Diesel Products News

Long-range clean tanker rates stayed firm on Monday extending a recent rally with firmer cargo demand bolstering sentiment further. Long Range 1 tankers, carrying 55,000 tonne loads from the Middle East Gulf (MEG) to Japan, reached W117.50 in the Worldscale measure, or $11,453 a day when translated into average earnings, the highest since mid September last year. That compared with W116.14 or $11,156 a day on Friday and W107.45 or $8,112 a day last Monday. "With plenty of cargoes in the market and tonnage looking fairly thin far out, rates look likely to remain firm for the remainder of May," broker EA Gibson said. Larger Long Range 2 or LR2, 75,000 tonne shipments on the Middle East Gulf to Japan route were at W101.15 or $14,650 a day, the highest since mid October last year.

Long-range clean tanker rates rallied on Wednesday as buoyant demand for cargoes reduced vessel availability with expectations of further gains. Long Range 1 tankers, carrying 55,000 tonne loads from the Middle East Gulf (MEG) to Japan, reached W111.64 in the Worldscale measure, or $9,721 a day when translated into average earnings, its highest since mid December last year. That compared with W109.28 or $8,920 a day on Tuesday and W102.86 or $6,779 a day last Wednesday. Larger Long Range 2 or LR2…

Clean tanker rates on the transatlantic route edged higher on Monday helped by light bookings although the market continued to struggle with a glut of vessels. Rates for medium-range (MR) tankers for 37,000 tonne cargoes on the TC2 route from Rotterdam to New York were at W124.38 in the Worldscale measure, or $8,306 a day when translated into average earnings. That compared with W122.50 or $8,048 a day on Friday and W129.17 or $9,368 last Monday. "Rates on the Europe - U.S. East Coast route declined 11.1 percent week-on-week as available capacity continued to put downside pressure on rates for cargoes out of the region," Deutsche Bank analyst Justin Yagerman said on Monday. In January, earnings reached their highest level since early August last year.

The Resource Power Group appointed Chimas Sylve as Spare Parts Coordinator at its new Deer Park facility near the Houston Ship Channel. “Chimas brings with him knowledge of not only the MaK engine line, but also MaK gas engines as well as the entire Caterpillar engine line,” said Mike Kriner, Branch Manager for the Houston facility. “Our Houston facility is less than a year old, but is already growing rapidly both in medium speed engine and turbocharger services,” said Mike. Previously Mr. Sylve spent nine years at the parent company, Louisiana Cat, where he provided both parts and service support for the Caterpillar line of engines including the MaK gas and diesel products.

Deep in the Louisiana Cajun Country, LA Carriers was founded in 1986 as a small barge management firm. Now shipping in excess of 275,000 net tons of cargo annually, LA Carriers chooses Laborde Products to supply powerful Mitsubishi engines. The third such installation for LA Carriers, it allows the company to fulfill its promise of just-in-time delivery. A recently built 98' tug, M/V Karen Koby, was fitted with twin ABS-certified S12R-Y2MPTK Mitsubishi engines rated 1,260 hp at 1,600 rpm, as well as 50kW FPT generators.

For reasons of cost, the final scrapping of ships and the recycling of materials has gravitated to developing countries and attracts considerable criticism regarding the working conditions of the personnel involved and the disposal of possible harmful residues in the ships. In particular, given lifespans of merchant ships in the region of 30 years, the scrapped hulls can contain substances which have long been identified as hazardous and outlawed in many parts of the works. Examples are asbestos and lead which were widely used as insulation for pipes and in paints respectively, before their risks were recognized. To counter this situation…

Ken Applegate, VP, Transportation Services, Valero shares with readers of MarineLink.com his insights on key market drivers for the coming year. What do you count as the biggest Technical challenge to your company/organization in the coming years? KA:      Valero is very concerned about the deteriorating infrastructure for both waterway and surface transportation in the and we do not see the necessary legislative focus today to address this issue. It will be a tremendous challenge…

Stewart & Stevenson, a leading manufacturer, distributor and provider of service for industrial and energy related equipment, and a manufacturer of medium tactical vehicles for the U.S. Army, announced that it has signed agreements with Mercury MerCruiser to create regional power centers. Under the agreements, MerCruiser Diesel Power Centers (DPCs) will serve customers in 26 states within the Pacific Northwest, Southeast and South Central United States and MerCruiser Engine Power Centers (EPCs), which deal with gasoline products, will service 19 states within the South Central United States and the Pacific Northwest. The Stewart & Stevenson MerCruiser DPCs will primarily serve the diesel repower market as well as boat builders…

Doug J. Marchand, Executive Director of the Georgia Ports Authority (GPA), released tonnage and volume reports reflecting a strong start to fiscal year 2008 during a meeting of its board of directors. He cited tonnage growth of 26.9 percent, or 2.1 million tons in August, and a 26.7 percent growth in July, for a total increase of 910,00 tons. Port of Savannah handled 236,020 Twenty-foot Equivalent Unit containers (TEUs) for August, a 30.1-percent increase and a combined 467,711 TEUs for the first two months of the fiscal year. The Authority reported 28.5-percent increase in TEUs for the fiscal year to date. Marchand also indicated the Authority would bring an additional 14 Rubber Tire Gantry Cranes on-line in FY08…