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Grace Period News

30 May 2023

Bangladesh to Ratify Ship Recycling Convention in June

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Bangladesh is set to ratify an international convention in early June on recycling ships aimed at increasing safety and environmental standards, a senior official told Reuters."We expect the first week of June for the official declaration," said Mamunur Rashid, a deputy secretary with the Ministry of Industries, who said Bangladesh is the world's top ship breaking and recycling centre.The Hong Kong Convention was adopted in 2009 by 63 countries and so far has been ratified by 20 nations


22 Dec 2022

US Gives Grace Period to Cargoes Under Russia Oil Product Price Cap

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The U.S. Treasury Department said late on Wednesday that shipments facing the G7's upcoming price cap on oil products such as diesel and gasoline from Russia will have a grace period to arrive at their destination.G7 democracies and Australia are planning to cap prices on two oil products from Russia from Feb. 5 as part of their effort to reduce Moscow's export revenues as it wages war in Ukraine. The move will follow the G7's cap on Russia's seaborne crude oil exports that went into effect on Dec. 5.The measures seek to limit Russia's revenues gradually.

08 Dec 2022

Why Are Oil Tankers Stuck in Turkish Waters?

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Turkey's maritime authority said on Thursday it would continue to block the passage of oil tankers that don't carry appropriate insurance letters, adding that insurance checks on ships in its waters were a "routine procedure".The logjam is creating growing unease in oil and tanker markets and comes as the G7 and European Union introduce a price cap on Russian oil.Millions of barrels of oil per day move south from Russian ports through Turkey's Bosphorus and Dardanelles straits into the Mediterranean.Here are key facts about the issue.Ships typically have protection & indemnity (P&I) insurance


13 Sep 2022

NVOCCs Caught in the Middle of Ocean Shipping Reform Act

NVOCCs are caught in the middle of the Ocean Shipping Reform Act of 2022 requirements for reporting demurrage and detention; FMC needs to pump the brakes and allow the industry to catch upThe Ocean Shipping Reform Act of 2022, passed by Congress without industry input and signed into law on June 16, has left the industry in a difficult position regarding how to comply with the new requirements for invoicing demurrage and detention (D&D) charges.At issue is the Container Availability Date


26 Aug 2022

Chinese Defense Firm Takes Over Lifting Venezuelan Oil for Debt Offset

China has entrusted a defense-focussed state firm to ship millions of barrels of Venezuelan oil despite U.S. sanctions, part of a deal to offset Caracas' billions of dollars of debt to Beijing, according to three sources and tanker tracking data. China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) stopped carrying Venezuelan oil in August 2019 after Washington tightened sanctions on the South American exporter. But it continued to find its way to China via traders who rebranded the fuel as Malaysian, Reuters has reported.

13 Dec 2021

New China Import Rules Bring Headaches

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Makers of Irish whiskey, Belgian chocolate and European coffee brands are scrambling to comply with new Chinese food and beverage regulations, with many fearful their goods will be unable to enter the giant market as a Jan. 1 deadline looms.China's customs authority published new food safety rules in April stipulating all food manufacturing, processing and storage facilities abroad need to be registered by year-end for their goods to access the Chinese market.But detailed procedures explaining how to get the required registration codes were only issued in October


20 Jul 2021

Offshore Wind & Shipping – Importance of Interplay Between Shipbuilding Contracts and Charters

Credit: benoitgrasser/AdobeStock

While 2020 proved to be a challenging year for offshore oil and gas markets, the same cannot be said about offshore renewables, which saw substantial growth."It is expected that a number of offshore support vessels (“OSVs”) and crew boats will be redeployed from the offshore oil and gas sector to service the offshore wind industry and that existing offshore wind installation vessels will be upgraded as turbines continue to scale up."Offshore renewable projects achieved an estimated record project sanctioning of US$56bn


24 Mar 2020

Brazilian Farm Town Bars Shipments, Affecting Global Traders

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The key Brazilian farm town of Canara has issued a decree aimed at curbing the spread of coronavirus that could disrupt grain export logistics and the operations of global agriculture commodities traders, according to a municipal order.The order dated March 22 bars shipping of grains out of the city in Mato Grosso state and comes as Mayor Fábio de Faria enforces a lockdown of all non-essential services to protect the population against the spread of coronavirus. In a separate document seen by Reuters


04 Feb 2020

Loggers, Food Exporters Impacted From China's Virus

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The economic impact of China's coronavirus lockdown is being felt across the globe, with exporters, miners and manufacturers of everything from coal and timber to meat and fruit facing delays and potential shipment cancellations.As the most populous nation and factory floor for most of the world's manufactured goods, China is normally the largest and most voracious consumer of a slew of global raw materials, fuels and foods.But the combination of an extended Lunar New Year holiday


11 Sep 2019

Nasdaq: Performance Shipping Out of Compliance

Greek boxship owner Performance Shipping disclosed that it has received a noncompliance notification from the Nasdaq Stock Market.The notice was received from the regulator because the company's  closing share price was below $1.00 per share for 30 consecutive days, said the global provider of shipping transportation services through its ownership of vessels.Performance Shipping  intends to monitor the closing bid price of its common stock during a grace period and will consider its options, including a reverse stock split, in order to regain compliance."The company intends to monitor the closing bid price of its common stock during this grace period and will consider its options


12 Feb 2019

Nigeria: No More Vessel Waivers

The Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) on Sunday said it had commenced clampdown on vessels that do not comply with the provisions of the Cabotage Compliance Strategy introduced last year to ease the implementation of the Cabotage Act 2003 in Nigeria.The Director-General of NIMASA, Dr Dakuku Peterside, said in a statement on Sunday in Lagos that the clampdown became necessary after several warnings.He has said the Agency will no longer encourage the application of any form of waivers under the Cabotage Act, particularly from the oil firms operations as such does not help the growth of the Nigerian maritime sector and economy at large.“Our laws forbid foreign vessels operating in our territorial waters save for compliance with the Cabotage Act.

11 May 2018

Iran's Oil Customers in Europe Might Reduce Imports

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European oil companies are not ruling out reducing Iranian oil imports after the threat of new U.S. sanctions, with some expecting banking issues to hinder trade, but there was no rush to immediately cut volumes.U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday the United States was exiting an international nuclear deal with Iran and would impose new sanctions that seek to reduce oil exports from OPEC's third-largest producer.But as of Friday, companies in Europe said they were still taking Iranian oil.

03 Apr 2018

Indonesia to Postpone New Coal, Palm Oil Shipping Rules to 2020

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Indonesia will postpone until 2020 trade rules requiring exporters of coal and crude palm oil to use only Indonesian-flagged vessels, Industry Minister Airlangga Hartarto said, among efforts to increase foreign exchange reserves. The rules, due to take effect this month and intended to boost the archipelago's shipping industry, were initially postponed in February after raising concerns in coal and palm oil industries over the availability of local vessels. "The timing will be adjusted


10 Jan 2018

Bahri Dry Bulk Secures Newbuild Finance

Bahri Dry Bulk, a business unit of global transportation and logistics leader Bahri, has announced that it has secured a Sharia-compliant funding of SAR 360 million (USD 96mln) from Bank Albilad, one of the fast-growing banks in Saudi Arabia. The fund is to finance the purchase of four new bulk carriers as part of an agreement signed by the company‎ in 2017 with Hyundai Mipo Dockyard (HMD), a member of Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) Group, the world’s largest shipbuilding company based in South Korea. The credit facility, which will be paid over six months, and has a tenure of 13 years including a three-year grace period, will be used to finance 80% of the agreement concluded on 27 August last year.

16 Apr 2017

DSME's Bailout Plan Cleared by Pension Fund

South Korea’s National Pension Service (NPS) agreed to a restructuring of bonds issued by Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME). Reuters reported that this move is expected to help the world’s largest shipbuilder tide over a financial crisis. NPS stated that accepting the debt restructuring will be more advantageous to improve the fund's returns. The finance crunch hit DSME will likely get more time to make payments on bonds that are due this month. NPS is the biggest holder of the debt. It is is Daewoo's single-largest bondholder, with about 390 billion won ($343.5 million) in bonds, Yonhap reported. The government of South Korea suggested in March that bondholders


23 Mar 2017

Daewoo Shipbuilding to Get Fresh $2.6 Bln Bailout

File photo: Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co Ltd

South Korean state banks are preparing a fresh $2.6 billion bailout for floundering Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co Ltd, which has built up huge losses from offshore projects and risks missing debt repayments. Daewoo, Hyundai Heavy Industries and Samsung Heavy Industries are South Korea's top shipbuilders - a massive economic force and a source of national pride. But they slipped into the red in 2015 amid a commodities downturn and bleak trade volumes, prompting cost cuts and asset sales. Of the three, Daewoo's situation is the most difficult.

17 Nov 2016

Will Ballast Water Management Regs Trigger Tanker Scrapping?

Weakness in freight rates will increase tanker shipping demolitions over the next two years, with the trend accelerating in later years as a result of the IMO regulation on ballast water, according to the latest edition of the Tanker Forecaster, published by global shipping consultancy Drewry. Despite the recent decline in tanker freight rates, demolitions have not yet picked up. Scrapping is expected to increase in the next two years, once owners start feeling the heat of persistent, low freight rates. But as the fleet is relatively young, demolitions will be moderate. The new International Maritime Organisation (IMO) regulation on Ballast Water Management will require that all vessels going into deep sea have in-built Ballast Water Treatment Systems (BWTS) by September 2017.

29 Sep 2016

VGM Grace Period Ends October 1

File photo: Port of Savannah

The three-month settling-in period suggested by the IMO to its Member States in which competent authorities were urged to adopt a ‘practical and pragmatic’ approach to the enforcement of the SOLAS revision stipulating all packed containers have a verified gross mass (VGM) before being stowed aboard a ship comes to an end on October 1. Long-time champion of the cause of safer container transport and a leading insurer of the international freight industry, TT Club believes that


15 Jul 2016

SOLAS VGM: Concerns, Impacts and the Road to Compliance

(File photo: Chamendra Wimalasena)

Shipping industry veteran Dan Gardner is director of Mobileweight, which helps to streamline processes and create efficiencies for the container shipping industry. The firm’s first-of-its-kind mobile application and online portal Mobileweight aims to offer a reliable, fast and easy way to comply with SOLAS and electronically file the VGM with ocean carriers. Gardner weighs in on the latest SOLAS VGM requirements which entered force on July 1, and discusses their potential impact across the container shipping sector.

20 Jun 2016

Industry Unprepared for New Container Weighing Rules, says IUMI

Helle Hammer, Managing Director Cefor & Chair of the International Union of Marine Insurance (IUMI) Political Forum discuss about Container Weighing Rules. As of 1 July 2016, only containers with a verified gross mass will be allowed to be loaded on board a vessel (although IMO is allowing a grace period of three months). Although the new SOLAS requirement was adopted in 2014, many shippers and forwarders are still unprepared, and masters will have little choice but to refuse unverified containers. In the short term, non-compliance is likely to affect the cargo insurance sector. Issues include increases in risk exposure due to disturbances in the supply chain


04 Apr 2016

Bahri Secures Finance for 5 VLCC Newbuilds

The National Shipping Company of Saudi Arabia (Bahri) has inked a Murabaha Facility Agreement with Riyad Bank over the weekend to fund an order for five very large crude carriers it made with Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries.   The Islamic financing facility was secured with Riyad Bank and is valued at Saudi Riyals 1.425b ($380m).    The contract period is 10 years and 6 months including a maximum of 2-year grace period.   Bahri signed a contract with Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries to build five VLCCs, with an option to build additional five VLCCs, according to a statement published last May. The delivery is scheduled for 2017.

23 May 2016

Container Weight Regulations

Starting July 1, 2016, the International Maritime Organization’s (IMO) Maritime Safety Committee approved amendments to The International Convention for the Safety of Life at Seas’ (SOLAS), will require that shippers verify gross container weight prior to shipping. But now, according to a report in the WSJ, IMO says ‘practical and pragmatic’ three-month grace period would calm exporter fears of widespread backups. The top global shipping regulator, trying to quiet industry alarms over impending rules that exporters fear will trigger widespread backups at ports, is recommending a three-month grace period for enforcing the ship-safety rule. Drewry Shipping Consultants Ltd.

01 Jun 2016

Hyundai Merchant Marine Bondholders Approve Debt Swap

A majority of Hyundai Merchant Marine Co Ltd (HMM) bondholders have approved a debt-for-equity swap plan, South Korea's second-largest shipper said on Wednesday, paving the way for restructuring of the heavily indebted firm's finances. HMM, which had debts about 5.2 trillion won ($4.36 billion) at end-March, has about 804.3 billion won in publicly traded bonds outstanding, a spokesman said. The debt restructuring plan includes a debt-for-equity swap for over 50 percent of the applicable bonds, while the remaining amount is to be payable in three-year instalments, after a two-year grace period. Last week, HMM's creditor banks agreed to a 680 billion won debt-for-equity swap. Reporting by Joyce Lee