Potential Buyers News

Qilak LNG plans to invest $5 billion in a proposed liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility in Alaska's North Slope to compete with Russia's Yamal project for Asian customers towards the end of this decade, its chief executive said. Major LNG importers such as Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan are rethinking Russian supplies after sanctions on Moscow after it invaded Ukraine and more natural gas could be needed to produce lower emission and alternative fuels as nations try to reduce their carbon emissions.

Singapore's Strategic Marine has ordered 50 of its C32 ACERT IMO III engines from Caterpillar dealer PT Trakindo Utama Singapore Branch, citing severe disruptions to the supply of what it says is critical shipbuilding equipment due to the pandemic, which has caused worldwide logistics and supply chain bottlenecks and disruptions.The company, which builds aluminum boats, with offshore crew transfer vessels being its main offering, said the acquisition of the 50 engines would significantly shorten its production timeline for new vessels…

Maersk has found possible buyers for its stake in Global Ports Investments, which operates ports in Russia as it withdraws from the country following a final cargo shipment this week, the Danish shipping group said on Wednesday.Maersk put its 30.75% share of Global Ports up for sale as it decided to quit Russia because of its invasion of Ukraine.It said talks were taking place with several potential buyers without giving names and that it did not expect to have to give the stake…

Sixty-five years after Aristotle Onassis founded Greece's Olympic Airways, another shipping entrepreneur is planning to take to the skies - this time in Italy, where Gianluigi Aponte's MSC has its sights on the successor company to Alitalia.The 81-year-old, known as "the captain" after building his shipping empire from a single vessel, is hoping to forge an air freight and passenger business to dovetail with MSC's sea cargo and cruise operations.But there are big challenges.Alitalia stumbled for years…

U.S. energy regulators on Wednesday granted Delfin LNG a second one-year extension until September 2021 to build its proposed floating liquefied natural gas export facility off the coast of Louisiana.Delfin is one of several North American LNG developers that have delayed decisions on whether to go ahead with multibillion-dollar projects as gas prices slumped worldwide and buyers became reluctant to sign long-term agreements needed to fund construction.Global gas prices collapsed because of an oversupplied market and coronavirus demand destruction.

Oil product tankers earnings have skyrocketed in the first half of 2020, while the sale and purchase (S&P) activity of the oil product tanker market has slowed to the lowest level since 2016. Data from VesselsValue highlight that in the first five months of 2020, only 2.8 million deadweight tons (DWT) of oil product tankers have shifted hands in the second-hand market, a 45% drop compared to the same period last year.A surprising S&P slowdown?The oil product tanker market has thereby experienced a disconnect in the first half of 2020 with high spot earnings…

Southampton, United Kingdom: It has been quite a few years since I last touched down in the UK; longer still for a visit on a maritime business trip. And, I don’t cross 'the big pond' casually for one these events. This morning, Seawork 2019 in Southampton is not yet over but if the past two days have been any indication at all, then the entire event will be regarded as a rousing success for all involved.There is something for everyone here. I overheard one attendee refer to the event as the annual gathering of “the boys and their toys.” To be sure; almost every possible development, new idea, and the widest gathering of shallow draft workboats I’ve ever seen in one place, was mustered and on display in this compact venue.

All offers from potential buyers of a strategically located but debt-laden Philippine shipyard will be welcome, the trade minister said on Thursday, ruling out barring Chinese firms over national security fears.Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez said the government would not, and could not, block interested buyers of distressed shipbuilder Hanjin Philippines, which defaulted on $1.3 billion in loans, of which $900 million is owed to South Korean banks and the rest to five Philippine lenders.Hanjin, a unit of South Korea's Hanjin Heavy Industries & Construction Co Ltd, until recently employed 20,000 workers at its yard in Subic Bay, which until 1992 was home to a U.S.

The international marine transportation company d’Amico International Shipping (DIS) announced that its joint venture (JV) company DM Shipping (DMS)  signed a memorandum of agreement for the sale of its product tanker vessel MT High Strength  for a consideration of USD 16.4 millionThe 46,800 dwt MR tanker is , built in 2009 by Nakai Zosen Corporation, Japan. DMS is a JV with the Mitsubishi Group, in which d’Amico Tankers (Ireland) holds a 51% participation.MT High Strength will continue its current time-charter out contract with d’Amico Tankers until October 2019, said the product tanker market operator.This transaction allows DM Shipping to generate around US$ 12.3 million in cash…

MetalCraft Marine’s 10 Meter Interceptor model is a formidable workboat. Defined by the sum of its myriad parts, it really can be seen that ‘the equipment makes the boat.’ This month, we ask "What's in Your workboat?"In a business where there is rarely any shortage of pretty boats, cutting edge designs and equally impressively performing workboat tonnage, it is also true that the real value to any design is cemented by the very equipment that makes it run. Typically, however, comparing apples to apples when it comes to selecting your next patrol, fire, SAR or pilot boat is almost impossible. Until now.Kick the tires. Pop open the hood. Put this one up on the jacks. Spend a little time under the chassis.

The response to troubles at Thyssenkrupp's plant engineering and shipbuilding division could determine whether interim boss Guido Kerkhoff has a realistic shot at keeping the top job, three people familiar with the matter said.Settling who will succeed Heinrich Hiesinger, who left in July over a strategy clash with leading shareholders, will help to determine whether Thyssenkrupp clings on to its conglomerate structure or seeks ways to simplify its business.The 50-year-old Kerkhoff, who served as finance chief under Hiesinger and was given the top job pending the appointment of a permanent suc

Creditors of Stanford Marine Group (SMG), which has links to troubled private equity firm Abraaj, are in talks with three potential buyers, sources familiar with the matter say.Banks are overseeing control of Dubai-based SMG after it failed to meet the terms of its debt obligations due to financial stress linked to a steep fall in chartering rates, the sources said.SMG, which operates offshore supply vessels that service the oil and gas industry, is 51 percent owned by a fund managed by Abraaj. Dubai-based Abraaj filed for provisional liquidation in June after a row with investors over the use of their money in a $1 billion healthcare fund.

Global LNG imports rose by 20 percent in 2017; new demand emerges across South, Southeast Asia. Soaring gas demand from China, India and Southeast Asia is sucking up an LNG supply glut previously expected to last for years, opening opportunity for new production from East Africa to North America that had been deemed part of the overhang. Trade flows in Eikon show global liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports have risen 40 percent since 2015, to almost 40 billion cubic metres (bcm) a month. Growth accelerated in 2017, with imports up by a fifth, largely due to China, but also South Korea and Japan. Asia's LNG market has been glutted since 2015, following massive development that began in the early 2000s.

The LNG shipping market tightened throughout the third quarter, and rates increased sharply in October following gradual increases since May. This was due in part to strong LNG demand from China which helped to widen the arbitrage between spot LNG import prices in Europe, U.S. and Asia. This led to increased cargoes from the Atlantic basin and an associated increase of average sailing distances. The current market dynamic is supportive for a further increase in rates during a seasonally strong period of the year. It is also important to note that a relatively small portion of the global fleet of LNGC operates in the spot market (less than 10%), which can result in periods of increased volatility.

A closed arbitrage from other regions and refinery shutdowns have tightened the Mediterranean diesel market driving cargo premiums to ICE gasoil futures to their highest since August 2015. "It's almost impossible to find cargoes for the first half of May in the Mediterranean," one trader active in the region said. "Arbitrage from the U.S. (into the Mediterranean) is not really working, or just working on a 10-minute basis so nobody is able to fix cargoes," he added. As a result, delivered Mediterranean diesel cargo premiums to the ICE May gasoil low-sulphur futures contract <DL-CIF-MED> rose to $11 a tonne on Thursday, their highest since August 2015. "The Mediterranean is very strong, but very little is pointing towards the region arbitrage-wise," another trader said.

DONG Energy said it has reached a settlement with Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering and Technip over who bears responsibility for construction errors concerning an offshore platform for the idled Hejre field. The settlement clears a major hurdle for the Danish company's plans to divest its oil and gas unit to focus on its growing business of developing offshore wind farms. DONG said in a statement that the agreement will reduce the 2.5 billion Danish crowns ($367 million) of provisions it made in relation to the Hejre field ahead of its listing, which was one of the largest in the world last year. It will also have a positive impact of around 900 million crowns on operating profit in DONG's Discontinued Operations…

Korea Development Bank, the main creditor of the dissolved Hanjin Shipping Co. and state-owned entity, has put 10 Hanjin vessels up for sale in order to source back elements of its extended loans, reports Yonhap. According to the sources, potential buyers are required to submit their bids for the ships — two container ships and eight bulk carriers — by Feb. 21. Previously a South Korean court agreed to formally end Hanjin Shipping Co Ltd’s court receivership process after a two week appeal period, ending the business. Therefore any method of rehabilitation for the South Korean shipping company is now over, thus heralding liquidation.

German shipping finance provider is optimistic about the prospects of finding a potential buyer for the bank, which will begin a privatization process this year with a deadline in February 2018, says a report in Reuters. "Despite the difficult market environment, we have very good prospects of selling the bank," the report quoted Oliver Gatzke as telling Boersen Zeitung newspaper. HSH Nordbank met potential buyers in London in November ahead of the German lender's planned privatisation this year, people close to the matter told Reuters. HSH's owners - the northern German states of Schleswig-Holstein and Hamburg jointly hold 85 percent - have to privatise the bank by the end of February 2018 and have mandated Citi to organise the process, due to start in early 2017.

Denmark's A.P. Moller-Maersk and DONG Energy are in talks to merge their oil and gas operations in a deal that would create a business worth more than $10 billion including debt, sources familiar with the matter said. Maersk is working with Bank of America on the potential deal, while JP Morgan is assisting Dong Energy, said the people, who cautioned there is no certainty the parties would come to terms. Maersk said in September it planned to merge or spin-off its energy assets as part of a major restructuring and instead focus on its core transport and logistics businesses.

Four parties have expressed interest in buying one or both of South Korea's STX Offshore & Shipbuilding Co Ltd and a controlling stake in STX France SA, a spokesman for the Seoul court overseeing STX Offshore's receivership said on Friday. The Seoul Central District Court spokesman declined to comment on the names of the parties. The South Korean court in October decided to allow the two units of the collapsed STX shipbuilding group to be sold either separately or together. Initial bids were due on Friday for all of STX Offshore & Shipbuilding Co Ltd and a 66.7 percent stake in STX France SA that is held by STX Europe AS. The four parties that entered non-binding bids in the sale were France's DCNS Group…

Three bulk carriers sold charter-free at about market rates. Two Hanjin container ships also up for sale. Three ships chartered to Hanjin Shipping Co Ltd have been sold and two more vessels are up for sale, ship brokers said on Wednesday, kicking off an asset sale sparked by the failure of the world's seventh largest container shipper. Around $14 billion of cargo has been tied up globally as ports, tugboat operators and cargo handling firms worried about not being paid refuse to work for Hanjin, which filed for receivership in a Seoul court on Aug 31. While some ships have been offloaded since then, bottlenecks are forming at some ports and truck yards as containers pile up.

Dutch group Damen shipyards and Italian group Fincantieri are the two potential buyers that have emerged for STX France, a shipyard subsidiary of the struggling South Korean group STX Corp, French daily Le Monde said on Thursday. "Two foreign candidates, Italy's Fincantieri and Holland's Damen are fighting over the last big French company of the (shipyard) sector," Le Monde said, citing several sources. On Wednesday a French finance ministry source said two potential buyers had emerged for STX France.

Two potential buyers have emerged for STX France, a shipyard subsidiary of the struggling South Korean group STX Corp, according to a French finance ministry source. The French state holds a 33 percent minority stake in STX France, which runs a naval shipyards in Saint Nazaire on the west coast. Lossmaking STX Corp is in administration. A French finance ministry source said a South Korean court was poised to clear a decision to liquidiate STX Corp's assets on Friday this week, a move that could clear the way for the sale of its assets.