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General shipping

Shippers warned of carrier concentration designed to stave off disaster

SHIPPING lines are concentrating their power to survive a downturn in trade that is causing losses, according to Parakrama Dissanayake, chairman of Aitken Spence Shipping, the transport arm of Colombo-based Aitken Spence Group. “The bottom line for shippers is that they will eventually have four to five groups controlling 85 per cent of global capacity,” he told the Sri Lankan branch of the Institute of Chartered …

Wednesday, February 22, 2012 11:06 pm, by 0
General shipping

Cosco and China Shipping move towards greater service integration

COSCO and China Shipping Container Lines (CSCL) have announced their intention to strengthen their cooperation this year in a number of fields including shipping services and container management businesses. The two companies have decided to establish committee expressly charged with bringing about greater cooperation in shipping services to enhance service quality and management efficiency. The move is viewed as part of the response to Maersk’s new …

Tuesday, February 21, 2012 9:28 pm, by 0
Malaysia Business

Weak outlook seen for Malaysian steel industry in H1 2012

It is reported that Malaysian local steel companies are expected to face a squeeze in their margins and earnings in the first half of 2012 due to the challenging outlook in the domestic and global front. According to market analysts, industry players would encounter weak domestic steel prices, high raw material cost as well as hikes in electricity and gas tariffs in 2012. In addition, local …

Tuesday, February 21, 2012 9:20 pm, by 0
General shipping

Asia-Europe rates contract 1.4pc to US$711/TEU ahead of coming hikes

SPOT rates fell on all major trades last week, less than two weeks shy of March 1, the date when a large number of rate increases have been proposed, including on the ailing Asia-Europe trade. According to the latest Shanghai Containerised Freight Index (SCFI), Asia-Europe rates contracted 1.4 per cent to US$711 per TEU, while Asia-Mediterranean rates fell three per cent to $735 per TEU. On …

Monday, February 20, 2012 10:31 pm, by 0
General shipping

World’s idle container fleet grows 10-fold to 750,900 TEU over 6 months

THE global idle containership fleet increased to 286 ships with a total capacity of 750,900 TEU as of the end of January 2012, up 10-fold since June when it hit a low of 75,000 TEU, according to Paris-based Alphaliner. This was attributed to excessive growth container shipping capacity combined with “sluggish’ demand on all key trade lanes. By contrast the total active world fleet increased six …

Sunday, February 19, 2012 10:13 pm, by 0
General shipping

Weekly twitdates 2012-02-19

Feb 15: Crude oil prices shed 17 cents to USD100.74 per barrel. Source: STARBIZ # New and bigger vessels continue to be delivered. Cargo to be shipped reducing. Bunker up. Wondering how the shipping industry will cope.. # Feb 16: Crude oil prices jumped USD1.06 to USD101.80 a barrel. Source: STARBIZ # Powered by Twitter Tools

Sunday, February 19, 2012 2:58 am, by 0
General shipping

Diana charters two new 3,750-TEU ships back to the sellers

DIANA Containerships Inc has taken delivery of two panamax containerships and, separately announced its draw down US$75.5 million from the revolving credit facility with the Royal Bank of Scotland. The Cap San Marco and Cap San Raphael were built in 2001 and 2002, respectively, each with a capacity of 3,750 TEU. The purchase price for each vessel was $33 million, a company statement said. The two …

Friday, February 17, 2012 11:13 pm, by 0

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