Emelia Sithole News

Global oil benchmark Brent on Tuesday rose above $89 a barrel for the first time since October, albeit briefly, as oil supplies faced fresh threats from Ukrainian attacks on Russian energy facilities and escalating conflict in the Middle East.Brent futures for June delivery were up $1.35, or 1.5%, at $88.76 a barrel by 11:40 a.m. EDT (1540 GMT) after touching a peak of $89.08.U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures for May rose $1.27, or about 1.5%, to $84.98 after touching a peak of $85.46…

Tanker company Euronav will exit Belgium's blue-chip Bel-20 index after just two days of trading, as it no longer meets the membership conditions after its takeover by Compagnie Maritime Belge (CMB), bourse operator Euronext said on Tuesday.CMB, owned by the Saverys family, and affiliates together hold 88.61% of the outstanding shares in Euronav, which exceeds the maximum allowed for the index."The Bel 20 rulebook prescribes that should the acquiring party own more than 85% of the shares, the company being acquired will exit the index," Euronext said.Belgium's Euronav announced in October that

Mauritius stopped a ship belonging to Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings from docking at its ports due to what it said was a health risk and took samples from about 15 passengers who were in isolation on board, its port authority said on Sunday.The Norwegian Dawn had been scheduled to dock in Port Louis on Sunday, but since it had not gone to Reunion Island, it arrived in Port Louis a day earlier, the Mauritius Ports Authority said in a statement."The decision not to allow the cruise ship access to the quay was taken in order to avoid any health risks…

The Indian Navy said on Thursday it had rescued the crew of a U.S.-owned vessel in the Gulf of Aden after an attack by Yemen's Houthi movement as tensions in the region's sea lanes disrupted global trade.Following the attack on the U.S. Genco Picardy late on Wednesday, the U.S. military said its forces had conducted strikes on 14 Houthi missiles that "presented an imminent threat to merchant vessels and U.S. Navy ships in the region".Attacks by the Iran-allied Houthi militia on…

The United States on Wednesday returned the Yemen-based Houthi rebels to a list of terrorist groups, while business chiefs warned that disruption to shipping in the Red Sea caused by their attacks could affect supply chains for months.Attacks by the Iran-allied Houthi militia on ships in the region since November have slowed trade between Asia and Europe and alarmed major powers - an escalation of Israel's more than three-month-old war with Palestinian Hamas militants in Gaza.The Houthis say they are acting in solidarity with Palestinians and have threatened to expand attacks to include U.S.

Russia's leading tanker group Sovcomflot is considering alternative shipping routes in case of further escalation of the crisis in the Red Sea, the TASS news agency reported on Tuesday.The United States and Britain launched a series of strikes on Yemen last week aimed at the Iran-backed Houthi militia, whose attacks on international shipping have disrupted one of the world's most important trade routes since December.According to British maritime security firm Ambrey, last week…

Denmark's Maersk said on Wednesday it has scheduled several dozen container vessels to travel via the Suez Canal and the Red Sea in the next several weeks, in a further sign that global shipping firms are returning to the route.The schedule remains subject to change based on specific contingency plans that may be formed over the coming days, the company said.The world's top shipping companies, including container giants Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd, stopped using Red Sea routes after Yemen's Houthi militant group began targeting vessels earlier this month…

The number of U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) vessels transiting the Panama Canal to Asia halved in November compared with a year ago as Asia prices for the gas this week traded at their steepest premium to European prices in nearly two years.A severe drought has cut vessel traffic through the canal, increasing costs for shippers that take alternative routes or pay extra fees for auctioned slots in Panama. Further restrictions on canal transits likely will put more cargoes on lengthier routes…

President Vladimir Putin signed on Wednesday a decree transferring to Russia's state nuclear power company Rosatom state-owned shares of the Far Eastern Shipping Company, parent company of transportation group Fesco.Fesco was formerly controlled by Ziyavudin Magomedov, who was convicted last year on organized crime and embezzlement charges and is serving a 19-year jail sentence following one of the highest-profile prosecutions of a Russian tycoon in years.Magamedov says the charges are unfounded and is appealing his conviction.

The three incidents that resulted in damage to a gas pipeline and two telecom cables between Estonia, Finland and Sweden "are related", Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas said.Finnish police leading the pipeline investigation have named the Hong Kong-flagged container carrier NewNew Polar Bear as the prime suspect in damaging the Balticconnector Finland-Estonia gas pipeline early on Oct. 8.A large anchor was found near the pipeline, and the investigators believe the pipe was…

Shell is expected to complete maintenance at its flagship Prelude liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility off Australia by mid-November, two sources close to the project told Reuters on Wednesday.The British energy giant started maintenance work at the 3.6-million metric ton a year floating LNG plant in August. A top Shell executive then said in September it was a "major turnaround" work that would last roughly two months.The maintenance is now expected to be completed by mid-November, slightly longer than initially planned after several new issues were discovered and fixed, one of the sources said."The first LNG delivery cargo is now expected by mid-November," the second source said.The last cargo to have left the facility was on Aug.

Rolls-Royce (RR.L) said on Tuesday it would cut up to 2,500 jobs as its new chief executive seeks to build a more efficient business, the latest boss to attempt to revamp one of Britain's most prestigious engineering companies.Over the last decade, Rolls-Royce, whose engines and systems are used on the Airbus A350 and Boeing 787 as well as ships, submarines and in power generation, has been through several restructurings, axing more than 13,000 jobs.Tufan Erginbilgic, who took over in January, is the latest CEO to try to tackle the company's inefficiencies.

Belgium's Euronav on Monday said that its two major shareholders CMB and Frontline have reached a deal that would see CMB take control of the oil tanker company and buy its remaining shares.The deal ends uncertainty over Euronav's future, after peer Frontline - controlled by Norwegian-born shipping tycoon John Fredriksen - in January scrapped a $4.2 billion merger plan that would have created the world's largest publicly-listed tanker company.That decision had led Euronav to launch arbitration action against Frontline.

An oil tanker that suffered engine failure in Egypt's Suez Canal, briefly disrupting traffic in the vital waterway, has been towed away, the canal's authority said on Sunday. The canal authority's head, Osama Rabie, said in a statement that traffic in both directions had resumed as normal after tugboats managed to move the stranded tanker. The crude tanker, SEAVIGOUR, is a Malta-flagged vessel that was built in 2016, according to Refinitiv Eikon shipping data. It was heading from Russia to China, the canal authority added. Frequent traffic disruptions occur in the Suez Canal due to technical malfunctions, but stoppages are usually brief. Less than two weeks ago tugboats had to move a bulk carrier that had been stranded for several hours in the canal.

Swiss-based MSC, the world's biggest container shipping company, has offered to buy almost half of the main operator of Hamburg port in a deal that could be worth nearly 1.3 billion euros ($1.4 billion), setting the stage for a potential bidding war.Shares in HHLA, which runs Germany's biggest port, soared 49% to a 19-month high as shortly after Wednesday's announcement German logistics billionaire Klaus-Michael Kuehne said he was considering a counter offer."We are examining the submission of a public takeover bid, but would prefer an agreement with the city of Hamburg on privatization - be i

Shipping companies are still waiting for "real green" fuel solutions as part of decarbonization efforts to clean up the industry, a leading industry official said.Shipping, which transports around 90% of world trade and accounts for nearly 3% of the world's CO2 emissions, is under growing pressure from environmentalists to deliver more concrete action, including a carbon levy."We are still awaiting engine and shipbuilders to come up with real green solutions," Haralambos Fafalios…

Syria's port authority has shut down all the country's sea ports including Tartous due to poor weather and high winds, state media reported on Wednesday.The port of Tartous had initially been exempt from the closure but the country's ports authority later said it was shutting down as conditions worsened. "There are winds and high waves in bursts and we cannot risk opening the ports at this time," Brigadier General Samer Kobrosli, the director general of the authority, told Reuters.

Germany's cabinet on Monday approved measures to accelerate the expansion of wind and solar power by simplifying licensing and setting deadlines for permitting procedures, the economy ministry said.Berlin aims to generate 80% of electricity from renewables by 2030, but red tape has been hampering Germany's efforts to meet that goal.The cabinet adopted a package of European Union emergency regulations, agreed last year, to speed up wind and solar permits and clarify the environmental and grid permit deadlines that approving authorities must meet for such projects.The package of measures, which

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…

Greece’s Gastrade said on Thursday it expects to take a final investment decision on developing a second gas floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) off the country’s northern port of Alexandroupolis by the end of the year.With Europe racing to cut its reliance on Russian gas in the wake of the war in Ukraine, Greece is slowly becoming a key transit route for LNG in southeastern Europe.Last year, Athens replaced much of Russian pipeline gas by ramping up deliveries of liquefied natural gas (LNG)…

Israel on Thursday criticised Brazil's decision to grant berth to two Iranian warships in the face of U.S. pressure, and urged President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's government to send them away.The vessels docked in Rio de Janeiro on Sunday. Reuters reported that Brazil had declined to admit them in January, in a goodwill gesture from Lula as he flew to Washington to meet U.S. President Joe Biden.Israel and Iran have been locked in a Cold War-style conflict for decades, which has included mutual accusations of maritime sabotage…

Brazilian shipping company Wilson Sons' controlling shareholder said on Monday it is conducting a strategic review of its investment in the firm, sending shares in both companies soaring 12%.London-listed Ocean Wilsons said in a statement that "all potential strategic options" would be considered as part of the review, but noted the move was at an early stage and there was still no certainty as to its outcome.It was responding to a Sunday piece by Brazilian newspaper O Globo saying that Swiss shipping group MSC was in talks to buy Wilson Sons, in a deal that could total around 5 billion reais

The desperate search for a missing submersible near the wreck of the Titanic entered a critical juncture on Thursday when air was expected to run out for the five people aboard, but officials vowed to continue scouring the remote North Atlantic.A remotely operated vehicle deployed from a Canadian vessel to the ocean floor discovered a "debris field" near the Titanic, the U.S. Coast Guard said on Thursday morning on Twitter, adding that experts were "evaluating the information."Another…