South Korea takes top spot in global ship orders
South Korean shipbuilders clinched the No. 1 position in new orders worldwide in the first 10 months of the year, outpacing Chinese rivals, according to industry data last Tuesday.
According to the data compiled by industry tracker Clarkson Research Institute, local shipyards garnered new orders worth a combined 10.26 million compensated gross tons (CGTs) in the January-October period, or 45 percent of the total global orders tallied at 23.05 million CGTs. Chinese shipbuilding companies came next with 7.1 million CGTs over the cited period, or 31 percent of the total. It marks the first time in three years that South Korean shipbuilders’ new orders have topped 10 million CGTs for a year.
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Cosco shipping to order 25 capesize vessels to move bauxite from guinea to China
According to a Wall Street Journal report, Chinese Cosco Shipping Cop. is in discussion with shipyards in China to order about 25 large ships to ship bauxite from the West African country of Guinea to China for using in the alumina refineries.
The development is an extension of a plan by state aluminium major Aluminum Corp. of China (Chalco) to invest US$700 million in Guinea’s Boffa bauxite project to secure supply of the raw material over the next decade. Cosco is working towards increasing its fleet on the back of a long-term contract it signed with Chalco to move bauxite to China from Guinea.
Guinea has the potential to be the largest Bauxite supplier in the world with 7.4 billion bauxite reserve which is about 25 percent of the world’s total bauxite reserves. The country accounts for 95 percent of African bauxite production and 15percent of world bauxite production.
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S Korea to import around 4 million barrels/month Iranian oil under us waiver
South Korea will be able to import around 4 million barrels/month of Iranian oil under a US sanctions waiver announced Monday, but it will also continue striving to diversify its crude and condensate supply sources, three South Korean sources familiar with the matter quoted as saying according to S&P Global Platts last Tuesday.
Washington’s decision to allow South Korea to continue importing Iranian oil may come as a relief but it would be difficult to bring in more than half the volume Seoul used to buy from the Persian Gulf producer, said crude and condensate traders at South Korean refiners.
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Shipping emissions predicted to rise by up to 250pc by 2050
Global shipping emissions are predicted to increase by between 50 percent and 250 percent by 2050 – depending on future economic and energy developments, according to the European Commission.
In line with the EU’s calls for a global approach to reducing greenhouse gas emissions from international shipping, since the beginning of the year, large ships using EU ports have been required to report their verified annual emissions and other relevant information.
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BHP expects derailed train to impact its Australian iron ore exports
Mining giant BHP Billiton expects some interruption to its Australian iron ore exports after a nearly 3-km-long train loaded with the commodity was forcibly derailed this week after running away en route to a key shipping hub.
BHP said in a statement on Wednesday that its reserves of the steelmaking ingredient at the Port Hedland hub were not expected to cover the entire period of disruption following the incident, and that it would be liaising with its customers about its contractual commitments over that time. One of BHP’s customers in China, a steel producer, has, however, not yet received any notice from the miner.
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Saras invests in new bunkering terminal ahead of IMO switch
Italian refiner Saras is constructing a ship-refueling terminal at its Sardinia plant and will market a new, cleaner marine fuel ahead of a major regulatory change in 2020, its chief executive quoted as saying last week.
From January 2020, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) will ban ships from using fuels with a sulphur content above 0.5 percent, compared with 3.5 percent now, in one of the biggest changes in the oil market in decades. Refineries around the world have been gearing up for the switch by reducing output of high-sulphur fuel and upgrading plants to maximize production of the cleaner, more expensive fuel, which is similar to diesel.
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Asian ship owners start taking 0.5pc sulfur bunker fuel for testing
Asian ship owners have started taking 0.5 percent sulfur low sulfur bunker fuel more than a year ahead of when the sulfur cap set by the International Maritime Organization starts in 2020, industry sources quoted as saying on Wednesday.
The IMO will implement a new sulfur cap in bunker fuel of 0.5 percent from January 2020, and it is a big concern for many whether the new fuel will work with existing engines. Currently, bunker fuel typically has either maximum 180 CST or 380 CST viscosity. However, 0.5 percent sulfur bunker fuels are likely to have lower viscosity around 100-200 CST, because suppliers have to blend middle distillates, which are typically of lower viscosity, to cut sulfur conten.
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Samsung heavy posts $113.2bn operating loss in q3
Korean shipbuilders continued to struggle in the third quarter, despite hopes of the market recovering after they started inking orders earlier this year.
Samsung Heavy Industries posted 127.3 billion won ($113.2 million) of operating losses in the third quarter, still in the red for the fourth consecutive quarter, according to company filings last week. Considering it had posted 100.5 billion won of losses in the second quarter, the situation for Samsung has continued to deteriorate. Its revenue tumbled by 25 percent on year to 1.31 trillion won.