The APAC Offshore Market: Riding the Wave of Success into 2024 and Beyond
2023 was the first year of real recovery for owners in the offshore supply market and yet we have barely skimmed the surface of what’s to come.The market is still on an upward trajectory with charter rates accelerating month-by-month, availability changing day-by-day, leading to earnings doubling and, in some segments, tripling since the lows of 2020. Current rates will remind many of the glory days of pre-2014 with the demand for OSVs projected to remain elevated for years to come.In general…
Bad Fuel Causes Engine Trouble on MSC Containership
Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) said one of its containerships has had to pause its China-U.S. voyage after a fuel problem gave rise to engine problems on board the 366-meter vessel.The Panamanian-flagged containership MSC Ariane had to stop at sea on April 2 due to an engine issue caused by "bad quality of fuel", MSC said.Maersk, MSC's partner under the 2M Alliance, said a tugboat with spare parts has reached the vessel and began towing it toward Japan for repair. The stricken box ship is expected to reach Wakayama on April 7.MSC Ariane is deployed as part of MSC's Pearl service rotation (Vung Tau – Hong Kong – Yantian – Xiamen – Los Angeles).
NYK Sponsors Sea Turtle Research
Japanese shipping giant Nippon Yusen Kaisha (NYK Line) said that it has started a new approach to track loggerhead sea turtles (listed on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species) in the Kishu Minabe Sea Turtle Research Project sponsored by NYK and conducted by the NPO Earthwatch Japan.Earthwatch, a non-profit organization established in 1971 in Boston, is an international nongovernmental organization. It provides researchers with both human and financial support for overseas field research and surveys."This research project is conducted at Minabecho in Wakayama prefecture, which is where most loggerhead sea turtles lay their eggs on the main island of Japan.
Has the Asian LR Tanker Market Hit Bottom?
The Long Range (LR) 2 tanker market in the East of Suez has been languishing in the doldrums for almost two weeks. LR2 rates on the AG/Japan route, basis 75 kt, nosedived from w120 at the beginning of January to current levels of w80. Earnings for a round voyage on the benchmark route are hovering around barely breakeven levels at $2,000/day. A slew of refinery outages which have lowered CPP exports as well as a pile up of prompt tonnage in the region have culminated in the perfect storm.
ISS Marks 100,000th Hub Appointment
Inchcape Shipping Services (ISS) has marked a milestone with its 100,000th hub appointment for Maersk Tankers. For the past week, ISS staff across the company’s global network have been actively following vessel activities to see which tanker would take the golden ticket. Three vessels appeared to be front runners, with ISS handling the Nordic Ruth, as she transited the Bosporus in Turkey; managing a husbandry call for the Maersk Princess at OPL in Singapore; and finally the Maersk Messina, making a discharge call at the Wakayama oil terminal in Japan.
Tsunami-proof Breakwater Designed to Rise Up from Sea Bed
A Japanese consortium to build a Vertical Telescopic Breakwater (VTB), for Shimotsu Harbour. Obayashi Corporation, TOA Corporation, & Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Bridge & Steel Structures Engineering Co., Ltd. (MBE) a wholly owned subsidiary of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI),will begin construction of a Vertical Telescopic Breakwater (VTB), a buoyancy-driven vertical piling breakwater, in the harbor at Shimotsu in Wakayama Prefecture. Construction is scheduled to begin in early October 2012. The breakwater system is designed to swiftly rise from the sea bottom in the event of tsunami, and contribute to prevention or mitigation of tsunami impact to harbors and coastal areas. When completed, it will be the first such movable steel pipe breakwater system in the world.
Two Die As Typhoon Pabuk Packs A Powerful Punch in Japan
Powerful Typhoon Pabuk, packing winds of up to 79 mph, ploughed into Japan on Tuesday, killing two people, snarling air, sea and rail traffic and forcing Universal Studios to close its theme park. The typhoon landed at around 7:00 p.m. in the western prefecture of Wakayama, becoming the first typhoon to hit Japan's main island of Honshu in two years, the Meteorological Agency said. Local officials issued evacuation recommendations for 7,000 Wakayama residents as the storm pounded the district. The agency warned that Pabuk - a Laotian word for a large, freshwater fish - could make a direct strike on central Japan, near Tokyo, early Wednesday and then pound its way north through Honshu. It was moving at about 20 kph (12.5 mph).
