Fearnley News

Shipowner and shipping fund manager Pelagic Partners announced it has teamed up with asset management firm Borealis Maritime to invest in a pair of platform supply vessels (PSV).Built in 2021, the 89-meter Aurora Coey – formerly Viking Coey – and Aurora Cooper – ex-Viking Cooper – are both dual-fuel and capable of operating on liquefied natural gas (LNG), as well as being ammonia-ready. The ice-class sister vessels are fitted with hybrid battery power, and Low Loss Concept (LLC) solutions that further reduce emissions…

2023 was the first year of real recovery for owners in the offshore supply market and yet we have barely skimmed the surface of what’s to come.The market is still on an upward trajectory with charter rates accelerating month-by-month, availability changing day-by-day, leading to earnings doubling and, in some segments, tripling since the lows of 2020. Current rates will remind many of the glory days of pre-2014 with the demand for OSVs projected to remain elevated for years to come.In general…

A rising tide lifts all boats, as the saying goes, and while the offshore industry is currently experiencing a wide-ranging surge, there are vessel types and specific market segments that are expected to benefit more than others.One such segment is the offshore construction vessel (OCV) types, which to an increasing degree have found themselves in hot demand from both oil and gas developments as well as offshore wind activities.While vessel definitions and abbreviations in this space can vary…

The market for offshore support vessels has been through a rather rough few years since offshore exploration and production activity took a nose-dive in 2015 following the oil price crash the year before.The newbuild order boom that came with the ever-greener pastures imagined in the industry ensured that not only was the supply- and demand balance off by an insurmountable degree in the years that followed, but at its peak, in 2017, the oversupply of anchor handling tug supply…

Offshore wind turbine installation firm Eneti plans to raise $200 million through a public offering of shares. It will use the funds raised to fund wind turbine installation vessel newbuilding program consisting of one contracted newbuilding vessel, one optional newbuilding vessel, and one proposed Jones Act compliant newbuilding vessel. As part of the Offering, Scorpio Holdings Limited, a related party of the company, has expressed an interest to purchase common shares at the public offering price with a value of at least $30.0 million.Citigroup…

MPC Container Ships ASA (MPCC) announced it has reached a deal to acquire fellow Norwegian-based container shipping company Songa Container AS for $210.25 million on a debt and cash free basis. The transaction is expected to be completed by the end of July 2021.Upon closing, MPCC will acquire Songa’s fleet of 11 container vessels, with an average size of 2,250 TEU and an average age of 11.9 years , creating a combined fleet of 75 ships and a total capacity of roughly 158,000 TEU. Nine of the acquired ships are fitted with scrubbers while three are equipped with the highest ice-class.Constantin Baack, MPC Container Ships CEO, said, “This…

Integrated Wind Solutions, a newly formed offshore wind service company owned by Norway's Awilhelmsen investment group, is eyeing a private placement of new shares in the company in connection with a listing on Euronext Growth Oslo, aiming to raise up to $89 million.Integrated Wind Solutions describes itself as a company that aims to be a leading offshore wind service player by integrating service operation vessels with engineering and manpower services in the windfarm’s construction and operations phase.

Oil traders are storing as much as 80 million barrels of oil on tankers at sea, with further ships being sought as land storage sites fill up fast due to a global glut of stocks, shipping industry sources say.Traders rushed for storage after global oil demand collapsed by a third due to the coronavirus outbreak, and as top producers Saudi Arabia and Russia have refused to curb output so far, creating what is believed to be the biggest oil glut in history.The last time floating storage reached similar levels was in 2009…

Leading container shipping firm A.P. Moller-Maersk scrapped its 2020 earnings forecast on Friday, while rival Hapag-Lloyd warned of slowing growth until at least June, as the coronavirus pandemic takes a heavy toll on global tradeThe container shipping industry, a bellwether for international trade, has been blown off course by the new virus, which brought parts of China to a standstill before spreading around the world, leading container lines to re-route cargoes and reduce calls to Chinese ports.Despite lower volume growth…

Greece-based provider of seaborne transportation for containerized cargoes Euroseas  announced that it has entered into agreements to acquire four 4,253 teu containerships built in South Korea, three in 2009 and one in 2008.The owner and operator of container carrier vessels said in a press release that the vessels are being acquired from companies controlled by Synergy Holdings Limited for a total consideration of approximately $40 million.The acquisition will be financed by bank debt, existing funds of the Company and $6 million raised in private placements.Euroseas  will also assume the charters the vessels are currently under. As part of the transaction…

A.P. Moller-Maersk, the world's largest container shipping company, warned on Friday that trade tensions and an economic slowdown are slowing growth in global freight.Maersk, which is seen as an indicator of global trade patterns, cut its forecast for global growth in container traffic this year due to the trade dispute between the United States and China."The recent escalation of the trade war induced by an increase in tariff rates and threats of implementing additional tariffs could take global container trade growth to the lower end of the 1-3% interval (range)…

Norwegian seismic acquisition company SeaBird Exploration said  it is in an exclusive process to acquire the seismic vessels BOA Galatea and BOA Thalassa owned by BOA Offshore in a transaction which values the vessels at NOK 185 million ($22 million).The BOA Vessels are well suited for source and 2D operations, as well as EM seabed logging, for which BOA Thalassa is currently contracted with EMGS ASA until September 2019 with options for EMGS ASA to extend for three periods of six months each.In order to finance the acquisition of the BOA Vessels, as well as to finance an upgrade of BOA Galatea to high end 2D / source capability, the Company is contemplating a private placement of new shares  in the Company raising gross proceeds of minimum NOK 225 million and maximum of NOK 250 million.

The dry bulk operator Oldendorff Carriers sold the three remaining self-unloaders still operating in the CSL Pool for US$100.5 million to Algoma Central Corporation.CSL International Pool is a partnership between Oldendorff Carriers, Marbulk Shipping Inc. and Algoma Shipping Inc.The vessels -Sophie Oldendorff (70,037 tdw built 2000), Harmen Oldendorff (66,188 tdw built 2005) & Alice Oldendorff (50,259 tdw built 2000) -  are expected to deliver to Algoma around the middle of 2019.All three vessels have been trading in the CSL Pool on the East Coast of North and South America since they were built. The CSL Pool consists of 18 self-unloading…

Top U.S. importers are stocking up on Chinese goods before new import tariffs take effect, shipping giant A.P. Moller-Maersk said on Wednesday, but warned a trade war would hit demand for container shipping in the coming years.Maersk's data indicated that imports into the United States from China had grown 5 to 10 percent year-on-year in the third quarter as companies such as Walmart and Home Depot built up inventories to avoid new import tariffs, Chief Executive Soren Skou said."The irony is that after (U.S.

Flex LNG, controlled by Norwegian-born billionaire John Fredriksen, has raised $300 million in a private placement of shares to help pay for five new vessels costing $918 million, it said on Thursday.Fredriksen's companies typically add high-yield bond issues and bank loans at a later time to pay the cost not covered by share sales.When the vessels are delivered from the yards of South Korea's Daewoo (DSME) and Hyundai (HHI) in 2020 and 2021, Flex LNG will have a fleet of 13 ships, Flex said.Fredriksen himself bought shares for $100 million, cutting his overall stake in the firm to 44.6 percent following the placement from 49.9 percent.The new shares of Oslo-listed Flex were sold at 14.25 Norwegian crowns each, a five percent discount to Wednesday's closing price of 15 crowns, and the plac

Diana Shipping announced the pricing of a US$100 million private placement of senior unsecured bonds maturing in September 2023 and callable beginning three years after issuance.In addition, the global shipping company specializing in the ownership of dry bulk vessels may issue up to an additional US$25 million of the bonds on one or more occasions.The bond offering was priced with a U.S. dollar fixed-rate coupon of 9.50%. Interest will be payable semi-annually in arrears in March and September of each year. The Company will apply for listing of the bonds on the Oslo Stock Exchange.The offering is expected to close on September 27, 2018…

A.P. Moller-Maersk said on Friday it would spin off its offshore drilling operation and list it in Copenhagen next year, the latest move by the Danish shipping company to focus entirely on transport and logistics.Maersk, which cut its full-year profit outlook this month, sold Maersk Oil to French oil major Total last year in a $7.5 billion deal as part of a restructuring under Soren Skou, who became chief executive in 2016.Skou used to head Maersk's container business and is a…

Art Regan, who has been the Executive Chairman at Genco Shipping and Trading (NYSE: GNK) since October 2016, personifies the new type of shipping executive, savvy on all things maritime (he is a graduate of SUNY Maritime College at Fort Schuyler) coupled with a keen understanding of market dynamics. Regan commenced his maritime industry career at sea, rising through the shipboard officer ranks completing as a Master Mariner during a more than ten-year period sailing on oil tankers and dry bulk vessels.

Navios Maritime Containers, a growth vehicle dedicated to the container sector, announced  that it has already completed a private placement of common shares, totaling $30.0 million, which is expected to close on March 13, 2018. Navios Containers will issue approximately 5,450,000 common shares at a subscription price of $5.50 per common share for an aggregate of $30.0 million of gross proceeds. The net proceeds will be used for general corporate purposes, including vessel acquisitions. Navios Maritime Holdings and Navios Maritime Partners have subscribed for $15.0 million in the private placement and thus will own approximately 39% of the outstanding share capital upon closing.

Owner and operator of container and dry bulk vessels Navios Maritime Partners L.P. has closed the previously announced offering of approximately 18.4 million common units at $1.90 per common unit, raising approximately $35.0 million of gross proceeds. Navios Partners will use the net proceeds of the offering for general working capital purposes, including vessel acquisitions. Following the closing, Navios Partners will have 167,589,764 common units and 3,420,203 general partner units outstanding. This includes $5.0 million of common units purchased by Navios Maritime Holdings Inc., and the purchase of general partner units by Navios GP L.L.C., our general partner, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Navios Holdings, to maintain its 2.0% general partner interest in Navios Partners.

Denmark-based shipping company Hafnia Tankers has successfully completed a sale and leaseback in the Japanese market through the sale and leaseback of its 2010 built LR1 tanker, MT Hafnia Australia. The Vessel has been sold to a Japanese private ship owning company (the Lessor) with a 12-year bareboat charter back with annual purchase options from year four onwards. The Transaction entailed a sale of the 74,539 dwt ship at market value and a fully levered lease arrangement which gives rise to a positive liquidity effect of approx. $8.7 million and further adds to the already strong cash position. The profile of the lease arrangement allows the Company to abide by its strict policy of maintaining a low cash-breakeven.

Rates from Brazil to China fall by $4/tonne, $6,000/day; queues at Dalrymple Bay to ease, return to normal in January. Freight rates for large dry cargo ships on key Asian routes could slide further from multi-week lows as chartering activity thins during the holiday season and abundant tonnage for January weighs on rates, brokers said. Capesize rates from Brazil to China have dropped by $4 per tonne in the last week, equivalent to a daily earnings fall of about $6,000. Port congestion in Australia and China which helped propel rates to three-year highs earlier this month is also expected to ease. Hold-ups at Hay Point and Dalrymple Bay, one of the world's largest coal export facilities and where at least one panamax bulk carrier waited more than six weeks to load, are set to clear.

China's LNG demand soars as tankers from the Americas divert to China. Liquefied natural gas (LNG) is being re-exported to China from Japan and tankers are being diverted from as far away as Brazil, with traders rushing to find cargoes in the face of a supply crunch in the world's No.2 economy as winter bites. Following an unprecedented drive to switch millions of households to natural gas from coal for heating, China's imports of LNG have surged as utilities struggle to meet soaring demand as winter gets off to a colder start than usual. "We expect to see many more LNG cargo diversions to China over the winter period," said Saul Kavonic, an analyst at energy consultancy Wood Mackenzie in Singapore. "Given China's ...