World Maritime News
WMNF 2020/10/15
Asia-Europe freight rates hit five-year high
Spot rates on the Asia-North Europe and Asia-Mediterranean trades have soared to five-year highs as the peak season rush to ship cargo ahead of China’s Golden Week factory holidays fills all available capacity. A combination of blanked sailings and strong demand saw the highest of the Shanghai Containerized Freight Index (SCFI) since 31 December 2015. The figure was almost the double the level recorded in the same week last year.
Read more: JOC | Lloyd’s List
Asia-US container spot freight rates resilient post-Golden Week
The Asia-US container freight rate spot market is showing signs of resilience in the post-Golden Week period, with indices largely unmoved at the start of the traditional slack season.
Freight rates are unlikely to remain at their current levels for long, despite continued demand on major east-west trades, according to Hapag-Lloyd chief executive Habben Jansen. He added most experts expect the strong demand to continue at least until Chinese New Year and one of hypotheses is that as people spend less money on services, they are spending more on goods that are supplied in containers.
Read more: Lloyd’s List1 | Lloyd’s List2
Crewing crisis is risk to global supply chain
International Chamber of Shipping secretary-general Guy Platten told a UN event that around 400,000 seafarers are currently estimated to be working beyond their original contracts with a further 400,000 waiting ashore, often with little or no pay. The impact of the inability of ships to conduct crew changes for the maintenance of safe and efficient supply chains should really be a matter of enlightened self-interest, said the ICS.
Read more: Lloyd’s List1 | Lloyd’s List2 | ITF seafarers | Lloyd’s List3 | Lloyd’s List4
Antwerp receives EU funding for port carbon capture
The Port of Antwerp will receive European Union funding to study ways to transport CO2 for carbon capture and storage. The port and a group of six chemical and energy companies were granted € 9 million to study the feasibility of carrying CO2 from Antwerp to Rotterdam by pipeline and of liquefying and transporting carbon by ship to northwest Europe for storage.
The CO2 pipeline from Antwerp would connect to Porthos, a Dutch open-access CCS project that was granted € 102 million in EU funding in the Week 40.
Read more: Port of Antwerp | Lloyd’s List
IMO’s greenhouse gas plan already outdated
It is in the nature of United Nations agencies to seek consensus, but that consensus is crumbling fast. Shipowners have been put on notice of what is to come, and what will increasingly be expected of them. It is charterers and financiers rather than the regulators that ultimately make the pace. When the likes of Trafigura and BP demand decarbonization, one can say that the IMO blueprint comes over as too little, too late. Ultimately entirely decarbonized supply chains are inevitable, and the shipping industry is going to be part of them.
Read more: Lloyd’s List
Opec sees fossil-fueled future for shipping
Shipping’s drive to decarbonization will not be at the expense of fossil fuels or lead to falling fuel oil consumption, Opec conclude in the World Oil Outlook 2045. Demand for marine bunkers, now at 4 million barrels per day, will rise further 400,000 bpd by 2025, and stabilize at 4.6-4.7 million bpd over the next 25 years. Despite decarbonization objectives of shipping industries, Opec projects a growth in marine bunkers and is downplaying the role of future fuels such as hydrogen and ammonia alongside traditional fuel oils.
Read more: WOO | Lloyd’s List1 | Lloyd’s List2
CMA CGM restores systems after cyber attack
CMA CGM’s online systems are fully operational again, two weeks after the RagnarLocker ransomware attack on 28 September. Customers of CMA CGM were also getting their cargo bookings back on track as the carrier’s online networks returned to normal. The hacking of its network has underlined the vulnerabilities of a rapidly digitalizing container shipping industry. The incident marked the fourth major attack on the leading container lines since Maersk was struck by the notPetya ransomware attack in 2017 followed by Mediterranean Shipping Co. and Cosoco. Cyber-attacks on shipping are no longer an anomaly.
Read more: JOC | Safety at Sea | Lloyd’s List1 | Lloyd’s List2