Rabobank News

The Iran war is upending the global LNG outlook as soaring prices, damage to major supplier Qatar's export infrastructure and potential delays to new supply raise doubts about previously expected demand from price-sensitive Asian buyers.Before the war, analysts expected global liquefied natural gas supply to rise as much as 10% this year to between 460 million and 484 million metric tons as new capacity, mainly in the U.S. and Qatar, came online, with demand forecast to grow in tandem.Now…

The dollar surged on Monday as soaring oil prices sent investors scrambling for cash on worries that a protracted Middle East war could severely disrupt energy supplies and hurt global growth.Against the surging greenback, the euro EUR= and sterling GBP= were down roughly 1% in Asia, while the Aussie AUD= and even the safe-haven Swiss franc CHF= similarly tumbled, as the dollar proved king."The U.S. dollar's finding no shortage of support from traditional haven considerations and obviously…

European financial markets are under strain as the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran revives concerns about an energy supply shock exacerbating inflation.ING says the euro zone is the most exposed major economy to the conflict, making the region, which has benefited from investor diversification out of U.S. assets, vulnerable to setbacks.Not Good, But 2022 Was WorseThe jump in oil and gas prices evokes memories of Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022, which triggered a global energy crunch and hit Europe particularly hard.Since Friday…

Offshore wind installation company Havfram has signed a Senior Secured Green ECA Term Loan Facility to fund its two wind turbine installation vessels ("WTIVs"), currently under construction at CIMC Raffles in China. The Facility was entered into with a syndicate led by DNB Bank ASA (Coordinator, Bookrunner, Green Loan Advisor and Agent) with SpareBank 1 SR-Bank ASA, Credit Agricole, Sparebanken Vest and Rabobank as Mandated Lead Arrangers and with Export Finance Norway as ECA lender.

Russian air strikes on Ukrainian grain facilities on the Danube this week threaten a vital river route for Kyiv's exports, as Moscow seeks to tighten the noose around a key sector of the economy days after abandoning the Black Sea shipping deal.Last week, air strikes caused tens of millions of dollars of damage to the grain sector in Odesa region, and Monday's strikes on infrastructure along the Danube brought back memories of the export gridlock that followed Russia's February 2022 invasion."Without the Danube, the export (situation) becomes critical.

Dutch shipping company Future Proof Shipping (FPS) on Thursday officially launched the first hydrogen-powered zero-emissions inland container ship, H2 Barge 1, in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.Earlier in the week, Nike introduced the H2 Barge 1 at its European Logistics Campus in Laakdal, Belgium. As part of its journey toward a zero carbon and zero waste future, Nike is partnering with Future Proof Shipping (FPS) and BCTN Network of Inland Terminals, to accelerate zero-emission shipping.Future Proof Shipping’s zero-emissions 110m x 11.45m inland containership…

HAL Holding, which on March 10 announced plans to launch a takeover offer for the Dutch marine services and dredging giant Boskalis' all remaining shares, said Thursday it was making good progress with the offer preparation.The company had said in March it planned to launch an all-cash voluntary public offer of €32.50 per share for all issued and outstandingordinary shares of Boskalis. HAL had 46.2% shares at the time of the announcement."HAL confirms that it is making good progress on the preparation of the Offer.

On July 16, 2021, Thunderbird 2 (TB2) was christened in Rotterdam by Mirelle Pennings, Director of Commercial Banking at Rabobank. The TB2 is the second working vessel of Fleet Cleaner, a green scale-up from Delft that uses self-developed robots to clean ships hulls. It is the world's first ship, too, according to Fleet Cleaner, that can clean tankers explosion-safe during loading and unloading.After seven months of construction, Friday was finally the day: the second Fleet Cleaner working vessel was christened.

Six months after the offshore installation vessel Voltaire, Jan De Nul Group orders Les Alizés, a floating installation crane vessel from the CMHI Haimen shipyard in China.Together with the Voltaire, this new vessel will be in a super-size class of its own, capable of building the newest generation of offshore wind farms. Les Alizés, that will be ready in 2022, is equipped with a crane having a lifting capacity of 5,000 tons and equally impressive lifting heights. Les Alizés will be able to load out, transport and install multiple units of the largest and heaviest wind turbine foundations.

The Port of Rotterdam Authority has signed partnership agreements with four recent participants in the annual PortXL innovation programme. The products developed by these promising start-ups range from compact tulip-shaped wind turbines to blockchain applications for freight tracking. Together with 10 other start-ups and scale-ups, these companies took part in this year’s PortXL innovation accelerator programme, which brings innovators from all over the world to Rotterdam to further develop their technologies. The participants presented their results today during a ‘Shakedown’ event in the former submarine wharf at RDM Rotterdam. Port Authority CEO Allard Castelein: “Rotterdam is a pioneering port.

A consortium of companies comprising Air Liquide, AkzoNobel Specialty Chemicals, Enerkem and the Port of Rotterdam Authority has signed a development agreement for the initial investments in an advanced waste-to-chemistry plant in Rotterdam. The aim is that this will be the first plant of this type in Europe to offer a sustainable alternative for waste incineration, by converting plastic and mixed waste into new raw materials for industry. These investments – for detailed engineering, the establishment of a special joint-venture and the conclusion of the licensing procedure – amount to some € 9 million. The consortium is aiming for the project’s final investment decision…

Geneva-headquartered energy and commodities trader Vitol has signed an US$8bn loan refinancing of credit facilities agreed in October 2016, the company announced on Wednesday. The revolving credit facility, which is used for working capital and general corporate purposes, comprises a three-year tranche and a 364-day tranche. The three-year tranche totals over US$7bn. ABN AMRO Bank, Commerzbank, Credit Agricole CIB, HSBC Bank and ING Bank were active bookrunners on the transaction. Bank of America Merrill Lynch, MUFG, BNP Paribas, Citigroup, Credit Suisse, DBS Bank, Deutsche Bank, JP Morgan, Lloyds Bank, Mizuho Bank, Natixis, Rabobank, Societe Generale, Standard Chartered Bank, SMBC and UniCredit Bank were mandated lead arrangers and bookrunners.

The Norwegian company Yara is currently building a full-electrical containership fitted with an autonomous control system: the Yara Birkeland. During a recent visit to a major maritime conference, imagine my surprise when most attendees – some 200 executives from the maritime sector – discussed autonomous shipping in terms of its risks. The room seemed full of objections and doubts. What if the computer malfunctions? Somewhat understandable in view of the pressure put on the sector by strong international competition and slim margins. Existing companies are used to a certain turnover.

The Port of Rotterdam Authority is entering into a partnership with four start-ups for the development of as many innovative projects. Along with six other starters, these companies took part in the port-related accelerator programme PortXL and presented their results during yesterday’s ‘Shakedown’. The ten selected start-ups made amazing progress in the three month long PortXL programme. In fact, nine of them saw their efforts rewarded with a contract with organisations such as Van Oord, Vopak, Boskalis, Alliander and Stena Line. The Port of Rotterdam Authority backed four further developments. Pilot contracts were signed with virtual-reality training programme Parable and maritime-augmented-reality provider FEO AR.

What a difference a year makes. Twelve months ago, the mood of the Russian delegation at the World Economic Forum in Davos was distinctly gloomy, with oil prices near 12-year lows below $30 per barrel and Western sanctions depressing their economy and financial markets. Since then, however, Russian stock and bond markets have risen about 50 percent, boosted by rebounding oil and - more recently - expectations the new U.S. presidency of Donald Trump will ease the sanctions imposed over Moscow's actions in Ukraine. Russian officials and company executives at the forum attended by the world's political and business elites in the Swiss Alps this week were far more bullish, with many predicting the markets rally would continue this year.

DONG Energy's has set a potential $16 billion price tag on its stock market debut, giving investors a chance to buy into the growth in offshore wind power, but also into a business heavily reliant on government subsidies. State-controlled DONG Energy on Thursday set a price range for its initial public offering at 200 Danish crowns to 255 crowns per share. This would give the group a market value of 83.5 billion to 106.5 billion Danish crowns ($12.6-16.0 billion), potentially making it the Europe's biggest IPO this year.

Danish wind farm developer DONG Energy, which analysts value as high as $13 billion, said on Thursday it plans to list its shares on the Copenhagen stock exchange this summer. Having built more than a quarter of the world's offshore wind farms, the company is a major player in Britain and Germany and has recently opened offices in the United States and Taiwan to cater for new growth markets. With a potential valuation as high as 85 billion Danish crowns (11.4 billion euros), Dong…

In 2015 Collectivité de Saint Pierre et Miquelon launched a tender for two new Mixt Ferries to operate between the two Islands and Fortune, Canada. The same year the contract was awarded to the Damen Shipyards Group and, in January 2016, the Loan agreement with Rabobank was signed. The project was launched on 11 March at an event in Paris and the vessels will be delivered at the end of 2017. In close cooperation with the client, Damen designed the Fast RoPax 5510, 55 meters long, 11 meters wide, with a capacity for 192 passengers and crew, three trucks or 18 cars, motorcycles and cargo.

Royal IHC (IHC) has reached an agreement to sell 100% of its shares in its subsidiary IHC Sealing Solutions to new owners Willem Steenge, who as CEO is partly responsible for the strong growth of IHC Sealing Solutions in recent years, and Rabo Participaties (RaPar). The sale enables IHC to strengthen its focus on its core business: offering integrated innovative vessels, advanced equipment and life-cycle support to the dredging, wet mining and offshore construction industries.

Rotterdam-based law firm AKD has completed the sale at auction of the container vessel Caribbean Sea in the courts of Aruba following its arrest by Rabobank for outstanding mortgage debts in excess of $28 million. The entire arrest and auction process was completed in just 20 days. The 2007-built vessel arrived and was arrested in Aruban waters on March 25, 2015 as security against an outstanding debt of $28,398,786, and was sold at auction on April 14. AKD partner Haco van der Houven van Oordt…

The giant corn harvest about to hit full stride in America's Midwest looks set to overwhelm storage and pile up outdoors, grain industry sources said, raising quality issues and making it hard to keep supplies moving. This year's record corn crop of 14.4 billion bushels alone would fill up 60 percent of the country's grain storage of 24 billion bushels. In total, with a record soybean crop too and hefty harvests of other grains including spring wheat, there will be about 20 billion bushels of new crops looking for storage. That would be on top of the 3.5 billion bushels reported in storage as of Sept. 1 by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).

Starting in December 2014, IHC Sealing Solutions will operate under the new – but also old and trusted – name of Lagersmit. The new pay-off line ‘The Origin of Sealing Solutions’ pays tribute to the company’s rich history and its desire to supply the best sealing solutions, now and in the future. On 28 November 2014, the new name was unveiled at a party for the employees of the ‘new Lagersmit’. Why this new name and pay-off line? In the summer of 2014, the company became independent and consequently separated from Royal IHC. With this new independence, Lagersmit aims to focus more on its core business, which is to supply sealing solutions for ships, pumps and tidal turbines.

The European Investment Bank (EIB) has agreed to provide EUR 165 million (187.5m) to support the construction of a new sea lock at IJmuiden, the principal access to the Dutch Port of Amsterdam. The current Noordersluis lock was built in 1929 and the new larger lock will ensure that the next generation of bulk carriers, container ships and cruise ships can continue to access the Port of Amsterdam and the North Sea Canal, and is expected to reduce waiting time for ships. The new sea lock will be 500 meters long, 70 meters wide and 18 meters deep, and able to operate in all tides. The IJmuiden sea lock is expected to support economic activity both along the North Sea canal and for companies using the Port of Amsterdam, Europe’s fourth busiest port.