SRTS News

The rarefied, volatile VLCC peak has dropped from record $300,000 a day territory and is close to ducking back under $100,000 in the next 24 hours as charterers cancelled a swathe of tankers that had been booked on subs at all-time high prices. Latest spot rates for VLCCs are now ... read more

Ship financing is at its lowest level since the global financial crisis of 2008, according to the latest annual survey from Greece’s Petrofin Bank Research. The top 40 banks’ lending to shipping now stands at $300.7bn, the lowest level since Petrofin started monitoring the global portfolio in 2008. $44.3bn has ... read more

James Hughes-Hallett, the former chairman of Swire Group, passed away on October 12 at the age of 70 after a long illness. Hughes-Hallett, who started out at a ship agent, joining the Swire Group in 1976 and eventually he rose to become chairman of the group between 2005 and 2015. ... read more

Tanker prices have leapt across the board this week due to the hot chartering market and a shortage of available tonnage on the market. Data from Braemar ACM shows that one in five VLCCs in operation today face restrictions from US sanctions, and research carried out by the shipbroking house ... read more

Bob Burke led Ridgebury Tankers has taken advantage of the current hot market for VLCCs, sealing a deal for 2001-built VLCC trio , and . Brokers are reporting the sale at $98m en bloc, which is substantially higher than current valuations in the market for the vessels. VesselsValue places a ... read more

Norwegian bulk operator Belships has entered into a seven-year bareboat charter for a 61,000 dwt ultramax bulk carrier newbuilding. The vessel will be delivered by a Japanese shipyard during the first quarter of 2020, and the agreement comes with purchase options below current market values. The purchase option can be exercised ... read more

Greek owner Chartworld Shipping and its affiliate company Nederland Shipping pled guilty in federal court in Wilmington, Delaware, to failing to notify the U.S. Coast Guard of a hazardous condition on one if its vessels and violating the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships (APPS) by presenting false documents to ... read more

Chinese company Jutal Offshore Oil Services has announced that the company has obtained a slew of new contracts with total value of RMB3.5bn ($490m). The contracts include large scale core modules construction for Arctic LNG 2 natural gas project, wind turbine jacket construction and other offshore engineering services. Including the ... read more

Singapore’s Ultra Deep Solutions has announced that newbuild diving support vessel Andy Warhol has been signed to a long-term contract. The vessel is scheduled for delivery by Wuchang Shipbuilding Industry Group at the end of the year, and will immediately go on contract. Ultra Deep Solutions did not reveal the client, ... read more

Dutch FPSO specialist SBM Offshore has completed the project financing of FPSO Liza Unity for a total of $1.14bn. The financing was secured by a consortium of nine international banks, and SBM expects to draw the loan in full, phased over the construction period of the unit. The Liza Unity ... read more

Emmanuel Macron is doing more than just about any other major world politician to change the shipping industry. Having personally backed calls to mandate slow steaming, the French president’s government is now pushing for Europe to create bunker taxes. The French finance minister, Bruno Le Maire, discussed with reporters yesterday ... read more

Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) has signed shipbuilding contracts with South Korean yard Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME) for the construction of five 23,000 teu mega boxships for around $762m in total. The latest order is an option exercised by MSC as part of a 11-ship order made by the ... read more

Norway’s 2020 Bulkers and Ocean Yield have entered into a sale and leaseback deal for newbuild newcastlemax bulkers Bulk Seoul and Bulk Shanghai. Ocean Yield is buying the vessels for $42m each, net of a $5m sellers’ credit, and chartering them back to 2020 Bulkers on a 13-year bareboat charter. ... read more

The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) has revoked the bunker craft operator licence of Inter-Pacific Petroleum as part of its ongoing effort to ensure the integrity of bunkering in Singapore. MPA suspended the licence of Inter-Pacific Petroleum in June after an enforcement check on a bunker tanker operated ... read more

Kontainers, a UK-based e-commerce software provider for freight brands, is at the forefront of driving the digitalisation change of the freight industry with major shipping and logistics players. Graham Parker, CEO of Kontainers, reckons the shipping and logistics industry is still in the early stages of digitalisation despite the pace ... read more

Navios Maritime Partners has repaid its $418.5m Term Loan B via a series of refinancing measures. The refinancing includes a $301m financing from commercial banks, $49.5m through sale and leaseback transactions, and $66.7m from cash on its balance sheet. Angeliki Frangou, chairman and CEO of Navios Partners, commented: “We are ... read more

Imran Khan, prime Mminister of Pakistan met Eric Ip, group managing director of Hutchison Ports, yesterday to discuss the Hong Kong terminal operator’s expansion plans in south Asia. Ip confirmed to the prime minister the commencement of construction of the second phase of the Pakistan Deep Water Container Port project ... read more

Shenzhen-listed bulk commodity trader Zheshang Development has announced a plan to acquire Zhejiang Shipping Group from its controlling shareholder Zhejiang Communications Investment Group. The deal is part of the internal asset restructuring process by state-run Zhejiang Communications Investment Group. Zheshang Development is currently making efforts to develop the company into ... read more

Wuhan Maritime Court is going to sell the 2004-built 52,500 dwt supramax via online auction on November 10. The vessel was seized by the court at the request of the ship’s crew due to salary payment dispute with the Greek owner Voyage Shipholding. The starting price for the vessel in ... read more

Malaysian FPSO operator Yinson Holdings has been awarded two letters of intent by Petrobras for the charter, operations and maintenance of FPSO Marlim 2 for the Marlim revitalisation project in Brazil. The contract period is for 25 years and total value of the contract is $5.4bn. FPSO Marlim 2 will ... read more