Thread: Global Shipping Sinking Fast - Stories

Global Shipping Sinking Fast - Stories
12-22-8

Shipping Crisis Worst In Decades http://www.farminguk.com/news/Greece-Sh ... s.9392.asp

Lenders Pull Plug On Shipping Sector http://www.gulfnews.com/business/Shipping/10269062.html

Container Firms Close More Service To US, Euro http://www.livemint.com/2008/12/2122524 ... e.html?h=B

Bleak Future For Shipping http://www.thestatesman.net/page.news.p ... &id=237052

Japan Shipbuilding Drops 83% http://www.etaiwannews.com/etn/news_con ... g=eng_news

India Shipping Industry Demands Govt Help http://www.etaiwannews.com/etn/news_con ... g=eng_news


http://www.rense.com/general84/dm.htm

The Globalists are going to throw a conniption fit on this stuff

22/12/2008 01:22:38
other stories from this country Greece-Shipping crisis.

ARGENTINA.
SHIPPING CRISIS.

At the moment in Argentina and Brazil, there is a glut of shipping vessels and very little cargo. In what is known as the slack time between November and March.

Global shipping is facing the worse crisis in decades, cargo rates have fallen by 90% since July of this year and the shipping boom has turned to bust.

There is no doubt that the rural sectors of Argentina and Brazil, are gaining in the short term, the problem is whether the shipping companies will be able to recover.

The Greek shipping lines, are the largest in the worlds, followed by Japan, the governments of both countries are in a state of panic, over the short term future of global shipping.

Dry cargo vessels, that could command US$150,000 a day in May, are now taking US$7,000 a day and delighted to get it.

The Genco shipping company, cancelled a US$530 million deal for 6 new vessels last week, forfeiting 10% of the value or US$53 million.

Analysts believe that 30% of new vessel orders, could be cancelled before the end of 2008.

The Royal Bank of Scotland, that has just required a US$20 billion government bail out, is one of the worlds largest lenders to the Greek shipping industry.

http://www.farminguk.com/news/Greece-Sh ... s.9392.asp

Meltdown forces lenders to pull the plug on the shipping sector

By Chris Bryant/Financial Times
Published: December 21, 2008, 23:51

Every ship that enters the port of Hamburg must pass the expansive window of Hermann Ebel's modern office on the banks of the river Elbe.

This commanding view of one of Europe's biggest container terminals puts the owner of Hansa Treuhand in a good position to discuss how the financial crisis has affected German shipping.

"It has always been a cyclical industry but we've experienced an economic slump in just three months. The speed is very dramatic," says Ebel, whose shipping finance company controls a 70-strong fleet of mainly container vessels.

As liquidity has dried up and trust evaporated, banks have refused to write the letters of credit vital to the shipping of bulk goods.

Some container ships have been forced to carry lighter loads while bulk cargo piles up in ports around the world, particularly in east Asia.

As one of the world's most important shipping nations, Germany is particularly vulnerable to these problems.

German companies own 36 per cent of the world's container ship capacity, while the country's banks are responsible for about 40 per cent of global shipping finance.

This latter activity has ground to a halt as demand for new vessels slumps and German lenders grapple with the turmoil in financial markets.

HSH Nordbank, the world's largest shipping lender, was forced to seek up to 30 billion (Dh153 billion) in loan guarantees from the government's banking rescue fund and is set to slim its balance sheet as part of a restructuring.

Several other Landesbanken - regionally owned public lenders - are also heavily involved in shipping finance and lending could contract further.

"I am not sure how much shipping finance will be available next year," says Christian Hennig, head of shipping credit at MM Warburg, a Hamburg-based private bank.

Germany's strength in container shipping is due in part to an innovative funding model known as KG finance, which spreads the costs of shipbuilding by giving private investors tax incentives to buy equity stakes in such projects.

German shipping KG funds last year attracted about $5.6 billion of equity, according to Clarkson Research Services, a maritime database company.

Yet this model has come under pressure as anxious investors hoard cash and demand for shipping charters falls, forcing some companies to lay up vessels.

For those shipowners able to renew their charters, lower rates are barely covering the cost of operating vessels. Particularly worried are shipowners that have placed orders for a new generation of super-sized container vessel due to come into service from 2010.

Such companies are likely to try to delay or cancel these projects - possibly forfeiting hefty deposits - in order to avoid taking possession of ships they cannot charter.

Although Hansa Treuhand is expecting the delivery of 11 ships in the coming years, they are relatively small and most already have contracts.

Investors' exposure to lower charter rates will be limited, the company says, as most invest in pools rather than single vessels.

Shipowners emphasise that not all is gloom and doom, notably in the tanker markets where charter rates have held up.

Optimism

People in the industry say Hamburg's terminal operators are almost grateful for the respite after months of operating flat-out. Moreover, shipping companies are confident that the financial crisis will not mark the end of globalisation and the rewards it has brought.

"Notwithstanding the current economic deterioration, in the long term world trade and the shipping industry have an excellent future," says Hans-Heinrich Nöll, head of VDR, the shipowners' association.

http://www.gulfnews.com/business/Shipping/10269062.html

Container shipping firms close more services to US, Europe

Cargo volumes at major US container ports are estimated to be the slowest since 2004 as the downturn continues

P. Manoj

Bangalore: Container shipping operators have started shutting services to the US and Europe as poor cargo volumes and declining freight rates begin to take their toll.

A consortium of four shipping firms that runs a direct weekly service from Jawaharlal Nehru Port, the country’s biggest, to the US east coast, has decided to shut services from 4 January as consumers in the world’s largest economy cut consumption.


Cutting capacity: Sina, a consortium of four shipping companies that runs a direct weekly service from Jawaharlal Nehru Port (above) in Navi Mumbai to the US east coast, has decided to discontinue services from 4 January as consumers in the world’s largest economy cut consumption. Ashesh Shah / Mint

The Sina service is run by South Korea’s biggest container shipping firm Hanjin Shipping Co. Ltd, Japan’s Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha Ltd (K-Line), Taiwan’s Yang Ming Marine Transport Corp. and West Asia’s United Arab Shipping Co. (UASC).

The US east coast accounts for about 75% of India’s exports to that country.

Another service to Europe, the Asia Europe Container Service 1 (AEC 1), was discontinued on 9 December, 20 days after it was launched by Hanjin Shipping and UASC.

The AEC 1 connected Jawaharlal Nehru Port and Port of Pipavav on India’s west coast with top European ports such as Antwerp, Thamesport, Hamburg and Rotterdam.

“We have discontinued the AEC 1 service and will shut down the Sina service from January due to poor volumes,â€

Japan's shipyard orders drop on declining demand: JSEA

Bloomberg
2008-12-22 12:08 AM

Shipyards in Japan, the world's third-largest shipbuilding nation, received 83 percent fewer orders last month as the global financial crisis cut demand for new vessels.

The yards received orders for 219,823 compensated gross tons in November, the Japan Ship Exporters Association said today on its Web site. That compares with 1.27 million tons a year earlier. Orders this year have slipped 11 percent to 8.69 million compensated gross tons.

The deepening financial crisis has dried up funds and global demand for commodities, prompting owners and operators of vessels to hold back purchases. The Baltic Dry Index, a benchmark of demand for shipping dry goods such as iron ore, has fallen more than 90 percent from a May record.

"Enquiries by shipowners for new ships have declined due to the global financial crisis and a slump in the shipping markets," Masamoto Tazaki, chairman of the 20-member Shipbuilders' Association of Japan, said today at a press conference in Tokyo. Members of the group include Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd., Mitsui Engineering & Shipbuilding Co. and closely held Imabari Shipbuilding Co.

While contracts have dipped, there have been no reports of order cancellations at Japanese shipyards. The nation's shipbuilders are under no pressure to sign new contracts as they have four years of order backlogs, he said.

Compensated gross ton is an industry measure of ship size, the time required and materials used in production.

Meanwhile, DryShips Inc., whose ships carry raw commodities, canceled an agreement to buy four Panamax-class vessels for US$400 million and retained the right to purchase the ships by the end of next year.

The company will lose US$55 million in deposits for the four vessels, which are owned by entities controlled by DryShips Chief Executive Officer George Economou, according to a statement. The original agreement was made in July.

The company also paid US$105 million for the option to buy the ships by the end of next year for US$160 million more, according to the statement. Panamax carriers usually haul 75,000-ton cargoes.

http://www.etaiwannews.com/etn/news_con ... g=eng_news

But just think, this means much less globe warming carbon being spewed into the air. I wonder which country the carbon from these cargo ships is credited against?