Bangladesh and Pakistan Ship Recycling Markets Remain Steady
With the conclusion of week 11, the ongoing and seemingly endless dearth in the supply of viable candidates has been mercifully keeping the Bangladeshi and Pakistani ship recycling markets steady, reports cash buyer GMS.“On the other hand, the Turkish and Indian markets continue to endure their respective shares of a notably trying time, given that the Turkish Lira continues to plummet even amidst a mercifully quieter week (on account of Ramadan).”GMS says: “India continues to endure its share of nerve-racking volatility in local steel plate prices as well as the Indian Rupee…
GMS: Ship Recycling Market Still Slow
Despite Chinese new year holidays concluding on Friday, a pervading theme of an unrelenting dearth in the overall availability of tonnage across global ship recycling markets has been enduring for several quarters now, says cash buyer, GMS.This has resulted in another dreary week of market inactivity and silence across all recycling destinations.Charter rates continue to remain artificially elevated (especially) in the dry bulk sector, consequently placing a tighter squeeze on the overall supply of vessels for recycling.
35 Seafarers Kidnapped in Gulf of Guinea in 2018 -Report
Nigerian pirates have kidnapped 35 seafarers from vessels in the Gulf of Guinea so far this year, according to security firm EOS Risk Group.Nigeria continues to be the world’s epicenter for piracy activity. From January through June 2018, EOS recorded 34 Nigerian pirate attacks on merchant and fishing vessels in the Gulf of Guinea. These attacks resulted in the kidnap of 35 seafarers for ransom and the hijacking of several vessels, EOS Risk Group disclosed in its half year review…
Piracy Expected to Increase Ahead of Nigeria's Election
Piracy will increase in the Gulf of Guinea as Nigeria prepares for an election next February in order to funnel ransom money into campaign financing, intelligence experts told a shipping conference in Copenhagen on Tuesday. Risk Intelligence, which advises private shipping companies and governments on security, said two "mother ships" belonging to pirates are currently located just south of Nigeria and five seafarers are know to be held hostage onshore. "Ahead of general elections, kidnap-for-ransom and attacks on offshore targets increase," Managing Director Hans Tino Hansen told Reuters at a special session on maritime crime and the effects on growth and development in Africa.
Petrobas Board Member Complains of Inept Management
The uproar in Brazil over state-run oil company Petroleo Brasileiro SA's purchase of a refinery in Pasadena, Texas, is just "a drop in the ocean" of problems afflicting the company, a board member said on Tuesday. Concerns it paid too much for the refinery pale in comparison to the problems with the way the company has been managed since a 2010 capital increase, said Mauro Cunha, who represents minority shareholders on the board of the Rio de Janeiro-based company. Petrobras, as the company is known, has been struggling with management mistakes since 2010, when the government pressured it to raise as much as 120 billion reais ($58.3 billion) from the sale of new stock to investors, analysts say.
Single Hull Tanker Ban Could Send Freight Rates Soaring
When OPA 90 was introduced in wake of the Valdez accident, the stipulation that tankers trading in the U.S. must be double hulled was roundly panned throughout the world, as industry experts bemoaned the fact that one country have such a deciding impact on vessel design. How soon they forget. Ten years and a few tragic sinkings off European shores have let to Italy's sudden plan to ban single-hulled tankers from seven key port areas, a move which some contend will cripple a pipeline feeding oil to Germany from the Italian port of Trieste, a leading brokerage warned. "The ban will be felt in Germany and Austria," said Italy's largest brokerage Banchero Costa.
Gdansk Shipyard Leads WIth Myriad of Conversions/Repairs
Gdansk Shiprepair Yard Remontowa has expanded its formidable reputation with the completion of two RoRo to cableship conversions. Located in Poland, the yard took on its premiere job within this niche in December 2000 when it converted the vessel Prerow, followed by Lodbrog in January 2001. The sisterships, which measure 459 x 66 ft. (140 x 20 m), were built at BEB Mathias - Thesen - Werft in Wiesmar, Germany in 1983 and 1985, respectively. Presently Lodbrog is property of the Danish company, Alcatel Submarine Networks Marine, and Pretow to Luxshipping Co., France. Both vessels will be delivered to the shipowner in October 2001, at which time they will conform their purpose…
