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Steel Maker News

02 Feb 2023

Intelatus: A Month of Contrasts for U.S. Offshore Wind

©Cavan/AdobeStock

February will be a month of contrasts for U.S. offshore wind industry. On the positive side, BOEM is moving forward with lease negotiations for an East Coast floating wind pilot array, and six developers submitted over 100 proposals in response to New York’s third offshore wind solicitation. To support bids, local supply chain development commitments have been presented, which include plans to construct two wind turbine component factories.At the same time, inflation rates have eased and key commodity indicators, such as U.S.

31 Jan 2023

First Australian Coal Heads to China After End of Ban

China is set to receive at least two cargoes of Australian coal in early February, according to traders and shiptracking data, the first since an unofficial ban on imports in place since 2020 was lifted earlier this month.Coal traders will be paying attention to how easily the shipments pass customs for signs that the informal ban is truly over and in the hopes of sending more Australian coal to China.Australian thermal coal for power generation and metallurgical coal for steelmaking are favoured by Chinese consumers for their high-quality. China's coal demand is forecast to rise in the upcoming months amid an expected economic rebound after Beijing rolled back its draconian zero-COVID strategy.

09 Jan 2023

Baltic Dry Index Snaps Six-session Losing Streak

© norinut / Adobe Stock

The Baltic Exchange's main sea freight index, tracking rates for ships carrying dry bulk commodities, ended a six-session losing streak on Monday, as an uptick in capesize rates outweighed losses in panamax and supramax segments.The overall index, which factors in rates for capesize, panamax, and supramax shipping vessels, edged up nine points, or 0.8%, to 1,139.The capesize index gained 84 points, or 5.56%, to 1,596.Average daily earnings for capesizes, which typically transport 150,000-tonne cargoes such as iron ore and coal, were up $694, at $13,237.China's state planner has allowed three c

06 Jan 2023

China Eases Australian Coal Ban

Copyright Parilov/AdobeStock

The increasing need to secure energy supplies after easing COVID-19 restrictions has pushed China to gradually resume Australian coal imports and urge domestic miners to boost their already record output.The lifting of the unofficial ban on Australian coal imports, which were halted in 2020 in a fit of Chinese pique over questions on COVID's origins, is the clearest sign yet of the renewed ties between them. The resumption is also a reminder of their economic interdependence as Australia's raw materials play a crucial role in fuelling the export-oriented economy of China


02 Dec 2022

Baltic Index Slips, but Posts Best Week in Almost 2 Months

Credit: Alex Stemmers/AdobeStock

The Baltic Exchange's dry bulk sea freight index marked its biggest weekly percentage gain in almost two months, although declining on Friday on a fall in capesize rates.The overall index, which factors in rates for capesize, panamax and supramax shipping vessels carrying dry bulk commodities, shed 14 points, or about 1%, to 1,324.The main index gained 11.4% for the week, its biggest rise since Oct. 7.The capesize index .BACI was down 51 points, or about 3.3%, at 1,519. It posted a weekly loss of 5.8%.Average daily earnings for capesizes .BATCA


23 Nov 2022

Baltic Dry Index Snaps Nine-day Losing Streak

© Volodymyr Kyrylyuk / Adobe Stock

The Baltic Exchange's dry bulk sea freight index rose on Wednesday for the first time in ten sessions, helped by an uptick in capesize rates.The overall index, which factors in rates for capesize, panamax and supramax shipping vessels carrying dry bulk commodities, added 35 points, or about 3%, to 1,184.The capesize index added 127 points, or 11.6%, to hit its highest in a week at 1,219.Average daily earnings for capesizes, which typically transport 150,000-tonne cargoes of coal and steel-making ingredient iron ore, increased $1,049 to $10,106.Meanwhile, Dalian iron ore futures extended their

05 Sep 2022

S. Korea Shipyards Set to Halt Operations as Typhoon Hinnamnor Approaches

Credit: Korea Meteorological Administration

South Korea issued weather advisories and raised its typhoon alert level on Monday as typhoon Hinnamnor neared, with heavy rain and strong wind already lashing southern parts of the country.The typhoon, travelling northward at a speed of 19 km per hour (12 mph), is expected to land 90 kilometres southwest of the port city Busan early on Tuesday, after reaching waters off Jeju Island around Monday midnight."Very strong winds and heavy rains are expected across the country through to Tuesday due to the typhoon


19 Aug 2022

Rhine Water Too Low Even for Some Empty Vessels

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Water levels on Germany's Rhine river are so low that some vessels cannot sail even when empty, a shipping cooperative said on Friday, although long-awaited rain has begun to ease bottlenecks on one of the country's main commercial routes.Weeks of drought across Europe and beyond have added to supply chain problems as vessels have had to lighten their loads to ensure they can travel along depleted water channels."Empty ships can no longer sail in some cases," Roberto Spranzi, director of the DTG shipping cooperative that operates about 100 cargo vessels on the Rhine


30 May 2022

Ship to Take Metal from Mariupol to Russia; Kyiv Decries Looting

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A ship has entered the Ukrainian port of Mariupol for the first time since Russia completed its capture of the city to load metal and ship it east to Russia, TASS news agency reported on Saturday, in a move that Kyiv decried as looting.A spokesperson for the port told TASS that the vessel would be loading 2,700 tonnes of metal before traveling 160 km (100 miles) east to the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don on Monday.The spokesperson did not say where the metal being shipped had been


23 Mar 2022

Miros RangeFinder finds a spot in pair of Vietnam Port Projects

Image courtesy Miros

Miros, in association with its Vietnam partner Reecotech, won  two contracts to support industrial projects with its RangeFinder solution. The Miros RangeFinder is a dry, radar-based sensor measuring airgap, tide, water level, draught, and waves, offering millimetre accuracy in all weather conditions. The sensor, which was chosen for its ability to reliably deliver high data quality, will be implemented as part of tailored automated weather and sea monitoring systems.The first


17 Jan 2022

Vale, Other Brazil Miners Ramp Up Production as Rains Subside

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Brazilian miners including Vale SA are resuming production in the southeastern state of Minas Gerais after being forced to halt some operations due to heavy rains that increased the risk of accidents and caused logistics disruptions.Vale said in a securities filing on Monday that the Brucutu and Mariana mines are gradually ramping up production as part of its Vitoria-Minas railway was cleared, allowing the iron ore to be moved.According to Vale, the stoppages affected production of about 1.5 million tonnes of iron ore.

11 Jan 2022

Dry Bulk: Heavy Rains Disrupt Shipping in Southeast Brazil

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Heavy rainfall in southeastern Brazil has prompted miners including Vale SA to suspend some operations, they said on Monday, after downpours caused deadly floods in the northeast and threatened to delay harvests in the midwest.Rainfall is expected to remain heavy this week in most of top mining state Minas Gerais, after runoff closed roads and railways.The rains may also have contributed to the dramatic collapse of a canyon rock face in the state on Saturday, killing 10 people visiting a waterfall on boats.In the northeastern state of Bahia


25 Aug 2021

MOL, Tata Steel to Develop Environmentally Friendly Bulk Carrier

Credit: MOL (File Photo)

Japanese shipping giant Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL) and its dry bulk subsidiary MOL Drybulk have signed a memorandum of understanding with steelmaker Tata Steel to develop and deploy an environmentally friendly bulk carrier.MOL will partner with Tata Steel on this innovative project to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in its supply chain.Peeyush Gupta, Vice President, Supply Chain, Tata Steel, said: "The objective of the agreement is to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the ocean transportation of raw materials for production of steel.

20 Jul 2021

Japanese Steelmaker to Charter Three 210,000-dwt LNG-fueled Bulk Carriers

Japanese steelmaker JFE Steel has signed long-charters shipping firms NYK Line, Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha and Mitsui O.S.K. Lines to charter three 210,000-ton LNG-fueled bulk carriers for transporting iron ore and coal from overseas locations to JFE Steel’s steelworks in Japan. JFE Steel said the charters would make it the first company in Japan to deploy LNG-fueled ships in the 210,000-ton class, and said the move would help it cut emissions.The ships, which have been designed by Nihon Shipyard and will be built by Japan Marine United and Imabari Shipbuilding


11 May 2021

The Race is On to Pioneer Hydrogen Shipping

Hydrogen is touted as an inevitable green fuel of the future. Tell that to the people who'll have to ship it across the globe at hyper-cold temperatures close to those in outer space.Yet that is exactly what designers are attempting to do.In the biggest technological challenge for merchant shipping in decades, companies are beginning to develop a new generation of vessels that can deliver hydrogen to heavy industry, betting plants worldwide will convert to the fuel and propel the transition to a lower-carbon economy.There are at least three projects developing pilot ships that will be ready to test transporting the fuel in Europe and Asia within the next three years


31 Aug 2020

Chinese Buyers Snap up Indian Steel in Face of Trade Tensions

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India's steel exports more than doubled between April and July to hit their highest level in at least six years, boosted by a surge of Chinese buying in defiance of tensions between Beijing and New Delhi.Traders said reduced prices had driven the purchases as Indian sellers sought to get rid of a surplus generated by the impact of COVID-19 on domestic demand and generate much-needed income.It was unclear whether the sales broke any trade rules, but the China Iron and Steel Association


02 Jul 2018

Thyssenkrupp Hails 'Fair' Tata Steel JV

Germany's Thyssenkrupp called a landmark joint venture thrashed out with India's Tata Steel "fair" on Monday, although the updated terms disappointed some shareholders.After two years of at times fraught talks, the two steel firms finally signed a deal on Saturday to create Europe's No.2 steelmaker with 17 billion euros ($20 billion) in sales, marking the sector's biggest tie-up in more than a decade.Thyssenkrupp boss Heinrich Hiesinger had come under pressure from activist shareholders Cevian and Elliott to seek a better deal, who argued that a recent weakness in Tata Steel's European business meant terms needed to be changed in Thyssen's favour.That resulting value gap


28 Jun 2018

China June Seaborne Iron Ore could Set Record

June seaborne iron ore imports to reach 98.22 mln Tons; local mills to ramp up output to reap large margins. China's June seaborne iron ore imports are on track to rise to a record high, data on Thomson Reuters Eikon showed, stoking concerns of oversupply as hundreds millions of iron ore are being stockpiled at Chinese ports. Iron ore arrivals for June are set to be 98.22 million tonnes according to vessel-tracking and port data compiled by Thomson Reuters Supply Chain and Commodity Forecasts. That would be the highest ever for the Supply Chain data going back to February 2016. The iron ore consumed by the world's biggest steelmaker mainly arrives by ship from miners in Australia and Brazil.

04 May 2018

Russia's NLMK Could Close U.S. Business Due to Tariffs

Russian steelmaker NLMK has told the U.S. Department of Commerce that it could be forced to shut down its U.S. business due to the impact of new U.S. tariffs."Without an exclusion for semi-finished steel slabs, the tariffs will have the perverse effect of killing U.S. steelmaking jobs and potentially putting our company out of business," NLMK USA's Chief Executive Robert Miller wrote in a letter to the U.S. Department of Commerce dated March 23, 2018.Reporting by Polina Ivanova and Anastasia Lyrchikova; Writing by Polina Ivanova

10 Apr 2018

MAN Powers World’s First LNG-fueled Bulk Carrier

(Photo: Lloyd's Register)

The world’s first liquefied natural gas (LNG) fueled bulk carrier, the 50,000 dwt newbuild Ilshin Green Iris, is powered by state-of-the-art technology from MAN Diesel & Turbo. The groundbreaking vessel, delivered in February 2018 for owner Ilshin Logistics, was constructed by South Korean shipbuilder Hyundai Mipo Dockyard (HMD) as part of a project announced in July 2016 to develop the first in a new generation of environmentally-friendly LNG-fueled bulk carriers. A single MAN B&W 6G50ME-GI two-stroke engine powers the 191-meter bulk carrier


20 Feb 2018

Ports of Indiana: Building on Success

(Photo: Ports of Indiana)

The Ports of Indiana is a statewide port authority, established in 1963, which operates three ports: two on the Ohio River, one on Lake Michigan. Port officials refer to the three as “America’s Premier Inland Port System.” They cite location, location, location, providing access via two critical freight arteries – the Great Lakes and the Inland Waterway System and proximity to the world’s most productive industrial and agricultural regions. The Ports is the only statewide port authority in the Midwest.

10 Oct 2017

Corpus Christi: Energy Port of the Americas

(Image Courtesy Port of Corpus Christi)

The Port of Corpus Christi lives up to its moniker ‘Energy Port of the Americas,’ as the movement of energy in and out dominates the port’s history and future. John P. LaRue, Executive Director, Port Corpus Christi recently visited Maritime Reporter’s headquarters in New York to discuss the nearly $50 billion in investment projects driving the port forward. “Let’s just start with what we are and what we are not,” said LaRue. “We are not a container port. Up until a few years ago we were an oil import port (serving) three refineries: Citgo, Valero and Flint Hills Resources.

24 Apr 2017

Japan Steelmakers Scramble for Coking Coal

Japanese steelmakers have bought coking coal from the United States, Canada and China to replace supply lost after a cyclone closed rail links in Australia, their biggest supplier, industry and trader sources said. Still, the Japanese buyers are paying nearly double the $150 a tonnes price that they were discussing with sellers for second-quarter supply before the supply disruption. The supply talks are now on hold and prices will likely stay high until full volumes start flowing again. In 2016, Japan bought about 71 percent of the 59.9 million tonnes of coking coal it consumed from Australia. "We've tapped supplies by bringing forward shipping schedules of cargos from Canada and the United States