Sharing figures for the first half of 2019, Finland’s Port of Helsinki informed that its passenger numbers have bounced back to last year’s level, but the amount of cargo transported via the Port during the first half of the year did not reach last year’s level.
China’s pork output decreased by less than expected during this year’s first half, with the country facing a devastating disease outbreak. However, official data show conflicting figures regarding the size of the decline in the hog herd. This fact has also affected dry bulk shipping, with Chinese soybean imports expected to reduce to 84m tons in marketing year 2018-2019 and 83m tonnes in 2019-2020.
SAFETY4SEA, in collaboration with SHIPPINGInsight, is pleased to announce that Star Bulk Carriers Corp. has received the 2019 Hellenic American Maritime Dry Bulk Operator Award, sponsored by Bureau Veritas, at a gala dinner and award ceremony which successfully concluded on May 29th at Megaron Athens.
The Port of Oakland, in US’ Pacific coast, announced it has begun negotiations with a Canadian building materials shipper to transport sand and gravel to the Port, marking return of bulk shipping operations to the Port for the first time in 20 years.
Demolition of dry bulk ships in the first four months of 2019 was 120% higher than in the same period of 2018, an increase mostly driven from demolitions of Capesize ships, up from 1.1 m DWT between January and April 2018 to reach 3.4m DWT in the first four months of 2019.
During the first quarter of 2019, the overall cargo throughput at the port of Antwerp experienced a decrease of 3% year-on-year. On the contrary, container traffic saw a strong growth, with March being the strongest month ever for this sector.
The Chinese Ministry of Transport informed that dry bulk and container shipping along the country’s coast are experiencing too much capacity, which may lead to reduced rates. As of now, China’s coastal shipping market is stable, but due to increasing issues with over-capacity, it is possible that this stability will change.
In its Executive and Technical Committee meetings in Hong Kong on 4 and 5 March 2019, INTERCARGO highlighted the importance of investigating incidents and the subsequent publication of casualty investigation reports in a timely manner, in order for lessons to be learned.
The Suez Canal Authority (SCA) has moved towards additional discounts concerning dry bulk vessels operating between American and Asian ports after thinking of new changes in the global shipping market and the global economy.
Port of Rotterdam’s throughput in 2018 resulted to 469.0 million tonnes, a little bit higher than 2017. Container transhipment reached a 4.5% increase in tonnage, whereas measured in TEUs, the standard unit for containers, increased by 5.7% and the annual total was 14.5 million TEUs.
