Clipper Oil: Latest Maritime News – Louisiana Prepares for Second Hurricane in Three Weeks

Latest Maritime News

1-14 September 2020

Louisiana Prepares for Second Hurricane in Three Weeks

On Monday, less than three weeks after Hurricane Laura struck communities on the Texas/Louisiana border, Tropical Storm Sally is expected to strengthen and make landfall in Louisiana as a Category 1-2 hurricane. Current projections indicate that the storm's center will arrive just east of Port Fourchon at about 2300 hours local time on Monday night.

A hurricane warning is now in effect between Morgan City, Louisiana and Ocean Springs, Mississippi. The warning also covers Lake Pontchartrain, Lake Maurepas and the New Orleans metro area.

A storm surge warning is in effect for the region east of Port Fourchon to the Alabama state line, including all of Mississippi's coastline. Depending upon the storm's time of arrival relative to the tide, the surge between the Mississippi River's mouth and Ocean Springs could be as much as seven to 11 feet. Lake Pontchartrain could see a surge of as much as 4-6 feet. Continue reading here (Source: The Maritime Executive)

Oil Prices Rise As Tropical Storm Disrupts US Gulf Production

Oil prices have edged-up as tropical storm Sally forces US firms to evacuate staff and kerb offshore production in the Gulf of Mexico.

However, gains were capped due to concerns about oversupply and declining demand for fuel.

Brent crude LCOc1 rose by $0.09, or 0.2%, to reach at $39.92 a barrel while US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) CLc1 futures were up by $0.18, or 0.5%, at $37.51 a barrel, Reuters reported.

Tropical Storm Sally has been predicted to strengthen into a category 2 hurricane and threaten the prime oil region. Continue reading here (Source: Offshore Technology)

Port of Long Beach Reports Best August Ever Amid COVID-19, Trade War Uncertainty

The Port of Long Beach had its best August in its 109-year history, marking a strong start to the peaking shipping season despite lingering economic uncertainty due to the COVID-19 crisis, the port reported Wednesday.

Dockworkers and terminal operators last month moved 725,610 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) of container cargo, a 9.3% increase compared to August 2019. Imports jumped 13% to 364,792 TEUs and exports were up 1% to 126,177 TEUs. Empty containers shipped overseas climbed 8.5% to 234,642 TEUs, according to the new numbers released by the port.

The boost comes at the start of the peak shipping season, which typically runs from August to October as retailers prepare for the upcoming holiday shopping season. Economic uncertainty due to the on-going Trade War between the United States and China, as well COVID-19 pandemic, continue to weigh on cargo volumes. Continue reading here (Source: gCaptain)

Records Tumble for Box Spot Rates Across the World

The remarkable bull-run seen in container spot rates is creating records across the seven seas, and spooking regulators.

Analysts at Copenhagen-based Sea-Intelligence report that five out of the nine deepsea trades measured by the Shanghai Containerised Freight Index (SCFI) spot rates show records with other tradelanes approaching record territory, either in terms of the rate level, or in terms of the pace of increases.

The transpacific to the west coast is the strongest with rates approaching $4,000 per feu, followed by Shanghai to West Africa where rates stand at a record $3,105 per teu. Continue reading here (Source: Splash247)

China Expands Its Island-Building Strategy Into the Pacific

The world knows the Republic of Kiribati as a very low-lying nation in the mid-Pacific that is in danger of inundation as the climate changes and sea levels rise.

Much less is known about its strategic location and the attention now being paid to it by Beijing, which has proposed large-scale dredging to reclaim land from lagoons. The aims are to raise the height of atolls and create land for industrial development, including two major ports. The massive works will likely be carried out by the same fleet of dredgers used by China to build artificial islands in its aggressive expansion into the South China Sea, and will almost certainly cause the same severe destruction of coral reefs in Kiribati. Continue reading here (Source: The Strategist)

ExxonMobil's Biofuel Sea Trial Shows 40% Reduction in CO2 Emissions

ExxonMobil has completed a trial on the use of marine biofuel oil with Stena Bulk, with the results demonstrating a CO2 emission reduction of 40% compared to the use of conventional high-sulphur bunker fuel.

The marine biofuel is a 0.5% sulphur residual-based fuel or very low sulphur fuel oil (VLSFO) processed with a second generation waste-based FAME component.

ExxonMobil said the marine biofuel will be available later this year in Rotterdam, before a wider launch across the oil major’s port network. Continue reading here (Source: Seatrade Maritime News)