Shipowners and insurers are reacting with caution to Friday’s news of a deal hammered out between Russia and Ukraine, assisted by Turkey and the United Nations, to ship Ukrainian grain through the Black Sea for the first time in six months since war began. A joint co-ordination centre staffed by members of the four parties to the agreement is to monitor ships passing the Black Sea to Turkey’s Bosporus Strait and on to world markets. There are over 80 ships stuck in Ukraine – many with cargoes onboard including grain – which need to get out before new ships can go in.
The battle for control of Belgium’s Euronav entered a new chapter on July 11 when John Fredriksen’s Frontline entered into a definitive combination agreement to take over the Antwerp shipping icon. Details of the merger show the Euronav brand would disappear and the new entity would be based in Cyprus. The Saverys family, who have controlled Euronav for much of the last 25 years, remain adamant that they can still obstruct the takeover, and have continued to buy more stock in the tanker company in recent days.
Beijing’s long-planned initiative to wrestle back control of pricing of dry bulk commodities, principally iron ore, took shape. China Mineral Resources Group was officially launched on July 19. The state-run conglomerate has a registered capital of RMB20bn ($3bn) and a business scope which covers activities including mining, ore processing and trading. The group will manage mines as well as serving as a unified iron ore buying platform for steel mills in China.
Cash-rich HMM, South Korea’s flagship carrier, outlined an $11.45bn expansion plan over the coming four years, which will grow HMM’s boxship fleet from today’s 820,000 slots to 1.2m, while its bulk fleet is set to grow from 29 vessels to 55. Other acquisitions will include terminals and logistics facilities.
Billionaire Rodolphe Saadé came out fighting, determined to steer politicians in Paris away from pummelling his company with a windfall tax to help households battle soaring inflation. A growing number of French politicians are calling for a steep 25% windfall tax on some local transport and energy companies, including Saadé’s CMA CGM containerline and TotalEnergies. Speaking at the French Senate on July 20, Saadé said: “We are putting money on the table and it’s not only charity. We are helping consumers. What I want is that we stop looking at CMA CGM and we start looking at my competitors.”
Maersk stepped down from the International Chamber of Shipping board citing the lobby group’s lack of green ambition. The Danish liner giant said it would focus its attention on the liner lobby group, the World Shipping Council (WSC).
MAN PrimeServ, MAN Energy Solutions’ after-sales brand, started offering its customers the opportunity to retrofit older MAN 48/60 marine and power-plant engines to state-of-the-art MAN 51/60 types to prepare older engines already in service for future, climate-neutral operation. Converted engines will effectively be equivalent technically to newly built MAN 51/60 units. As a further option, newly converted engines can be upgraded for operation on synthetic fuels for a low premium.
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