After a steady diet of stories in the maritime trade press about shipping companies teetering on the verge of insolvency, it was refreshing to read the latest news from Neptune Orient Line (Lloyd’s List, Sept. 2). The Singapore-based shipowner reported…
If you want a snapshot of the state of the shipowning business, just look at the headlines in the August 16 issue of Lloyd’s List, reporting on quarterly earnings reports from publicly held shipowners. “Thoresen Shipping Reports Operating Loss” “Torm…
What if the predictions of economic recovery are wrong? Clay Maitland takes a hard look at the prospects for the future, and it's not necessarily a pretty picture. I commend to your attention the article posted earlier this month by…
Further proof that the glut of overtonnage is not going away anytime soon. MarineLink.com reported today that Korean shipowners are struggling to rid themselves of unsold ships at substantially lower than market prices. Daewoo is trying to sell a pair of 320,100…
More sad faces at major container lines. Hapag-Lloyd blames soaring fuel costs for 2nd quarter loss. Bloomberg today reported that Hapag-Lloyd AG, Europe's fourth-largest container line, reported a second-quarter loss after soaring fuel costs offset modest improvements in freight rates.…
Even China's go-go shipbuilding industry is feeling the effects of the slowdown in international trade and shipping overcapacity, which shows no signs of easing in the short term. Shipping fleets will need to trim operating costs to survive in this…
The North American Emission Control Area, which came into effect today (August 1) will have a far-reaching impact on the cost of operating ships. Compliance strategies and best practices will be hot topics at the upcoming SHIPPINGInsight Fleet Optimization Conference. I'm…
You may have seen the announcement, reported on MarineLink.com last week, that Maersk Line has saved almost USD$90 million on fuel costs in three years by measuring the performance of individual ships. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) were developed for each…
The container shipping sector faces a challenging future as additional capacity comes into service, threatening the tenuous recovery in freight rates. That’s the conclusion in a recent article by Greg Kowler in the June 2012 issue of Maritime Reporter. The author…
A recent survey by an international accounting firm reveals that confidence levels in the shipping industry are rising modestly. But the fundamental issues of overtonnage, low freight rates and economic/political turmoil remain, and shipowners see reducing operating costs as critical…