Author Archives: just2bruce

China Force Feeding Ships

This Bloomberg article leads us to believe that shipping rates won’t go up for a while.

http://mobile.bloomberg.com/news/2013-06-20/china-force-feeding-ships-seen-by-billionaire-ross-curbing-rates.html

US Gas to the world thru Panama

The US is enjoying a gas boom of epic proportions, due to new recovery techniques known as “fracking”.  Where is the excess gas going to go? One answer is to export it to energy poor countries through the Panama Canal. Texas and Louisiana are the main US locations where gas pipelines terminate. These are ideal locations for ships to load up and head for Far East destinations. Japan is a major importer of LNG (liquefied natural gas).  The expansion of the Panama Canal allows large LNG tankers to move by sea economically to their customers. This article in Maritime Executive tells some of the story.

http://www.maritime-executive.com/article/US-Gas-Via-Panama-Frightens-LNG-Exporters-Worldwide-2013-09-05/

 

Recent boxship orders will hit market recovery

Lots of big new ships create economies of scale that make smaller ships obsolete. Those will move to smaller markets like Europe to Africa or be scrapped. Shipping companies may be challenged but shippers and consumers will get lower prices.

http://www.hellenicshippingnews.com/News.aspx?ElementID=10ffbcd0-cf1c-4310-a786-7d3c316d79c9