China will build new liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals and expand the capacity of existing terminals in its Greater Bay area, China’s cabinet said on February 18, according to a report by official news agency Xinhua.
The World Trade Organization (WTO) published the World Trade Outlook Indicator 2019, which expects slower trade growth and the weakness is possible to extend into the first quarter of 2019. The decline of several trade-related indicators should alert policy makers for a sharper slowdown, whether the current trade tensions remain unresolved.
According to Reuters, Chinese coal traders have stopped ordering Australian coal as clearing times through China’s customs have doubled to at least 40 days, according to major buyers in China and international coal merchants, resulting in a sharp fall in Australian prices.
IEA published its gas outlook concerning global markets, business models and pricing arrangements. Although the World Energy Outlook doesn’t have a forecast for what gas markets will look like in 2030 or 2040, the scenarios and analysis provide some insight into the factors that will shape where things go from here.
A robber attacked and stole fuel from a bulk carrier that was anchored at China’s Caofeidian Anchorage, on February 10. Namely, the duty officer on board the ship notice that a hose was connected from a tank. The alarm was raised and the robber lowered the hose and escaped. It was reported that DO had been stolen and the incident was reported to VTS Caofeidian.
South Korean shipbuilders ranked second globally in total new orders for January, surpassed by China. According to the Clarkson Research Institute, South Korean shipyards were awarded new orders with an overall worth of 580,000 compensated gross tons, in order to build 12 ships. Japan came third with 13.69 million CGTs.
Hyundai Merchant Marine expects uncertain results over cargo volumes to continues in 2019, because of multiple, global economic factors. The uncertainty is based on the global economic slowdown, Brexit and the US-China trade war. Yet, HMM noted that it will continue its efforts to secure additional cargoes to fill the newly-ordered 20 eco-friendly mega-container ships until delivery, after signing the final contracts for the mega vessels with three shipyards in September 2018. The units are scheduled to start joining the owner from the second quarter of 2020.
The Japan P&I Club obtained navigation warnings of the China Waters issued by China MSA. The warnings will take place because of maintenance operation of channels of Yangtze Estuary, well exploration operation, 3d seismic data acquisition project, and survey on the submarine cable from Zhenhai and Dapengshan Island.
Samsung Heavy Industries Co. is not interested in taking part in the race of purchasing Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co., as its parent Samsung Group doesn’t wish to expand its shipbuilding business, according to Yonhap. Yet, on January 2019 Hyundai Heavy Industries expressed its interest on buying, the second-placed, Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering Co Ltd.
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.
