Magic pipe not guilty verdict 'gives hope' to shipping firms, says lawyer Owners and operators of panamax bulker are cleared but chief engineer is convicted
August brings mixed fortunes for California box ports Long Beach reports volume surge as Los Angeles monthly growth stagnates
The pros and cons of black box underwriting Underwriters must embrace technology to remain relevant, but at what cost?
Marine hull market is a laughing stock, says Townsend The industry has only itself to blame for Groundhog Day pattern of losses
UK detains three ships in August Coastguard says port state control inspectors now hold six vessels
Seaspan reveals buy-back plan Directors authorise cash-funded share repurchase
Antwerp plans 2015 LNG bunkering launch Port develops alternative fuel provision through a strategic alliance with Exmar
Cargo insurers must work more closely with surveyors Co-operation will offset failings in disaster planning, Volante tells IUMI
Property insurers highlight the benefits of modelling static exposures Hurricane Sandy wiped out all the marine premium collected last year
Improved capacity outlook brings good news for capesize rates At least one analyst expects rally to continue into second quarter
Neptune Pacific Line takes stake in Samoan carrier Pacific island specialists will serve 12 regional markets
We want information-sharing, ReCapt tells insurers Hull underwriters need to collaborate on major losses and minor incidents, says Storvik
West African piracy could hit cargo market as hard as those in Somalia Shipowners and charterers need to work together to assess ships' vulnerability
Salvage teams winch Costa Concordia upright Ship is half-submerged on a platform after 19-hour parbuckling operation
STX Finland to close Rauma shipyard to cut costs Work will halt next year as shipbuilder consolidates at Turku amid heavy job cuts
STX O&S creditors ponder $1.5bn in cancellations Talks continue over proposal to terminate contracts for 10 ships and an offshore vessel
First Ship Lease reports another default on charterparty contracts Italy's OMNI unable to honour agreements for Stella Eltanin and Stella Fomalhaut
Kexim forecasts accelerated growth in orders for South Korean yards Policy bank revises up its estimate of yearly orders to $36bn
PERTAMINA confirms plans to buy 19 tankers INDONESIA's energy giant PERTAMINA confirmed to Fairplay today it plans to buy 19 tankers in line with long-term efforts to renew its ageing fleet
Odfjell raises $90M in bonds ODFJELL, the chemical carrier and tank terminals group, has sold 500M kroner ($90M) in bonds
Teekay: China will need VLCC newbuildings CHINA, expected to account for the most growth in crude imports in coming years, will need to have more VLCCs built, Teekay Tankers said today
Drewry: box rate rise will not last BOX RATES staged their second consecutive monthly increase in August, but it will not last, a report warned today
Record US sentence sought as deterrence SEEKING to deter future collusion, US prosecutors have asked that former Sea Star president Frank Peake be imprisoned for 87 months for his role in the 2003-8 Puerto Rico price-fixing conspiracy, court filings revealed
Newbuilding orders rise 86% NEWBUILDING orders rose 86% year on year in August, as 179 ships of 11.2M dwt were ordered, up from 96 ships in the same month last year
Long Beach boxes surge 19% IMPORTS at Long Beach jumped 19% year on year in August, helping the port achieve its busiest month in six years
Ezra issues S$25M in notes SINGAPORE's Ezra Holdings said today it has issued S$25M ($19.82M) in fixed-rate notes toward its general working capital
GCL sells its HK bulker operating unit CHINA's GCL has sold its subsidiary Grand China Shipping Hong Kong for $1 to a company unconnected with GCL, a company spokesman told Fairplay
China's coal imports climbed 27% in August CHINA's coal imports rose 27% year on year to 26M tonnes in August, customs statistics showed today
X-Press stays its course X-PRESS Feeders told Fairplay today it plans to continue to operate mainly chartered-in vessels, despite its recent purchases of secondhand feeder ships
Northport warns of lacklustre box movements MALAYSIA'S largest port operator Northport Malaysia told Fairplay today box throughput this year would be slower than in 2012 because of STX Pan Ocean's exit, among other factors
Nam Cheong keeps 'buy' DMG & PARTNERS has maintained a 'buy' rating for Malaysia's largest OSV builder Nam Cheong, amid a strong orderbook, consistent profitability and solid project prospects
Japan coal use hits record JAPANESE power utilities consumed 5.7M tonnes of coal in August, a monthly high
Japanese order growth ends JAPANESE shipbuilders suffered a year-on-year drop in order wins for August, halting five months of continual year-on-year growth
Werner Enterprises Downgrades 3Q Expectations Werner Enterprises has announced that it expects its earnings per diluted share for the third quarter to be in the range of 27 cents to 30 cents, down from its earlier projection of 36 cents. Financial services firm Stifel Nicolaus said Werner's "disappointing" results were surprising, and prior to this announcement...
Flooding Subsiding in Colorado, But Revving Up in Mexico @ColoradoDOT tweeted a photo of the bridge at 95th Street over Coal Creek in Louisville, Colo., that collapsed.Although flooding in Colorado is winding down as heavy rains have begun subsiding, Mexico has declared a state of emergency after being battered by storms from both the Gulf of Mexico and the...
Port of Charleston's Container Volume Hits Highest Level Since October 2008 Port of Charleston's TEU throughput in the last 12 months. Full-size image The South Carolina Ports Authority handled 144,649 20-foot-equivalent units in August, an increase of 5.6 percent year-over-year and the highest monthly volume since October 2008. The gain helped drive a 4.5 percent increase in container volume since the beginning of fiscal...
OIA Global Acquires Bellville International OIA Global has purchased majority control of Bellville International, a provider of freight forwarding and logistics services headquartered in London. Bellville International is the holding company for Bellville Rodair International in Europe, the United States, China and Brazil. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. "This acquisition is very strategic...
Jones Joins Ryder as Senior VP, Chief Marketing Officer Karen Jones has joined Ryder System as senior vice president and chief marketing officer, reporting to Chairman and CEO Robert Sanchez. In this newly created role on Ryder's leadership team, Jones is responsible for leading both the Fleet Management Solutions and Supply Chain Solutions marketing departments and integrating the management of...
Finnair Ends Mumbai Freighter Service Finnair Cargo will offer additional capacity between Helsinki and Madrid in September and October by deploying A330s on the flights.Finnair Cargo is dropping its weekly freighter service to and from Mumbai after nearly two years. The last round trip for the Helsinki-Mumbai-Helsinki freighter was the flight that departed Sept. 16 from...
LA-LB Container Volume Rose 7.2 Percent in August TEU throughput of Ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles in the last 12 months. Full-size image The Los Angeles-Long Beach port complex's total container volume in August was 1.34 million 20-foot-equivalent units, rising 7.2 percent from 1.25 million TEUs in August 2012. Loaded containers moving through the nation's largest port complex increased...
Lofty Goals, Little Action In too many cases, we've seen government representatives state laudable goals in laws while doing little or, in some cases, working against those goals from being achieved. This unfortunately appears to be the case with the federal transportation reauthorization act, known as MAP-21, when it comes to freight policy. In...
Weights and Balances - or Not The director of the upcoming Robert Redford film "All Is Lost" didn't invent the idea that a sailboat could hit a drifting shipping container at sea. In the film, to be released Oct. 18, such an accident precipitates a dramatic life-and-death struggle when the damaged yacht with its navigation systems...
US Diesel Prices Dip From Five-Month High U.S. diesel prices through September 16, 2013 Full-size image U.S. diesel prices inched down as of Sept. 16, following an 8.5 cent jump in the weeks before that brought the average to its highest level since April 1, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. The national average price is $3.974, down 0.2...
US Containerized Footwear Imports Climb for Second Straight Quarter Containers of footwear imports through U.S. ports experienced a second consecutive quarter of year-over-year volume growth in the second quarter of 2013, jumping 18.2 percent. Prior to first quarter 2013, footwear import volume declined for six quarters straight. "After two bad years, 2013 appears to be the year of recovery for...
Luxembourg in Talks to Sell Cargolux Stake The government of Luxembourg is negotiating with Chinese investors over the sale of its stake in Cargolux, Europe's largest all-cargo airline. Officials from Henan province and its investment arm, Henan Civil Aviation Development and Investment Co., visited Luxembourg's airport and Cargolux's offices on Sept. 16. The government of the Grand Duchy...
Mitchell 1 Awards 2013 SuperTech Grand Champion Pittsburgh, PA (September 16, 2013) - Mitchell 1 has awarded Mark McLean Jr. of Fed Ex Freight, the Grand Champion of TMC's SuperTech 2013 National Technician Skills Competition, a subscription that will allow him to access one of Mitchell 1's online service information products for Class 4-8 trucks for a full year....
China office for London's Baltic Exchange London headquartered bulk shipping exchange, the Baltic Exchange has today (17 September 2013) opened a new office in Shanghai. The exchange, whose members comprise the world's leading shipping, chartering and broking companies, provides data on the cost of moving bulk commodities such as iron ore, coal and oil by sea. The...
Gujarat Pipavav Port Ltd wins 'Port Operator of the year' for Health, Safety and Quality Mumbai September 17, 2013: APM Terminals operated Gujarat Pipavav Port (APM Terminals Pipavav), one of Western India's fastest growing gateway ports won the "Port Operator of the year' for maintaining highest standards of Health, Safety and Quality" by - The Maritime and Logistics Award (MALA) organized by EXIM India. Thanking MALA...
BBC ICELAND Helps in Syrian Refugees Rescue Operation The global provider of multipurpose and heavy lift shipping services, German based BBC Chartering reports its vessel BBC ICELAND assisted a rescue operation where more than 300 Syrian refugees were found floating in fishing boats off the Italian-Sicilian coast on September 13. Due to its proximity to the scene, the BBC...
MSC to Challenge Maersk Line as Top Carrier Mediterranean Shipping Co. will challenge Maersk Line as the world's biggest ocean carrier over the coming four years, as it boasts the biggest order book for new vessels, according to industry analyst Alphaliner. With new orders totalling 572,000 20-foot-equivalent units since 2009, Swiss-based MSC will narrow the gap with Maersk Line...
Teamsters' Umbrella: From Truckers to Zookeepers What do flight simulator technicians, hearse drivers, cheese cooks and yogurt processors, locomotive engineers and graphic artists have in common with truck drivers? Depending on whom they work for, they all may be Teamsters. "I always say the Teamsters union is A to Z, airline pilots to zookeepers," Teamsters General President...
Teamsters Union Takes New Tack on Drayage Carriers When long-haul and local truck drivers at Toll Global Forwarding's Cartaret, N.J., location voted this summer in favor of representation by the Teamsters, it was the union's latest successful bid to organize workers on the waterfront. A month later, the union's primary vehicle to organize owner-operator drayage carriers first in Los...
The Road to Drayage Driver Independence In a 2003 interview with The Journal of Commerce, Teamsters President James P. Hoffa was asked why harbor truck drivers in the U.S. were at the bottom of the transportation industry food chain. "The short answer is truck deregulation," Hoffa said. Prior to federal deregulation of the trucking industry in 1980,...
Owners top up Goldenport's backer the Dragnis family has invested over $800,000 to boost its holding in the shipowner.
OMNI in Singapore filing OMNI Ships' double charter default with First Ship Lease comes with the Italian owner under court protection in Singapore.
AHTS rates soar Statoil has paid NOK 1.25m ($212,000) per day for a Farstad anchor-handler (AHTS) in a tight North Sea spot market.
Odfjell sells out Norway's Odfjell has completed a NOK 500m ($84.74m) bond sale in Oslo - and could have sold substantially more.
Kuwait: no Hormuz bypass Kuwait has dropped plans to build a crude export pipeline that would bypass Iranian shipping lanes in the Strait of Hormuz.
STX exile rides wave Star Bulk Carriers has taken advantage of a three-year high in capesize spot rates to fix a ship dropped by STX Pan Ocean on a fresh period contract.
WSF officers suspended Washington State Ferries (WSF) has taken a captain and second mate off duty following a collision with a sailboat.
Dorian begins at buy Fearnley Securities has initiated coverage of Dorian LPG with a buy rating on the newcomer to Oslo's over the counter market.
Three held in UK UK port state inspectors detained three vessels during August, including a Suardiaz ro-ro with deck cracking.
Stream swoops for five Norway's Stream Tankers has ordered up to five chemical tanker newbuildings in Japan.
RCCL axes 100 staff Royal Caribbean Cruises (RCCL) is laying off about 100 shore staff to increase efficiency.
Default a drag for FSL First Ship Lease shares slammed into reverse today following the latest charter defaults to hit the owner.
Harbor Star scales back Philippines tug and salvage group Harbor Star Shipping Services has knocked nearly 24% off the maximum share price for its imminent Manila IPO.
China packs a punch Chinese shipbuilders have this year captured a record share of large containership newbuilding orders, Clarksons says.
U-Ming funds trio Taiwan's U-Ming has clinched a new loan to finance three bulkers at Oshima Shipbuilding.
Senator out of its Shell Farstad Shipping has found period employment in Brazil for one of its newest spot-trading anchor-handlers.
Sterling sets sail New sale & purchase broking outfit Sterling Shipping Services has been launched in London.
Concordia reaches "degree zero" The battered cruiseship Costa Concordia is fully upright after a mammoth salvage operation was completed successfully in the early hours of Tuesday.
Matson pays for mess Hawaii container line Matson Navigation will cover the full costs of cleaning up a spill of molasses in Honolulu.
Exmar in Antwerp tie up Exmar has been named as strategic partner to Antwerp Port Authority as it looks to establish an LNG bunkering facility.
BFC buys veteran Russia's Baltic Fuel Company (BFC) has bought a 1964-built ship for bunkering operations.
Zim ship reaches UK A Zim Lines containership has made its first port call since it suffered a blaze last month.
Ezra in fund raiser Ezra Holdings has bolstered its finances following a successful bond issue, the company confirmed Tuesday.
Washington senators introduce bill to fight cargo diversion The so-called "Maritime Goods Movement Act for the 21st Century" was developed to eliminate incentives for shippers to bypass U.S. ports and move their goods through Canada and Mexico ports instead.
Shippers voice concerns over mega-ships, mega-alliances
Former Maersk Line head Kolding ousted at Danske Bank Eivind Kolding became renowned in the container shipping industry, not just for heading the biggest single operator between 2006 and 2011, but for unveiling a bold set of directives aimed at improving customer service.
August containerized imports hit near-high for 2013
U.S. Commerce, AmCham Shanghai sign agreement
Washington Notebook: VP Biden makes infrastructure pitch at SE ports
Long Beach container surge continues in August The port's total volume surged 13.4 percent to 630,292 TEUs for the month, the highest total since October 2007, compared to the Port of Los Angeles, which saw total volume rise 0.4 percent in August to 709,676 TEUs.
Worries over EU air cargo security rules implementation The International Air Cargo Association said the new regulations, which take effect on July 1, 2014, fall outside industry goals of "a common, unified approach to global security standards."
European prices show a mixed trend Rotterdam: Congestion at loading installations reported.
Bunker prices show little movement Good avails in South Africa.
Spain renews warning of legal action over Gibraltar Bunker sector's floating-storage 'violates environmental law'.
Report: Kuwait drops pipeline bypass plan Plan to circumvent Hormuz Strait too costly.
Supplier to boost operations at Ceyhan Socar Marine to offer IFO blends and MGO.
Gothenburg terminal 'must find savings' DFDS boss says terminal should face 'new reality'.
Shell in new move to expand LNG bunkering MoU is part of the Dubai Maritime Green Initiative.
Exmar wins bid for LNG bunker tanker Exmar to help Antwerp promote LNG as marine fuel.
Bunker prices softening ahead of Asian holidays Offices in Busan will be closed from Wednesday to Friday.
Baltic Fuel buys river-sea class vessel Vessel to be used in bunkering operations
Florida-based firm installs sulphur testing equipment Technology allows for same day results on sulphur content in fuel.
IMO 'avoiding debate' about CO2 targets Shipping industry fears unrealistic targets and questions what very high demands on efficiency improvements would achieve.
Gunvor secures $675 million loan for Ust-Luga terminal Credit facility will allow for 'optimally leveraged' terminal, says Corporate Finance Director.
EU should help pay to install scrubbers Issue of ECA compliance after 2015 remains 'completely unresolved', says CEO.
Fuel efficiency software gets upgrade Fuel consumption calculator added to software among other upgrades.
Bunker surcharges should be falling faster, says analyst Fuel efficiency increasing with bigger vessels.
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