Clipper Oil: Latest Maritime News – Shipping Demand Recovering but COVID-19 to Have Long-Term Effect

Latest Maritime News

15 September-12 October 2020

Shipping Demand Recovering but COVID-19 to Have Long-Term Effect

German container shipping firm Hapag-Lloyd is benefitting from a rebound in transport demand but its chief executive warned about the longer-term impact on economic activity from the coronavirus.

“We see a recovery , which started probably some time in the course of third quarter, and we would expect that to continue going into 2021,” chief executive Rolf Habben Jansen said in an embargoed briefing session with journalists held on Thursday.

"But there will be a clear long-term effect on the global economy from COVID-19, which will have an impact on the flow of goods," he added. Continue reading here (Source: The Medi Telegraph)

Container Shippers Face Delays at Los Angeles, Long Beach Ports Amid Record Volumes

Container ships could face further delays at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach in the weeks ahead as the ports struggle to handle record volumes while also maintaining safe working conditions, market sources said on Oct. 7.

The Port of Long Beach had an all-time high throughput of 753,081 twenty-foot equivalent units, or TEUs, in July before slightly easing to 725,610 TEUs in August, still up more than 9% year on year. Some of those volumes were displaced to the adjacent Port of Los Angeles, which posted its own all-time high volume at 961,833 TEUs in August.

The record volumes compelled some shipowners to switch around their scheduled terminal berths between the two ports depending on which was less congested. Continue reading here (Source: S&P Global)

Louisiana Begins Recovery process After Hurricane Delta

Hurricane Delta has departed western Louisiana, leaving the prospect of more cleanup in a region already reeling from the impact of Hurricane Laura.

Delta had a significant short-term effect on oil and gas production in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico. According to the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE), 274 production platforms were evacuated and shut down in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico prior to the storm's arrival, taking 92 percent of the region's offshore oil capacity offline. As of Sunday, BSEE reported that more than 75 shuttered platforms have been re-manned, but over 90 percent of the Gulf of Mexico's oil production capacity remains shut-in. Continue reading here (Source: The Maritime Executive)

OPEC's No.2 Expects Another Weak Quarter of Oil Prices

Iraq expects the pressure on oil prices to continue through at least the first quarter of 2021, with oil minister Ihsan Abdul Jabbar expecting the average for Brent during January-March 2021 at $45 a barrel, Bloomberg reports, citing an interview of Jabbar for Iraqi daily Al Sabah.

As a result of this expectation, Baghdad will be basing its 2021 budget on an oil price level of $42 a barrel, following the fallout from the coronavirus, the report also noted.

Brent is currently trading at $42 a barrel, with West Texas Intermediate hovering around $40, as Libya continues to ramp up production after the end of an oil port blockade and U.S. shale producers also increase output. Continue reading here (Source: Oilprice.com)

US Imports Set New Record as Retailers Push Ahead

Imports at major US retail container ports reached an all-time high this summer as retail sales bounced back from the pandemic and merchants replenished inventories and stocked up early for the holiday season.

The latest Global Port Tracker report released by the National Retail Federation (NRF) and Hackett Associates shows US ports handled 2.1 m Twenty-Foot Equivalent Units (TEU) in August, the latest month for which after-the-fact numbers are available. That was up 9.7% from July and up 8% year-over-year. It was the highest number of containers imported in a single month since NRF began tracking imports in 2002, beating 2.04m TEU seen in October 2018 ahead of a scheduled tariff increase. A TEU is one 20-foot-long cargo container or its equivalent. Continue reading here (Source: Just-Style)

Former P&O Cruise Ship Slated to Become Floating Community off Panama

P&O Cruises Australia’s former cruise ship the Pacific Dawn has reportedly found a unique new life as a floating community permanently anchored in the Gulf of Panama.

A company called Ocean Builders that is also developing “floating, off-grid seapod homes,” has reported entered into a deal to acquire the once pioneering cruise ship. The ship, which was built in 1991 and operated most of its career with Princess Cruises and P&O Australia, is being sold by P&O’s parent company Carnival Corporation as they work to rationalize their fleet accelerating disposals due to the impact of the pandemic on the cruising. Continue reading here (Source: The Maritime Executive)