Wilbur Ross News

The Trump administration added China’s CNOOC to a U.S. economic blacklist on Thursday, accusing the oil giant of helping Beijing intimidate neighbors in the South China Sea and ratcheting up tension days before U.S. President-elect Joe Biden takes office.Alongside blacklisting CNOOC, the Commerce Department added China’s Skyrizon to the Military End-User (MEU) List over its ability to develop military products including aircraft engines, restricting its access to U.S. exports.CNOOC…

Louisiana-based shipbuilder Metal Shark has been selected to receive the President’s “E” Award for Exports, the highest recognition any U.S. entity can receive for making a significant contribution to the expansion of U.S. exports.“Metal Shark’s achievements have undoubtedly contributed to national export expansion efforts that support the U.S. economy and create American jobs. The ‘E’ Awards Committee was very impressed with Metal Shark’s phenomenal growth in export sales over the past four years,” said U.S.

Several companies that certify vessels are seaworthy and ship insurers have withdrawn services to tankers involved in the Venezuelan oil trade as the United States targets the maritime industry to tighten sanctions on the Latin American country.U.S. sanctions have driven Venezuela’s oil exports to their lowest levels in nearly 80 years, starving President Nicolas Maduro’s socialist government of its main source of revenue and leaving authorities short of cash for essential imports such as food and medicine.The sanctions are part of U.S.

U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross announced the allocation of $88 million in fishery disaster funding to Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi, where a catastrophic regional fishery disaster occurred due to extreme freshwater flooding in 2019 associated with the unprecedented opening of the Bonnet Carre Spillway.“The Department of Commerce stands with our U.S. fishing communities, especially in times of hardship,” said Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross. “These funds will help industries and individuals recover from this disaster…

Freight rates for dry-bulk and container ships, carriers of most of the world's raw materials and finished goods, have plunged over the last six months in the latest sign the global economy is slowing significantly.The Baltic Dry Index, measure of ship transport costs for materials like iron ore and coal, has fallen by 47 percent since mid-2018, when a trade dispute between the United States and China resulted in the world's two biggest economies slapping import tariffs on each other's goods.Dry-bulk commodities are taken as a leading economic indicator…

As a member of the President’s Advisory Council – Doing Business in Africa (PAC-DBIA), Bob Wetta attended the September 26, 2018 Fact-Finding Trip Report meeting in Washington, D.C., with U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross and 13 other U.S. Government officials. Their purpose was to deliberate and adopt the final report of the 2016-2018 term of the PAC-DBIA. Prepared by IBM’s Takreem El-Tohamy, but unfortunately unable to attend the meeting, Bob Wetta presented the Ghana information…

The United States on Thursday said it will impose tariffs on aluminum and steel imports from Canada, Mexico and the European Union, reigniting investor fears of a global trade war as Washington's allies took steps to retaliate against U.S. goods.The move, announced by U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross in a telephone briefing on Thursday, ended months of uncertainty about potential tariff exemptions and suggested a hardening of the Trump administration's approach to trade negotiations.It also sent a chill through financial markets…

French President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday said it was time for the world's biggest economic powers to start talks on reshaping World Trade Organization rules to prevent current tensions spiraling into trade wars.Macron's comments before the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) came as the European Union faced less than 48 hours to win an exemption from U.S. tariffs on European aluminium and steel."This is about a complete update of global competition rules…

European Union leaders called on Friday for a temporary exemption from U.S. import duties on steel and aluminium to be made permanent, saying they reserved the right to respond in an "in a proportionate manner" to protect the bloc's interests. The 40-day exemption granted by Washington was like U.S. President Donald Trump "putting a gun to our head", Belgium's prime minister complained. The EU's trade negotiator demanded that the United States drop "artificial deadlines". Trump said on Thursday he would suspend tariffs for the EU…

According to a Reuters report, U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross has divested his interests in oil tanker company Diamond S Shipping and is in the process of selling off his holdings in another shipping firm, Navigator Holdings, a Trump administration official said earlier this week. Ross had originally intended to retain his shipping interests following his confirmation in February. But the 79-year-old investor came under criticism after disclosures on Sunday that one of Navigator's major clients is the Russian gas company Sibur…

U.S. Commerce Department Secretary Wilbur Ross sent a report to the White House on Wednesday containing recommendations on whether to change the boundaries of 11 marine sanctuaries to allow more oil and gas drilling, but the report was not made public. Commerce reviewed sanctuaries containing 425 million acres of coral reefs, marine mammal habitats and pristine beaches, as part of an administration strategy to open new areas to oil and gas drilling. The goal was to “put the energy needs of American families and businesses first,” according to the order Trump signed in April that triggered it.

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday named Robert Lighthizer, an official in the Reagan administration and harsh critic of China's trade practices, to be his chief trade negotiator, responsible for better deals aimed at reducing U.S. trade deficits. Trump, who promised during his presidential campaign to renegotiate international trade deals like NAFTA and punish companies that ship work overseas, said in announcing his choice that Lighthizer would help "fight for good trade deals that put the American worker first."Lighthizer is a former deputy U.S.

Private equity has pumped $32 bln into shipping in past 2 years. Ships totaling 299 mln dwt to enter global fleet from May. Some private equity-backed shipping IPOs have been put off on weak sentiment. The shipping industry faces a looming capacity glut as billions of dollars pumped into it by private equity have stoked a vessel-buying spree, threatening its prospects just as the sector is emerging from its worst downturn in three decades. Backed by private equity and hedge fund financing, shipping companies have placed orders for thousands of new ships over the past two years, reminiscent of the ship-ordering binge of the mid-2000s that eventually led to overcapacity after the global financial crisis severely hit cargo demand.

Shipping companies are turning to equity markets to fill a growing funding gap, betting that investors hungry for decent returns will provide capital to a sector recovering from its worst downturn since the 1980s. Ship owners ordered large numbers of vessels between 2007 and 2009, just as the global economy sank into crisis. Prospects have brightened in recent months as world trade picks up and the ship glut is absorbed. The industry still faces a multi-billion dollar financing hole after banks…

Diamond S Shipping Group Inc's largest shareholder, Wilbur Ross, said the tanker company's initial public offering had been canceled because the suggested price was too low, Bloomberg reported, citing an email from the billionaire investor. "We are not opposed to being publicly owned but not at any price," Bloomberg quoted Ross as saying. The final proposal by the underwriters was not acceptable, he said. Ross's company, WL Ross & Co, owns a 32 percent stake in Diamond S Shipping. The tanker company had been scheduled to price its offering on Tuesday. The company said last month it planned to sell 14 million shares at between $14 and $16 each.

Diamond S Shipping Group inform they have acquired three modern medium-range clean product tankers from funds managed by CarVal Investors. In the transaction, a group of funds managed by CarVal became a significant investor in the Diamond S clean product tanker business, and Ranjit Ahluwalia, managing director of CarVal, joined the Diamond S Board of Directors. Founded by Cargill Inc. in 198, CarVal Investors is a global investment fund manager. “With refined product exports from the U.S.

Nautical Bulk Holdings Limited, a newly formed Bermuda-based dry bulk shipping company, has raised in excess of $100 million of equity capital to fund the construction of eight ultramax, eco-friendly vessels under construction by Jiangsu Hantong Ship Heavy Industry, a leading Chinese shipyard. WL Ross & Co. / Fearnley Advisors AS, Solus Alternative Asset Management LP and the CONTI Group are providing the equity capital to launch the company. Nautical has entered into shipbuilding contracts for the construction of eight 64,000 DWT bulk carrier vessels, and has secured multiple fixed options for additional newbuildings. The first 8 ships will be delivered in 2015, with the first delivery date scheduled for January.

WL Ross & Co. and Navigator Holdings Ltd. have entered into a definitive agreement for WL Ross to acquire up to 19.4% of Navigator's common stock for a total of US$62.5 million in order to provide additional capital resources for the company's growth program. Up to two designees of WL Ross & Co., including Wilbur Ross, Jr., Chairman of WL Ross & Co., will join the company’s board of directors. “We see very substantial opportunities in the global transportation industry, particularly rail and marine shipping,” said Mr. Ross. “Navigator is a leader in the handy-sized shipping segment, which has excellent fundamentals and a positive outlook as global shifts in demand for liquefied petroleum gas and other petrochemicals increase opportunities for efficient…

Diamond S Shipping announced today that it has completed the acquisition of 30 medium-range product tankers and related charters from Cido Shipping of Hong Kong. The product tankers, built between 2007 and 2010, are under long-term charters with a number of global shipping companies, including A.P. Moeller, d'Amico, Hyundai Merchant Marine, Overseas Shipholding Group and ST Shipping. The tankers are being added to Diamond S' fleet of ten new buildings now under construction, with the first delivery scheduled for January 2012. A group of institutional investors led by WL Ross & Co. and First Reserve Corporation, and including China Investment Corporation…