Greetings readers!
At last, we have reached a day where we can celebrate and take a break from work.
Yes!
Today is Friday!
While we are at the end of a splendid week, let us give it a complete wrap with current market updates on the shipping industry. Let us start with the baltic dry index.
Baltic Dry Index – Thumbs up for the 15th straight session.
The Baltic Exchange’s main sea freight index, tracking rates for ships carrying dry bulk commodities, extended rise on Thursday on steady rates for panamaxes and smaller vessel segments.
The overall index, which gauges the cost of shipping resources including iron ore, cement, grain, coal and fertiliser were up seven points at 342 points . It is well known that the index is inching up as the smaller vessels have a better fortune.
Can the balance be restored?
Danish shipping company D/S Norden said the dry cargo market reached its lowest point last year and will not recover this year under the weight of overcapacity and the Chinese economy’s transition away from an industrial economy.
The Baltic Exchange’s main sea freight index, which tracks rates for ships carrying dry bulk commodities, has lost about 98 percent of its value from a peak of 11,793 in May 2008, marking the lowest level since records began in 1985.
D/S Norden has reduced its fleet by selling some vessels and cancelled some vessels ordered from shipyards in Japan but the shipper still has more than 200 vessels.
“More scrapping of old vessels is needed to restore the balance between supply and demand but it will take years,” Chief Executive Jan Rindbo said.
Oil Price – Timeline:
After four years when the highest average oil prices in history seemed to defy economic gravity, petroleum began to plummet in mid-2014. Prices dropped as much as 75 percent over the next 18 months, throwing oil producers into turmoil and roiling global markets. Supply had expanded as the sustained higher prices made techniques such as deep water drilling and fracking pay off. Then China’s economy slowed and its imports sagged. Instead of staunching the glut by pumping less oil, Middle East exporters engaged in a price war to defend their market share. Adding to the oversupply, Iran was poised to ramp up exports after an agreement to curtail its nuclear program lifted economic sanctions. The price collapse has forced high-cost drillers to idle rigs while international giants like Chevron, Shell and Halliburton cut thousands of workers and billions of dollars in spending. In early 2015, oil briefly rebounded above $50 a barrel after the conflict in Yemen. A year later, heightened tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran — a situation that once might have caused fears of a disruption in supplies failed to stop the rout and oil prices sank to the lowest level in a dozen years.
Well, the dry bulk shipping is on a downward trend and the oil prices are at rock bottom where even pirates do not want to steal it from you. The black gold is no more a gold as the price of oil what we witness today is at the same what we had in 1985.
MFAME reported earlier that Greece is the first in the list of the ship-owning nation by fleet value in 2016. With the baltic dry index at low levels, the Greek ship owners are buying more bulk carriers on the contrary to selling it. Let us take a look at Greece’s Most Powerful Cargo Ship Owners.
According to newmoney.gr, Greece remains one of the top players in the commercial transport through cargo ships, with Greek businesses controlling 15.2% of ships in the global transport fleet and 15.1% of the capacity, which means 1,752 ships of the 11,555 ships in total around the world.
According to data from Marine Information Services, the Greek cargo ship owners with the most powerful fleet are:
- Petros Pappas, of Star Bulk with 77 ships
- Aggeliki Fragou, of Navios with 71 ships
- Peter Georgiopoulos, of Genmar-Genco with 70 ships
- Giorgos Oikonomou with Cardif and Dryships with 56 ships
- Giannis Aggelikousis with 47 ships
- Simon Palios, of Diana Shipping with 43 ships
- Thodoris Veniamis, of Golden Union with 39 ships
- Markos Nomikos of Nomikos A.M. Transworld Maritime with 37 ships
- Polis Vasou Xatzioannou, of Safe Bulkers with 36 ships
- Michalis Gkiokas, of Navarone Sa with 35 ships
Okay!
Time up tribers!
Have a great and happy weekend.
– MFAME Team.
Source: Greece money, Bloomberg
