Clarkson Capital Markets News

The Baltic Exchange's main sea freight index, which tracks rates for ships carrying industrial commodities, continued its run of record lows on Friday, haunted by reduced China imports. Demand woes across all vessel segments continued to haunt the index, which registered a record low for a fourth session running. The overall index, gauging the cost of shipping dry bulk cargoes including iron ore, cement, grain, coal and fertiliser, fell 3.6 percent to 429 points. The downturn in dry bulk shipping has worsened significantly in recent months as demand for iron ore and coal has declined in the face of slower economic growth in China. "The first part of the year is typically the weakest point for dry bulk freight rates…

The Baltic Exchange's main sea freight index, which tracks rates for ships carrying dry bulk commodities, rose on Friday, propelled by higher rates across all vessel segments. The index, which factors in the average daily earnings of capesize, panamax, supramax and handysize dry bulk transport vessels, was up seven points, or 1.2 percent, at 591 points. The capesize index rose 16 points, or 3.93 percent, to 423 points. Average daily earnings for capesizes, which typically transport 150,000-tonne cargoes such as iron ore and coal, rose $126 to $4,174. The panamax index rose four points, or 0.65 percent, to 617 points. Average daily earnings for panamaxes, which usually carry 60,000 to 70,000-tonne cargoes of coal or grains, increased by $28 to $4,941.

The Baltic Exchange's main sea freight index, which tracks rates for ships carrying dry bulk commodities, was lifted on Thursday by higher demand across all vessel segments. The index, which factors in the average daily earnings of capesize, panamax, supramax and handysize dry bulk transport vessels, was up 13 points, or 2.28 percent, at 584 points. "The spot dry bulk market is in line for a positive jolt as three key pieces have lined up positively for the first time in several months: rising steel prices, wider steel margins and cheaper imported iron ore into China," said Omar Nokta of Clarkson Capital Markets. The panamax index rose nine points, or 1.49 percent, to 613 points.

The Baltic Exchange's main sea freight index, which tracks rates for ships carrying dry bulk commodities, spiralled downwards to its lowest level in nearly three decades as rates for all the four vessel types continued to flounder. The overall index, which gauges the cost of shipping resources including iron ore, cement, grain, coal and fertiliser, was down 34 points, or 5.11 percent, at 632 points, the lowest since August 1986. The index is also seen by investors as an indicator of global industrial activity. Brokers said the dry bulk market was expected remain in the doldrums due to weak commodity demand at present especially from top global importer China.

Euronav NV announced today the upsizing and pricing of its initial public offering in the United States. The size of the offering has been increased from the initially announced 13,550,000 ordinary shares to 16,260,000 ordinary shares at an issue price per share of USD 12.25 for gross base proceeds of USD 199,185,000. The Company has granted the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 2,439,000 ordinary shares. The Company’s ordinary shares offered in the United States are expected to commence trading on the New York Stock Exchange (the “NYSE”) today under the ticker symbol “EURN.”  This offering is expected to close on January 28, 2015, subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions.

Oil traders have booked up to 20 tankers to store an estimated 40 million barrels of crude at sea, rising from 25 million barrels last week, as they soak up a stocks glut in anticipation of future profits, shipping and oil market sources said. The more than 50 percent fall in spot prices since June enables traders to make money by storing the crude for delivery months down the line, when prices are expected to recover. The sources said the volume of oil earmarked for floating storage had risen in recent days. Some of the tankers could nonetheless still be used for conventional oil transportation. "Floating storage remains a major focus in the tanker market as charterers have been fairly active in securing VLCCs (very large crude carriers) on time charters…

Euronav NV announced the commencement of its underwritten initial public offering in the United States of 13,550,000 ordinary shares. The company will grant the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase additional ordinary shares representing up to 15% of the offered shares. On January 19, 2015 the closing price of the company’s ordinary shares on Euronext Brussels was $12.94 per share (based upon the Bloomberg Composite Rate of EUR 0.8604 per $1.00 USD in effect on that date). The company has been approved to list its ordinary shares on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the symbol EURN.

Some of the world's biggest oil traders have booked supertankers to store at least 25 million barrels at sea in recent days, seeking to take advantage of the crash in crude prices and make a profit down the line. Floating storage levels are expected to increase further in coming weeks as trading companies adopt a strategy that was last used in 2009 when prices slumped and led to over 100 million barrels of oil being parked on tankers at sea before stocks were sold off. The play is also driving up tanker hire rates, and shipping firms have seen their share prices surge in recent days. In the past week, trading firms including Trafigura…

Clarkson Capital Markets, the investment banking arm of shipping services group Clarkson PLC,  says it has enhanced its equity research coverage with the appointment of Omar Nokta as Managing Director of Shipping Research. Omar will be based in CCM's New York office. Omar brings significant sector experience and expertise to Clarkson Capital Markets. He joins CCM from Global Hunter Securities LLC where he was Senior Shipping Analyst. Prior to this he was Senior Research Analyst at Dahlman Rose, where he helped build the company into one of the leading shipping focussed investment banks, advancing its energy, commodities and metals and mining product offering.

Crude oil tanker earnings on the major Middle East route fell on Tuesday as a build up of vessels available for hire weighed on rate sentiment. Shipping markets continued to monitor developments in Ukraine after Russia sent military forces into the Crimea region of southern Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin said Moscow would only use military force in Ukraine as a last resort. A U.S. official said it was ready to impose economic sanctions on Russia. The world's benchmark VLCC export route from the Middle East Gulf (MEG) to Japan reached W50.73 in the Worldscale measure of freight rates, or $25,765 a day when translated into average earnings. That compared with W51.33 or $27,219 a day on Monday and W55.05 or $32,176 a day last Tuesday.

Baltic Trading Limited has successfully completed its previously announced public offering, issuing 12,650,000 new shares of common stock, which included the exercise in full of the underwriters' option to purchase up to 1,650,000 shares of common stock. Gross proceeds of the offering were approximately $58.2 million. Baltic Trading intends to use the net proceeds from the offering for future vessel acquisitions or, to the extent it does not so use them, for working capital and general corporate purposes. Jefferies LLC and Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC acted as joint book-running managers for the offering, and DVB Capital Markets LLC, Cowen and Company, LLC, and Clarkson Capital Markets LLC acted as co-managers for the offering.

Clarkson Capital Markets (CCM) equity analyst, Urs Dur, winds silver medal for being one of the industry's top stock tipsters. The award was in the marine category in this year's Thompson Reuter's annual 'StarMine Analyst Awards' which are issued in collaboration with the 'Financial Times'. Clarkson Capital Markets (CCM) is the investment banking arm of Clarkson PLC, focussed on the global maritime, energy and natural resources sectors.

Tsakos Energy Navigation Limited (TEN), a product, crude and LNG tanker operator, today announced that it plans to offer its Series B Cumulative Redeemable Perpetual Preferred Shares (the Series B Preferred Shares) in a public offering under its effective shelf registration statement. TEN intends to use the net proceeds from the offering for general corporate purposes, which may include making vessel acquisitions or investments. Following the offering, TEN intends to file an application to list the Series B Preferred Shares on the New York Stock Exchange. Incapital and DNB Markets will act as joint book-running managers for the offering and Incapital will act as the sole structuring agent. Clarkson Capital Markets and Brock Capital will act as co-managers for the offering.

StealthGas Inc., has increased the size of its stock offering, & will sell 10-million shares at $10 each using the proceeds towards purchase of 5 ships. The gross proceeds from the offering before the underwriting discount and other offering expenses are $100,000,000. An entity controlled by the family of the Company’s President and Chief Executive Officer has agreed to purchase 500,000 of the shares sold in the offering. The Company has also granted the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 1,500,000 shares of common stock. The Company intends to use a portion of the net proceeds of the offering to partially fund the acquisition of five vessels…

StealthGas Inc. announced an underwritten public offering of 8,000,000 shares of its common stock pursuant to the Company's effective shelf registration statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. An entity controlled by the family of the Company's President and Chief Executive Officer has indicated its intention to purchase approximately 5% of the shares offered in the offering. In connection with the offering, the Company intends to grant the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to 1,200,000 additional shares of its common stock. The Company intends to use a portion of the net proceeds of the offering to partially fund the acquisition of five vessels…

Global demand driving consistent year-over-year profits for Tidewater. A more modern fleet riding a rising tide should continue that trend, analysts and company officials say. Tidewater Inc., based in New Orleans, has invested in deepwater, platform supply vessels in recent years, a move that looks to be paying off as demand for those boats improves during a rush to build deep-ocean rigs. The company provides offshore supply vessels and marine support services for the world’s energy industry.