chinese steel production grew by a massive 12.6 million tonnes (+9.2%) in the first two months on 2019 as estimated by China Iron and Steel Association (CISA).