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Feb 18, 12:57 Maersk сuts 9% of Asia-Europe сapacity to restore profits Maersk Line, the worl...

seagull Feb 18, 12:57
Maersk сuts 9% of Asia-Europe сapacity to restore profits
Maersk Line, the world’s largest container carrier, said it will cut 9 percent of its shipping capacity on Asia to Europe, its largest trade route, in an effort to restore profitability, Bloomberg reports. Maersk Line will take out the ships by setting up a vessel- sharing agreement with CMA-CGM SA, the world’s third-largest carrier, the Copenhagen-based company said today by e-mail. Maersk Line didn’t specify what it will do with the ships and declined to comment further pending its Feb. 27 earnings report.

Container lines have been losing money as freight rates plunged after the shipping industry added too many ships in anticipation of a trade recovery. Maersk said today it will consider additional measures to cut capacity, including changing time-charter agreements, laying up vessels and sailing slower where possible.

“We believe this signals a clear change in market strategy from Maersk, and should be positive for rates and utilization on the Asia-Europe trade,” Lars Erich Nilsen, an analyst at Oslo- based Fearnley Fonds ASA, said in an e-mailed note. “Maersk is now even open to lay-ups, which it recently was not.”

Nils Smedegaard Andersen, chief executive officer of parent A.P. Moeller-Maersk A/S, said in November the unit wouldn’t cut capacity because its size meant it could outlast rivals during periods of losses. In 2009, the first year the industry failed to turn a profit since the 1970s, Maersk Line and other carriers cut capacity to help restore profits a year later.

Losing Money

Maersk and all carriers on the Asia to North Europe route have lost money since the third quarter of 2011, Philip Damas, a director at Drewry Shipping Consultants Ltd., said today. Vessel use on the route has been at 83 percent so far this year, and lines typically don’t make money until the rate rises above 85 percent, Damas said.

It’s a “surprise that Maersk is doing it now,” Damas said in a phone interview from London. “We expected that carriers would have to take capacity out by the third quarter of 2012.”

There were 490 ships offering 52 different services on the Asia-Europe route at the end of the year, according to Clarkson, the world’s largest shipbroker. Maersk Line deploys about 100 vessels on the route, the company said in August.

Maersk shares rose as much as 2.7 percent, adding to gains after the announcement. The stock advanced 1,160 kroner, or 2.5 percent, to 47,000 kroner at 1:42 p.m. in Copenhagen.

Defending Market Share

Container traffic growth on the route will slow to 1.5 percent this year from 2.8 percent in 2011 as European consumption weakens, Maersk Line said today, citing a January report from Alphaliner. That compares with estimated container fleet capacity growth of 8.3 percent, Maersk Line said, citing the Paris-based shipping forecaster.

“With this adjustment we are able to reduce our Asia- Europe capacity and improve vessel utilization without giving up any market share we have gained over the past two years,” Maersk Line CEO Soeren Skou said in the statement. “We will defend our market share position at any cost, while focusing on growing with the market and restoring profitability.”

Still, cutting capacity usually signals a company is scaling back its target for market share, said Drewry’s Damas.

“It appears that Maersk has stopped its policy of going after market share,” he said. Rates are likely to rise because of Maersk’s decision, he said.

Price Increases

Maersk Line said last month it will attempt to increase the price it charges to transport a 20-foot container from Asia to Europe by as much as $775, doubling the current price, to help restore profits.

Maersk Line, which has a global market share of about 16 percent, said in November it would lose money in 2011, lowering a previous forecast for a “modest” profit.

Global freight rates dropped on average 25 percent last year, according to RS Platou Markets AS. Prices fell the most on Asia-to-Europe routes, where the decline was almost 60 percent, the Oslo-based broker said in a Jan. 4 note.

CMA-CGM, based in Marseille, France, on Dec. 1 said it will start a vessel-sharing accord with Mediterranean Shipping Co., the world’s second-largest container line.

en.portnews.ru

Dec 26, 9:51 Höegh LNG extends option agreements with HHI for two FSRUs Höegh LNG...

seagull Dec 26, 9:51
Höegh LNG extends option agreements with HHI for two FSRUs
Höegh LNG Holdings Ltd. ("Höegh LNG" or the "Company", ticker "HLNG&quot has extended its option agreements with Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. Ltd. (HHI) for the delivery of two FSRUs that were to expire by mid December 2011 and mid January 2012, respectively, the Company press release said.

Both option agreements are now valid into first quarter 2012. The Company's third and fourth option agreements are not affected by this agreement.


Höegh LNG is a fully integrated floating LNG services company with almost 40 years experience, offering long-term floating production, transportation, regasification and terminal solutions for the liquefied natural gas (LNG) market. The Company operates a fleet of five LNG marine transportation vessels and two shuttle and regasification vessels (SRVs). In addition to transporting LNG, the SRVs act as floating regasification terminals delivering natural gas to
the market.

The Company holds a significant project development portfolio for both floating regasification as well as floating LNG production (FLNG). Headquartered in Oslo, Norway, Höegh LNG has established presence in Singapore, London and Florida. In total the Company employs about 70 office staff and about 350 sea farers.

en.portnews.ru

Dec 16, 13:35 The Board of Oslo Børs imposes violation charges on Sevan Marine At its me...

seagull Dec 16, 13:35
The Board of Oslo Børs imposes violation charges on Sevan Marine
At its meeting on 14 December 2011, the Board of Directors of Oslo Børs resolved to impose violation charges on Sevan Marine for a breach of the requirements for disclosure of information and for late publication of an information document, Oslo Bors reports.
The Board of Oslo Børs resolved to impose a violation charge on Sevan Marine ASA equivalent to six times the company's annual listing fee, i.e. NOK 1,231,950, for a breach of the company’s ongoing duty to publicly disclose information pursuant to Sections 5-2 and 5-3 of the Securities Trading Act, cf. Securities Trading Act, Section 17-4, third paragraph and Section 15-1, cf. Securities Trading Regulations, Section 13-1. In addition, the Board resolved to impose a violation charge on the company equivalent to 1 times the company's annual listing fee, i.e. NOK 205,325, for a breach of the duty to publish an information document before the stipulated deadline, cf. Continuing Obligations, Section 3.5.4, cf. Section 15.4, and Stock Exchange Regulations Section 31.
This decision may be appealed to the Stock Exchange Appeals Committee pursuant to the provisions of Chapter 8 of the Stock Exchange Regulations. Any appeal must be submitted within two weeks.
A brief summary of the case:
Sevan Marine ASA issued a stock exchange announcement on 20 May that included information about the company’s financial condition and about expected cost overruns for the upgrade of one of the company’s FPSOs, Sevan Voyageur. Prior to issuing this announcement, Sevan Marine had been in contact with selected investors with a view to arranging a private placement of shares. In this connection, potential investors were given information on matters including the expected cost overruns. This information was considered to have the character of inside information. However, as a result of the investigations Oslo Børs carried out into the process mentioned in the days prior to the stock exchange announcement on 20 May, Oslo Børs is of the view that precise information on significant cost overruns was in existence by 3 May at the latest, and that the company’s knowledge of this information must be deemed to be inside information that should have been disclosed to the market. Oslo Børs takes the view that the late disclosure of this information represents a serious breach of the company’s duty to publicly disclose information. In addition, Oslo Børs also considers that the breach is exacerbated by the fact that the company was subject to violation charge earlier this year for a breach of the duty to disclose inside information (ruling by the Board of Oslo Børs dated 16 February 2011). The determination of the amount of the violation charge reflects the fact that this case relates to a repeated breach.
In connection with the spin-off of the drilling activities of Sevan Marine, the company had a duty to prepare and publish an information document as soon as possible, and in any case no later than before the start of stock exchange trading on the 20th trading day after the company entered into the agreement for the spin-off of the drilling activities. The company’s own view was that the deadline for publishing the information document expired on 26 May 2011, and Oslo Børs was in agreement with this view. In the event, the information document was completed and published by a stock exchange announcement issued on 18 July 2011. Oslo Børs is of the view that exceeding the deadline for the publication of the information document by seven and a half weeks represents a significant breach of the Oslo Børs Continuing Obligations.

en.portnews.ru

Nov 25, 9:12 Shipbuilding grows to EUR 1.1 billion business in Romania The shipbuilding acti...

seagull Nov 25, 9:12
Shipbuilding grows to EUR 1.1 billion business in Romania
The shipbuilding activity in Romania went up by 40 percent last year on the previous, reaching some EUR 1.1 billion, according to the country’s Economy Ministry. Most of the production goes to export – 98 percent, and producers in Romania have already signed contracts for 2012 and 2013, Romania-Insider reports.
Shipbuilding companies based in Romania have started to become more active at international fairs and managed to get new customers. Romanian companies signed EUR 60 million export contracts at the Europort fair in Rotterdam at the beginning of November, as well as further EUR 50 million export agreements for clients in various countries.
Companies based in Romania also took part in the Nor-Shipping – Oslo fair in May this year, where they signed EUR 200 million export contracts.


Source: shippingazette.com

Sep 2, 10:43 Baltic Dry Index falls for 3rd straight session The Baltic Dry Index, a measure...

seagull Sep 2, 10:43
Baltic Dry Index falls for 3rd straight session
The Baltic Dry Index, a measure of commodity-freight costs, fell for a third consecutive session as bookings to ship iron ore from Australia and Brazil declined and stockpiles at Chinese ports reached an all-time high, Bloomberg reports. The index retreated 0.3 per cent to 1,537 points as rates declined for three of the four vessel sizes tracked, according to the Baltic Exchange, a London-based provider of shipping rates on 29 dry-cargo routes. The gauge had advanced 27 per cent between Aug 9 and Aug 24.

Rates for capesize vessels that typically haul ore dropped as bookings fell and inventories of the steel-making ingredient rose to a record in China, the largest consumer, Oslo-based investment bank Pareto Securities AS said on Tuesday.

Stockpiles at Chinese ports reached 95.3 million metric tons on Aug 26, according to weekly data compiled by Bloomberg.

'It's a very, very tough trading environment out there for us dry-bulk ship owners,' said Ching Wei Man, vice-president of Oslo-listed Jinhui Shipping & Transportation, during a second-quarter earnings call yesterday.

The market will remain challenging throughout 2011, the company said.

Capesize rates dipped 0.3 per cent to US$16,668 a day, falling for a third session. Daily rents, which peaked at US$233,988 on June 5, 2008, are 51 per cent lower than a year ago, exchange data show.

Twenty-eight ships were booked to haul iron ore to China last week, three fewer than the week before, Pareto said.

The global fleet of commodity carriers is expanding about three times faster than trade, according to data from Clarkson Plc, the world's largest shipbroker.

Capesize vessels account for 40 per cent of fleet capacity, according to Clarkson Research Services. Seventy per cent of forecast exports of one billion tons of iron ore in 2011 will be from Brazil and Australia, according to Clarkson.

Dry-bulk vessels handle 39 per cent of world trade, according to a July presentation by Genco Shipping & Trading Ltd.

Daily rents for panamax bulk carriers, the largest that can transit the Panama Canal, were down 0.9 per cent to US$13,096, some 45 per cent lower than a year ago.

Supramax ships, which haul grains and minerals and are about 25 per cent smaller than panamax ships, dipped US$19 to US$14,489 a day. Handysize vessels rose 0.7 per cent to US$9,937 a day.

Source: en.rian.ru

Jul 18, 12:35 Asia Offshore Drilling lists in Norway Asia Offshore Drilling (AOD) has success...

seagull Jul 18, 12:35
Asia Offshore Drilling lists in Norway
Asia Offshore Drilling (AOD) has successfully listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange. The drilling rig offshoot of Thoresen Thai Agencies, Mermaid Maritime was listed on the Oslo Axess on Friday. Following the second private placement, AOD has a total of 40,000,100 outstanding shares.

Source: shippingonline.cn