Dry Bulk Shipping News

The evolving environmental, social and governance (ESG) agenda is a roadmap for thriving amidst challenges and securing sustainable success, says The International Association of Dry Cargo Shipowners (INTERCARGO) on publishing its first ESG Review.Kostas Gkonis, INTERCARGO Secretary General advised that a forward-looking attitude is certainly required when addressing key aspects shaping the future of maritime operations and the dry bulk shipping sector more particularly. “Dry bulk shipping should embrace the ESG agenda as a catalyst for innovation…

BIMCO has released its Dry Bulk Shipping Market Overview & Outlook for April 2024, predicting that the supply/demand balance should strengthen in 2024, but weaken in 2025.This would be the result of ships returning to the Red Sea and Panama Canal, shortening sailing distances.Supply is forecast to grow 2.5% in 2024 and 2.0% in 2025. Growth is slowing due to lower deliveries, reports, Niels Rasmussen, BIMCO’s Chief Shipping Analyst.The fleet is expected to grow 4.9% between end 2023 and end 2025, the slowest it has grown since 2016. Ship recycling is expected to stay low.

Star Bulk Carriers Corp. on Tuesday announced that it has completed its merger with fellow dry bulk shipping company Eagle Bulk Shipping Inc.Eagle Bulk shareholders this week voted to approve the $2.1 billion deal, which was first announced in December 2023.Under the terms of the merger agreement, each Eagle shareholder received 2.6211 shares of Star Bulk common stock for each share of Eagle common stock owned. Eagle common stock has ceased trading and will no longer be listed on the New York Stock Exchange.Petros Pappas…

The International Association of Dry Cargo Shipowners (INTERCARGO) and RightShip have launched the Dry Bulk Centre of Excellence (DBCE), an independent, not-for-profit industry organisation dedicated to the administration of the Dry Bulk Management Standard (DryBMS) framework.DryBMS was developed by INTERCARGO and RightShip, with input from experts and stakeholders across the sector, as an industry tool to raise standards and best practices across safety, security, environmental performance, and social welfare in the dry shipping sector.

Dry bulk shipping company Pacific Basin has decided to apply a sustainable graphene-based propeller coating XGIT-PROP, developed by Canadian company GIT Coatings, across its entire fleet.Following successful application and observing positive results on one of its Supramax dry bulk vessels, Pacific Basin has started the rollout of XGIT-PROP across 40 vessels scheduled for dry dock maintenance in 2024. This decarbonisation initiative marks the largest adoption of graphene-based propeller coating in the dry bulk segment.Sanjay Relan…

Angela Chao, chair and CEO of the Foremost Group, has died in a car accident, the New York-headquartered dry bulk shipping company announced on Monday.Angela Chao was an experienced and well-respected shipping executive, having worked her way up through several leadership positions at the company founder by her father, Dr. James S.C. Chao, with her mother, the late Ruth Mulan Chu Chao, in 1964.Before joining Foremost Group in 1996, Angela Chao worked in the mergers and acquisitions department of Smith Barney…

Greek dry bulk shipping company Meadway Shipping announced it will rebrand as Drydel Shipping."This rebranding is designed to set us apart in the marketplace and eliminate any confusion due to similar company names," the company said in a statement.The name change will take hold on February 19 for in each of the company's units, including Meadway Shipping and Trading, Meadway Shipping Singapore, Meadway Shipping DMCC and Meadway Maritime Chartering.Meadway's ownership, team or operations will continue unaffected with all existing contracts and agreements remaining in place.

Recent hostilities in the Red Sea have thrown global shippers of vital goods for a loop - but it is hardly the only issue that big carriers are facing as 2024 kicks off.Giants like Maersk say the industry, which handles 90% of global trade, faces the possibility of significant disruptions, from ongoing wars to droughts affecting key routes like the Panama Canal. Complex vessel schedules are likely to be knocked out of sync for giant container ships, fuel tankers and other commodity haulers throughout the year.That will increase delays and raise costs for retailers like Walmart…

Oslo-headquartered dry bulk shipping company Golden Ocean Group announced its board has appointed Lars-Christian Svensen as CEO, effective January 1, 2024.Svensen had been serving as interim CEO following the resignation of the company's previous CEO, Ulrik Andersen, in June 2023.Svensen joined Golden Ocean as chief commercial officer in December 2020 and was previously senior vice president in Norway and president of U.S. trading activities in Seattle for Western Bulk. Before that, he was a downstream analyst for Petredec and a tanker broker for Cmarine Services PTE Ltd. in Singapore.

Cadeler and Eneti have officially completed their merger, creating a leading offshore wind installation company.The New York- and Oslo-listed group will be named Cadeler and be headquartered in Copenhagen, Denmark, with offices across the world in Denmark, U.K., U.S., Taiwan, and Japan.Mikkel Gleerup, CEO of Cadeler, said, “This marks a historic moment for Cadeler and the entire offshore wind industry. We offer our partners and clients access to the strongest and most skilled team and the industry's largest, most flexible, most diverse, and modern fleet of windfarm installation vessels.

Dry bulk shipping companies Star Bulk Carriers and Eagle Bulk Shipping have reached a deal to merge in a $2.1 billion all-stock deal.The terms of the definitive agreement have received unanimous approval from the boards of directors of both New York-listed ocean carriers, and the companes expect the deal to close in the first half of 2024 following approvals from regulators and Eagle shareholder.Eagle shareholders will receive 2.6211 shares of Star Bulk common stock for each share of Eagle common stock owned.

Dry bulk shipping company Diana Shipping announced it has entered into a time charter contract with Solebay Shipping Cape Company Limited, Hong Kong, for one of its Capesize vessels, Semirio—a 174,261 dwt bulk carrier built in 2007.The gross charter rate is $14,150 per day, minus a 5% commission paid to third parties, for a period until minimum November 20, 2024 up to maximum January 30, 2025. The charter is expected to commence on August 20, 2023.Diana Shipping said it expects the employment to generate approximately $6.38 million of gross revenue for the minimum scheduled period of the time charter.

Dry bulk shipping company Himalaya Shipping announced it has taken delivery of the fifth in a series of 12 dual-fuel 210,000 dwt Newcastlemax bulk carriers being built by New Times Shipyard.The vessel, Mount Matterhorn, will commence a 32- to 38-month time charter plus an option for 11 to 13 months and will earn an index-linked rate, reflecting a significant premium to a standard Capesize vessel, Himalaya said. The time charter also includes a profit sharing of any economic benefit derived from operating the vessel's scrubber or running on liquefied natural gas (LNG)…

After three successful years as joint partners of Baumarine by MaruKlav, the world's largest Panamax Pool, Marubeni will take a 25% stake of Klaveness Dry Bulk.The deal includes the operating arm Klaveness Chartering, the Baumarine Pool and Market Manager, a recently commercialized digital freight offering."The Torvald Klaveness group and Klaveness Dry Bulk have delivered significant results, not only for the Marubeni fleet, but also for Panamax owners in Baumarine by MaruKlav as a whole,” said Toru Okazaki, Chief Operating Officer, Aerospace & Ship Division of Marubeni Corporation.

Despite a steady increase in port state control detention rates following the pandemic in all regions, INTERCARGO-entered vessels consistently outdid industry performance indicators in both deficiencies and detentions, as shown by the latest edition of its annual Benchmarking Report.Deficiencies per inspection (DPI) rates remain unchanged and in line with previous years’ Benchmarking Reports, the 11 leading Class Societies (IACS Members), which class over 95% of the bulk carrier market…

Dry bulk shipping company Diana Shipping announced it has taken delivery of a 2016-built Ultramax bulk carrier.Diana, through a separate wholly-owned subsidiary, had agreed to purchase the 63,379 dwt DSI Drammen (formerly Nord Potomac) in February 2023.The company also announced that, through the same wholly-owned subsidiary, it entered into a time charter contract with IMC Shipping Co. Pte. Ltd., at a gross charter rate of US$18,250 per day, minus a 5% commission paid to third parties, for a period until minimum April 10, 2024 up to maximum June 10, 2024. The charter is expected to commence on April 15, 2023.The employment of DSI Drammen is anticipated to generate approximately $6.5 million of gross revenue for the minimum scheduled period of the time charter, Diana said.

Dry bulk shipping company Diana Shipping announced it it has entered into a time charter contract with Cargill for one of its Kamsarmax vessels.Under the deal, the 2011-built, 82,165 dwt Leonidas P. C. will be chartered for $17,000 per day, for a period of 11 months to 13 months.Diana said it expects the employment to generate approximately $5.61 million of gross revenue for the minimum scheduled period.

Dry bulk shipping company Safe Bulkers announced it has reached a deal to sell one of its Panamax bulk carriers for $22.5 million.The 75,000 dwt Efrossini, built in Japan in 2012, will be delivered to an undisclosed new owner in June 2023 and chartered back at a gross daily charter rate of $16,050 for a period of 10 to 14 months.Dr. Loukas Barmparis, president of Safe Bulkers, said, “Having ordered recently an additional IMO Phase 3 newbuild Kamsarmax vessel and sold a 2012 Panamax vessel, we continue our strategy to selectively sell relatively older tonnage and gradually replace it with newbuilds of latest available designs, aiming to improve our fleets’ environmental performance and increase our competitiveness in a new more stringent regulatory environment.’’

For the second half of 2022, Oslo-headquartered dry bulk shipping company Western Bulk generated a record net profit after tax of $28.6 million, reaching a full-year net profit after tax of $66 million from $1.6 billion in gross revenues. That is the second-best full year result in the company’s history, only outperformed by last year’s net profit after tax of $81 million for the full-year of 2021.Entering the second half of 2022, Supramax market rates were at about $25,200/day and declined more or less continuously over the six-month period…

Bumper soybean harvests in Brazil and unsold grains stocks in the United States are set to boost dry bulk shipping rates as buyers including China restock after supply shocks last year, leading freight operators said.The dry bulk shipping market has been hit in recent months by slow activity, partly driven by the COVID lockdowns in China, one of the world’s biggest generators of seaborne commodities trade including grains as well as coal and iron ore.Grains supplies were also affected by the war in Ukraine for part of last year until a United Nations-backed corridor was set up…

The Baltic Exchange's main sea freight index posted its second-biggest jump ever on Thursday, as rates for all vessel segments rebounded from their multi-year lows, led by capesizes.The overall index, which factors in rates for capesize, panamax and supramax shipping vessels, was up 142 points, or about 21.1%, at 816, an over one-month high.The index, extending gains to a fifth session, recorded its biggest jump since mid-June 2020, according to Refinitiv data going back till 1985.The capesize index gained 183 points…

2023 has so far been a disappointment for the dry bulk shipping sector, despite hopes that a quick economic recovery in China would boost iron ore demand,. During the first three weeks of the year, iron ore shipments fell 13.1% year on year, the lowest volume since at least 2019, worsening conditions for capesizes. In this period, the Baltic Dry Index (BDI) declined by almost 500 points to 763 on 20 January, its lowest point since June 2020.It is not unusual for the bulk market to cool during the first quarter when demand weakens during the Lunar New Year celebrations.

Dry bulk shipping company Safe Bulkers announced it has reached a deal to acquire a 81,800 dwt, dry-bulk, Kamsarmax class vessel at an attractive price with a scheduled to be delivered from a Japanese shipyard in the second quarter of 2025.This vessel, a sister to a number of newbuilds in Safe Bulkers' orderbook, features advanced energy efficiency characteristics and lower fuel consumption, the company said. It is designed to meet the Phase 3 requirements of Energy Efficiency…