Global Maritime Hub

By John Roper, Managing Director & Head of Middle East, Uniper Global Commodities SE For the first time since engines replaced sails in the early 19th century, the operational status quo of global shipping is being rewritten. The International Maritime Organization's (IMO) ruling to reduce the sulphur cap for bunker fuel from 3.5% to 0.5% by 2020, not 2025, means an overhaul...

By Subhasis Ghosh, Apex Consultants During our discussions at a trade facilitation and investment meeting organised by an industry chamber recently, we had good conversations on the subject with a few colleagues. Based on my experience, analysis and interactions with the leadership of several special economic, free zones and industrial parks over the years, am sharing my perspective for further conversation: What...

There is a lot of excitement about what is called the “sharing economy”. Its genius: money is made by intelligently mutualising assets. The advantage for companies: less need for investments in assets. Its prime example: Uber. Shipping is not usually associated with such cool things. Quite the contrary. At almost every shipping conference, people talk about that mysterious Uber of...

A consensus is building among Panamax observers and traders that the mid-range bulkers are poised for a quite positive 6-8 weeks ahead as a combination of oncoming South American grain cargoes—driven by strong eastbound demand—and slimming tonnage availabilities generate a bullish upward spiral in spot freights in the Atlantic. Even as current spot markets stagnate around last-done rates and...

Bitcoin is a digital payment system, and a cryptocurrency, invented by an anonymous programmer, or a group of programmers, under the name Satoshi Nakamoto. It is a peer-to-peer transaction system which takes place without the help of third parties, where transactions are verified by independent nodes, known as miners, and recorded on a public global ledger known as Blockchain. In...

Ship transport along the Asia-North Europe trade lane is used to carry large box ship deliveries for trade activities. Orders are done in large numbers. For instance, the current orderbook for the mega boxships amounts to 1.4 million TEUs. The delivery will influence the capacity of the market share between the three Alliances, found in the Asia to North...

By Jose Paul (Drewry) The year 2017 saw a modest recovery in container shipping after a disastrous performance in 2016. According to Drewry maritime research and consulting services, the container shipping industry has lost about US$ 10 billion in 2016. In August 2016, container shipping line Hanjin Shipping of South Korea declared bankruptcy, leaving 66 ships carrying goods worth US$...