French container ship company CMA CGM announced a public tender offer for all publicly held registered shares of Swiss freight company CEVA Logistics. CMA CGM’s public tender will offer other shareholders 30 Swiss francs per share, valuing CEVA at 1.67 billion francs, a price agreed after Ceva rejected a takeover bid in October from Danish freight firm DSV.
JES International Holdings, a Singapore-listed defunct Chinese shipbuilder, has announced that an application has been filed in the high court of Singapore to place the company under judicial management. The shipbuilder fined its application on February 11. In the meantime, the date of the hearing of the application is still to be fixed by the court.
Yilport Holding, port management and logistics subsidiary of Yildirim Group had a ‘golden year’ due to the increase of its business and volumes growth. The worldwide terminals handled 6.41 million TEU containers in 2018, reporting 5% year-on-year volume development in comparison to 2017, that was led by its 10 container terminals in Turkey, Scandinavia, Iberia, and Latin America.
DHT Hodings published its fourth quarter 2018 earning calls, in which reports that the ban of scrubbers in some ports and coastal areas would not damage the economics of installing equipment. By 2020, the company aims to have 18 of its 27 VLCCs fitted with exhaust gas cleaning systems.The number comprises of two newbuildings and 16 retrofits, all of which would be fitted with open-loop systems.
Saudi Arabia’s tanker owner Bahri has dismissed reports that one of its very large crude carriers (VLCCs) was breaching U.S. sanctions on Venezuela. The company reports that the cargo, they’re accused of, was contracted on January 9, 2019, well before the U.S. sanctions were imposed against Venezuela on January 28, 2019. The company’s 303,000 dwt oil tanker Abqaiq is on its way from the Red Sea to pick up a cargo from the Port of Jose Terminal in Venezuela for one of its Indian customers.
Ecoslops announced the agreement of the EIB for a financing of a maximum of 18 million euros. The financing will be used for both Marseille and Antwerp projects as well as for corporate R&D needs, up to 50% of the investment amount, in addition to traditional bank financing. Ecoslops is trying to promote a lower consumption of primary fossil energy and reduce CO2 emissions.
The British government has terminated a contract with Seaborne Freight to provide extra ferries in the event of a no-deal Brexit that would see Britain leave the EU on 29 March, without a transition period to minimize economic disruption. The contract was terminated after Irish firm Arklow Shipping decided to step back from the deal.
The Liberal-National Government published data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics showing Australia recorded a $22.2 billion trade surplus in 2018, which is the highest ever for a calendar year. Australia’s two-way trade in goods and services also reached a record high of A$854 billion in 2018. Thus, it delivered 12 montlhy trade surpluses in 2018 and 22 in the last two years. 2018 was also the first calendar year since 1972 where every month was in surplus. That is the first time in 46 years.
The Greek shipowners reached an agreement with their government to change the way they are taxed. Namely, Greece will now charge a 10% dividend tax, instead of the former way of charging a double tonnage tax. This development continues the voluntary contribution scheme by shipowners and companies that are in Greece.
Africa has been the second fastest growing region in the world since 2000, the Global Maritime Forum reports. In fact it has tripled its trade and diversified its trade links, but many African countries are among the poorest in the world. For this reason, the continent needs to make sure that this growth can benefit all of Africa.
