DFDS takes over Norfolk Line
DFDS has reached an agreement with A.P. Møller-Mærsk to acquire Norfolk Line. The deal is signed, but is subject to confirmation by EU’s competition authorities. Norfolk Line has 2,200 employees, 18 ships and five port terminals. Read More…
Arctic ships could face greenhouse gas restrictions
Shipping companies that operate in the Arctic may be required to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions they produce, depending on how climate-change talks go in Copenhagen, Denmark. The International Marine Organization, the United Nations agency responsible for improving maritime safety and environmental impacts, is seeking a mandate at the Copenhagen summit to regulate greenhouse gases generated by ships.
The issue of curbing pollution from marine vessels is becoming increasingly important in Arctic waterways, which in recent years have been seeing more traffic from commercial freight vessels, cruise ships, icebreakers and other boats. Read More…
Maersk to send 5 ice-class 2,500-TEU ships on Ecubex service
Denmark’s Maersk Line is expected to deploy for the first time five ice-strengthened ships of 2,500 TEU, the largest ships with an ice class 1A notation, on its Europe-West Coast of South America ‘Ecubex’ service to offer a regular Baltic connection. The service will call at two terminals at St Petersburg, to enable shipments of bananas from Ecuador to arrive directly in Russia without transshipment. A move that requires a sixth week to be added to the port rotation, reports AXS-Alphaliner. Read More…
Deliveries keep sailing in
There will be close to three million TEUs of excess capacity by the end of next year, according to experts. They predict excess box capacity will persist till 2013. The prediction was a result of data analysis that showed 1.3 million TEUs of vessels were laid up, more than 1.5 TEUs are due to be delivered by December 2010 and around 200,000 TEUs have been taken out of the market through slow steaming. The hope of excess capacity suggests that low charter rates may offer new entrants a chance to gain a foothold. However, Chairman of China Ocean Shipping (Cosco) has been quoted as saying that shipowners globally will cancel or delay 40 per cent of the newbuildings on order over the next year. Meanwhile, reports have it that new deliveries are continuing. OOCL recently received a 4,578-TEU vessel, the 11th in the series of 18 ordered from Samsung, and German shipowners Heinrich Juengerhans, Ottman Schiffhart and Reederel Marten have received three ships of 4244-TEUs, 4252 TEUs and 1304 TEUs. The ships may be deployed for the Far East trade, it is reported.
Oil Prices Gained 59,85% in 2009 Shooting Up Shipping Costs
Last Friday, for the first time since last October, oil prices closed below $70 per barrel at $69,87 per barrel after declined for the eighth day in a row. Although the nine-month rally in oil prices appeared to falter as a gradual sell-off that began in late October gained momentum, for the shipping sector, energy costs remain in high levels, thus lifting shipping operating costs. Since last January, during the worst economic recession of last decades, oil prices have gained 59.85%. OPEC members are satisfied with the current price and they don’t schedule to change their daily volume of exports in the forthcoming meeting in Angola on December 22. Read More…
