Clipper Oil: Latest Maritime News – Global Seaborne Trade to Contract 3.6% in 2020

Latest Maritime News

10-23 November 2020

Global Seaborne Trade to Contract 3.6% in 2020

While 2020 is on course to be a rare year where global seaborne trade volumes will fall, the average distance of each tonne moved is still set to grow, thanks in large part to the surging volumes of US energy exports, much of which has headed to Asia.

Clarkson Research has run the numbers and now estimates that for the full year there will be a 3.6% contraction in global seaborne trade in terms of tonnes.

However, analysts at the world’s largest shipbroker have added a significant caveat. The estimated average haul or distance transported per tonne of seaborne trade is set to have increased by 0.7% across full year 2020, to close to 5,050 miles. This is the fifth consecutive year of increase in average haul. Continue reading here (Source: Splash247)

Oil Prices Reach Three Month High on Improving Demand Outlook

Oil touched its strongest level since early September as signs that Covid-19 vaccinations in the U.S. could be underway within three weeks improved the demand outlook.

Markets broadly rallied after AstraZeneca Plc became the latest company to report a vaccine that protects most people from coronavirus. Vaccinations will “hopefully” start as soon as Dec. 11 or Dec. 12, Moncef Slaoui, head of the American government’s Operation Warp Speed vaccine acceleration program, said on CNN on Sunday. A weaker dollar also buoyed crude.

The prospect of a treatment has reshaped the oil futures curve, with nearby prices rallying more than later ones. Small pockets of the WTI curve moved into a bullish backwardation structure on Friday, and those gains continued early Monday. Continue reading here (Source: World Oil)

IMO Agrees to Study Further Idea of $5bn R&D Fund

“Just about every government that spoke highlighted the critical importance of R&D, and a large number of governments, probably representing the majority of the world’s tonnage, supported the concept of an IMO supervised Fund, financed by industry,” commented Simon Bennett, deputy secretary general of the ICS.

“But there are many other States at IMO who we still need to persuade,” he added, “and we’ll work hard to address their legitimate questions.” Continue reading here (Source: Seatrade Maritime News)

Oil Prices Anticipate Tight Market By Mid-2021

U.S. petroleum inventories are falling towards more normal levels as the glut earlier this year caused by volume warfare among OPEC+ members and the first wave of epidemic-driven lockdowns is gradually absorbed.

Falling inventories are likely to herald a tighter production-consumption balance and a cyclical upswing in both spot prices and calendar spreads next year, which are already being anticipated by oil traders in rising futures prices.

But a cyclical upturn in the oil market depends on OPEC+ timing production increases carefully, on the global economy avoiding a double-dip recession, and on the rapid deployment of an effective coronavirus vaccine. Continue reading here (Source: Reuters)

CDC Raises Warning Against Cruise Travel to Highest Level, Strengthens International Flight Guidelines

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published a Level 4 travel notice on Saturday advising that "all people" should avoid travel on cruise ships worldwide because "the risk of COVID-19 on cruise ships is very high."

"Cruise passengers are at increased risk of person-to-person spread of infectious diseases, including COVID-19, and outbreaks of COVID-19 have been reported on cruise ships," the organization said on its website.

The CDC added that for passengers who may be considered at increased risk, the warning is "especially" applicable. Continue reading here (Source: USA Today)

From a $23bn Loss to a $14bn Profit: Liners' Topsy-Turvy Pandemic Year

Container shipping has gone from doomsday to payday in the space of a few months. Sea-Intelligence has revised for the fourth time this year its EBIT profit forecast for the liner industry as carrier results for Q3 trickle in.

Having initially predicted significant red ink for the container shipping pack at the start of the pandemic in April, the Danish consultancy is now forecasting the liner industry will chalk up a $14bn profit this year, marking one of the greatest turnaround in fortunes in the 64-year history of containerisation.

Back in April, when many countries entered lockdown Sea-Intelligence’s worst case scenario was for liners to register a combined $23bn loss. Continue reading here (Source: Splash247)