Tony Munroe News

Cereal and oilseed imports to China, the world's biggest buyer of farm goods, will remain near record highs this year despite a recent spate of cancellations as lower global prices and a domestic output shortfall prompt purchases.China's wheat imports from Australia in January and February this year have nearly quadrupled from the same time last year, the latest customs data show. That trend should continue even after Beijing cancelled or postponed 1 million metric tons of Australian wheat last week.The cancellations, along with those for about 500,000 tons of U.S.

The Russian tanker Liteyny Prospect, hit by sanctions, has docked at the Chinese port of Huanghua to discharge its 700,000-barrel Russian Sokol crude cargo, two sources familiar with the matter said, clearing part of a backlog of cargoes disrupted by sanctions on Moscow's oil trade.The tanker is one of six ships carrying Sokol crude, which India has not been able to import due to payment issues. The six ships had been sailing to China but five of them are floating at sea early this week, shipping data showed, following fresh U.S.

Singapore's Temasek Holdings has shortlisted energy giants Shell and Saudi Aramco among a handful of companies to purchase most of the assets of liquefied natural gas (LNG) trading firm Pavilion Energy, sources with knowledge of the matter said.The sale process comes a decade after the state investment firm set up Pavilion Energy to focus on LNG-related investments, and takes place as spot Asian LNG prices LNG-AS have fallen more than 40% since mid-August, potentially weighing on the deal's valuation.Temasek is evaluating bids for the sale of Pavilion Energy's assets…

International energy companies, from Germany's RWE to Spain's Iberdrola, are urging Japan to beef up offshore wind power auctions and make investments more attractive, amid soaring installation costs as competition for suppliers grows worldwide.Although desperate to ease its heavy dependence on energy imports from the Middle East and Russia, Japan is coming late to offshore wind, but some industry players say it is taking a more cautious approach that puts it at a disadvantage."It's a global race and we can't look at it in isolation…

Singapore-based Berge Bulk has launched a ship fitted with steel-and-composite sails to cut fuel consumption and carbon dioxide emissions, with an eye to converting more vessels that ply routes with favourable wind conditions.The dry bulk carrier Berge Olympus, equipped with four sails known as WindWings, is chartered by mining giant Vale and will sail between Brazil and China, Berge said on Tuesday.The sails will save up to 20% fuel or six tons per day on an average worldwide…

An Indian agency has stepped in to provide safety certification for most of Gatik Ship Management's fleet, a major carrier of Russian oil to India, after Lloyd's Register and the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) withdrew classification for many of its vessels, records show.Mumbai-based Gatik, which has emerged this year as a significant player in Russian oil transport, also recently reflagged at least four of its vessels to Mongolia, according to data from maritime platform Lloyd's List Intelligence.This followed the de-flagging of 36 of the Gatik-managed fleet by St.

Lloyd's Register has told India's Gatik Ship Management, which has become a major carrier of Russian oil since the Ukraine war, that it will withdraw certification of 21 of its vessels by June 3, the maritime services company told Reuters.It is the latest setback for Gatik, which was also been forced to find new flags for 36 of its ships after they were deflagged by the St. Kitts & Nevis International Ship Registry."Lloyd's Register is committed to facilitating compliance with sanctions regulations on the trading of Russian oil," it said in an email to Reuters.

Top global ship fuelling hub Singapore is unlikely to be ready for ammonia bunkering by the end of this year, Singapore's Maritime and Port Authority (MPA) said, while industry players have also raised concerns about feasibility. The port authority's clarification came after the Global Centre for Maritime Decarbonisation (GCMD) said on April 27 that Singapore's first transfer of ammonia for bunkering could take place by the end of 2023. "These views do not represent the assessment of MPA and other government agencies – the timeline before end-2023 is not realistic…

Global fuel suppliers are turning to longer and costlier routes that produce more carbon emissions to move their diesel and other products as Western restrictions on Russian cargoes have reshuffled global energy shipping patterns.As a result of the European Union ban on Russian fuel that started on Feb. 5, tankers carrying clean oil products such as gasoline, diesel, jet fuel and naphtha are traveling between 16 and 18 days to bring Russian supplies to Brazil or U.S. cargoes to Europe…

China and Russia have grown increasingly close in recent years, including as trading partners, a relationship that brings both opportunities and risks as Russia reels from tough new sanctions led by the West in response to its invasion of Ukraine.Total trade between China and Russia jumped 35.9% last year to a record $146.9 billion, according to Chinese customs data, with Russia serving as a major source of oil, gas, coal and agriculture commodities, running a trade surplus with China.Since sanctions were imposed in 2014 after Russia annexed Ukraine's Crimea…

Chinese state-run shipping giant COSCO Shipping Development Co said on Tuesday that it holds a 3.74% stake in Bank of Kunlun, which has acted as a key official channel for money flows between China and Iran.The statement was made by the shipping firm on the e-interview platform of the Shanghai Stock Exchange, in response to an investor question on whether it held a stake in the bank.COSCO did not elaborate on when it acquired its holding, although the bank had disclosed the shipping firms stake in its 2019 annual report.COSCO’s comments come days after China and Iran, both subject to U.S.

An oil tanker carrying 3,000 tonnes of gasoline collided with a cargo ship near Shanghai on Thursday, leaving 14 people missing, state media reported.State broadcaster CCTV showed footage of the oil tanker burning at sea as coastguard ships sprayed it with streams of water. Three people had been rescued, CCTV said. The cargo ship sank soon after the collision.Rescue efforts to recover the 14 missing crew were ongoing, CCTV reported. (Reporting by Nanlin Fang and Tony Munroe; Editing by Alison Williams)A video by CCTV below:

Global ship deliveries have been hit as yards in China struggle to get fully back to work as a result of the coronavirus outbreak, with one shipbuilder saying it could not deliver two vessels.The coronavirus has caused chaos in Asia and beyond with flights suspended, businesses disrupted and entry restrictions imposed by governments trying to ward off its spread. The global shipping trade has also been hit.China's Jiangsu New Times Shipbuilding, which has an annual production capacity of 5 million deadweight tonnes (DWT)…

China accused the United States of bullying and warned it would hit back after the Trump administration raised the stakes in their trade dispute, threatening 10 percent tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese goods.China's commerce ministry said on Wednesday it was "shocked" and would complain to the World Trade Organisation, but did not immediately say how it would retaliate. In a statement, it called the U.S. actions "completely unacceptable".The foreign ministry described Washington's…

Dueling tariffs raise fears of long A U.S.-China trade fight resulting in duties on $34 billion worth of each other's imports was seen dragging on for a potentially prolonged period, as Washington and Beijing flexed their muscles with no sign of negotiations to ease tensions.Friday marked the start of the U.S. duties that were promptly met with retribution by China, as Beijing accused the United States of triggering the "largest-scale trade war."The escalating fight between the…

China and the United States sank into a deepening trade conflict that roiled financial markets Tuesday after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to impose tariffs on an additional $200 billion of Chinese products, prompting Beijing to accuse Washington of starting a trade war.Trump said Monday his threat was retaliation for China's decision to raise tariffs on $50 billion of U.S. goods over the weekend, a move that itself was in response to additional U.S. tariffs on Chinese…

Heavily indebted South Korean shipper Hyundai Merchant Marine Co Ltd (HMM) said on Sunday it has agreed with the 2M shipping alliance to form a cooperative relationship that falls short of full-fledged membership. Joining an alliance with major shipping firms was one of the conditions of a debt restructuring deal between Hyundai Merchant Marine and its creditors in May, and the company said on Sunday that the tie-up with 2M met that criteria. Its main creditor, the state-backed Korea Development Bank…

South Korea's Hanjin Shipping Co Ltd, whose collapse has disrupted global trade, is considering a restructuring plan to sell more than half its ships, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the matter. However, liquidation remained the most likely outcome for Hanjin Shipping, the newspaper cited the sources as saying. Hanjin Shipping, the world's seventh-largest container carrier, filed for receivership late last month in a South Korean court and must submit a rehabilitation plan in December. The company is working on various scenarios and focusing on one under which Hanjin would retain up to 15 of its 37 ships and return almost all of its 61 chartered ships to their owners, leaving a much smaller carrier, the Wall Street Journal said.

They are South Korea's "too-big-to-fail" firms - the world's largest shipbuilders that are both a massive economic force and an important national symbol - and the government wants the central bank to fund an unconventional rescue of the sector. The three biggest shipbuilders - Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering, Hyundai Heavy Industries Co Ltd and Samsung Heavy Industries Co Ltd - sustained record losses last year, dragged down by the global commodities plunge and falling trade volumes. The government wants the central bank to print money to buy bonds in two state banks propping up shipyards as well as shippers - a measure some officials call quantitative easing. Publicly, the Bank of Korea (BOK) says it is willing to cooperate.

South Korea is getting serious about tackling its "zombie company" problem and will set up its first restructuring firm backed by the government and banks in November, spooked by some huge corporate losses and a darkening economic outlook. Korea Development Bank (KDB) will also seek to sell some of the 118 non-financial firms it controls, the government said last week - a move seen as part of its new resolve to deal with the issue. About 20 companies controlled by the state-run bank are seen as struggling.

The captain of a South Korean ferry that capsized in April killing 304 passengers was jailed for 36 years on November 11, 2014, after a court found him guilty of negligence, but was acquitted of homicide for which prosecutors had sought the death penalty. The court convicted the ship's chief engineer of homicide for not aiding two injured fellow crew members, making him the only one of four facing homicide charges to be found guilty on that count, and sentenced him to 30 years in prison.

South Korean police are trying to confirm the identity of a body they believe may have been the fugitive head of the family that owned the operator of a ferry that capsized in April, killing more than 300 people, a police official told Reuters. Yoo Byung-un is accused of embezzlement, negligence and tax evasion and has been the subject of a two-month nationwide manhunt. A reward of nearly half a million dollars has been offered. A police official said the body was found last month in a plum field in the southern city of Suncheon near a retreat where police have suspected Yoo may have been hiding, and that forensics examinations had found that the body's DNA resembled Yoo's. Further examination was underway, the official said.

South Korea's biggest and most bizarre manhunt, linked to a ferry disaster in which hundreds drowned, has come full circle at the compound of a sect known for its organic ice cream as police on Thursday used earth movers to search for tunnels. Police have raided the grounds of the Evangelical Baptist Church in Anseong, a two-hour drive south of Seoul, twice as they try to flush out church co-founder Yoo Byung-un, 73, South Korea's most wanted man since the Sewol ferry sank in April killing more than 300 people, mostly children from the same school.