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Thursday, 18 April 13
FEATURE: PREDICTING THE FUTURE - AND THE PAST - BIMCO
 It’s not predicting the future that is problematical, it’s the realisation that you have to relive the past again and again when you fail to learn from your mistakes. So much so in fact that, like a scientist studying the formation of the universe, it should become possible to predict the past too.
Shipping knows exactly how this feels, having ignored the simplest of supply/demand equations and instead put its faith in fanciful predictions that the world – and therefore business – had changed forever.
The trouble is that the more things change, the more they also stay the same. The belief that an industry could break completely free of the cycles which had marked its history for hundreds of years was in fact a departure from reality, the consequences of which we continue to live with.
At least we know now, in case we did not before, that the world will continue to be a difficult place in which to trade, and one need only attend one of the regular shipping industry trade shows to experience that feeling first hand.
Even in Asia, grounded more in trade and consumption rather than the optimism of capital markets, there is an expectation that the world which emerges from the industry’s longest downturn in a generation will be different to the one that went into it.
Classification Society Lloyd’s Register used the recent Singapore Maritime Week to launch its own piece of long range research, laying down competing scenarios of what the industry might have to be grappling with by 2030.
A thorough piece of work put together by LR, QinetiQ and Strathclyde University, it nonetheless can only really succeed in telling the reader what they might already suspect, particularly with regard to the economic/political backdrop.
It seems highly unlikely, for example, that the world will adopt anything but an aggressive posture to protection and preference, not simply for the length of the recession but subsequently, as the emerging nations that (again, we know) will come to dominate the industry flex their muscles.
The shipping industry gives thanks en masse for China’s rise but it must surely recognise that the trading partner with which it will have to deal is no US, no Europe, not even a Russia.
Shipping has traditionally enjoyed freedom of capital, movement of people, goods and services, all commodities it cannot be certain will be so readily available in future. The evidence of the tension emerging in Singapore last week over the need to balance immigration against the requirement to import skills to cement the city-state’s future growth is one clear example and far from being the only one.
Shipping also likes to be left alone and to do its own thing, rather in the same way as entrepreneurs enjoy conditions of privacy to found and grow businesses – unfettered by regulation and competitive constraints, served by relatively free-flowing debt financing.
Again, little to no hope there. Shipping’s dalliance with unreality has left it, if not high and dry, then in a new room with different lenders with very different ideas compared to its former ship finance partners.
Shipping is also highly regulated, but in some areas, less highly regulated than other comparable industries. The trouble is that the industry has done a bad job too often of arguing its case that the positives outweigh the negatives.
There are a number of reasons for that, not least that its main regulator has to juggle the demands of being a technical body on the one hand with being a political one on the other. The tidal wave of opprobrium heaped upon regulators during CMA was a little less obvious during Maritime Week but it is clear the costs of compliance, the need to demonstrate transparency and the requirement to operate under greater scrutiny will all be firm future requirements.
But can shipping change by enough to meet these needs? Of course it should – by practising restraint, by being more commercially adept, by making friends with regulators earlier in the rulemaking process, by recognising that market share without profit margin is a pointless metric and that it something looks too good to be true, it probably is.
To carve out a survival strategy that goes beyond merely putting off the inevitable for another seven years, shipping certainly has to get smarter, and not just in terms of the above commercial issues, however pressing they appear.
Shipping needs to cure itself of the affliction that it has suffered under for at least the last 20 years – you take care of providing sufficient growth, we’ll take care of the rest. The industry is being asked tough questions about its place in the world, just at the time when it has demonstrated the definition of commercial irresponsibility and lack of regulatory engagement. So, back to the future. There is a fine living to be made predicting even short term scenarios, but better cuttings and weblinks to be garnered by mopping up in the aftermath. Most of those doing the latter focus on how we failed to spot the emergence of various technologies and services in time to either make our fortunes or to adopt them to our competitive advantage, preferring to dismiss them as the short term fads driven by people who just want to sell us things before our current things have worn out.
But watch this space – there are two factors that will be decisive in marking out corporates for survival and perhaps the wider industry for adaptive evolution: attitudes to people and the use of technology. The entry into force of the MLC might not by itself guarantee better working conditions for all seafarers but it demonstrates a much clearer focus by regulators that owners will be unable to ignore and should turn to their advantage.
And as for technology? Well, without new approaches to designing, building and operating ships, incorporating not just some tried and trusted techniques but new – and as yet unproven – technologies, there is little hope of meeting future regulatory hurdles and energy efficiency requirements.
I said that predicting the past was possible and here is the history lesson. Owners will adapt and survive. Some will leave the stage and some big names disappear but long before 2030, we will see a new industry emerge. In fact this is not a prediction. It will have to happen.
Source: BIMCO / Hellenic Shipping
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Wednesday, 12 June 24
CHINA ACCOUNTS FOR 16.3% OF AUSTRALIA'S COAL EXPORTS, FOLLOWED BY INDIA 14.4% - BANCHERO COSTA
Global coal trade has really picked up pace in recent months, and is now fully back to pre-Covid levels says Banchero Costa in its latest report.
...
Wednesday, 12 June 24
LNG NEWBUILDING VALUES AT RECORD HIGH: 78 NEWBUILD ORDERS PLACED IN 2024, DOUBLING 2023 - VESON NAUTICAL
The number of LNG newbuilding orders have more than doubled from the same period last year where 34 orders were placed, compared to 78 in the first ...
Monday, 10 June 24
CHINA'S MAY COAL IMPORTS RISE 11% ON LOWER DOMESTIC OUTPUT - REUTERS
China’s imports of coal rose 11% in May from a year earlier, customs data and Reuters records showed on Friday, as lower domestic output this ...
Tuesday, 04 June 24
HOW DO WESTERN SANCTIONS ON RUSSIA IMPACT THE GLOBAL METALS, MINING AND COAL MARKETS - WOOD MACKENZIE
The geopolitical landscape for Russia, as a major supplier of various commodities, has undergone a dramatic transformation since the invasion of Uk ...
Friday, 22 March 24
CASE STUDY: DANGERS OF COAL CARGO - SKULD
Recently, a bulk cargo vessel carrying coal from South Africa to Singapore suffered a fatal accident, resulting in the deaths of three crew members ...
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Showing 21 to 25 news of total 6871 |
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- Leighton Contractors Pty Ltd - Australia
- Sindya Power Generating Company Private Ltd
- Sical Logistics Limited - India
- Essar Steel Hazira Ltd - India
- Bahari Cakrawala Sebuku - Indonesia
- ICICI Bank Limited - India
- Trasteel International SA, Italy
- Timah Investasi Mineral - Indoneisa
- Banpu Public Company Limited - Thailand
- Asmin Koalindo Tuhup - Indonesia
- Tamil Nadu electricity Board
- VISA Power Limited - India
- Maheswari Brothers Coal Limited - India
- San Jose City I Power Corp, Philippines
- Simpson Spence & Young - Indonesia
- Standard Chartered Bank - UAE
- CIMB Investment Bank - Malaysia
- Coastal Gujarat Power Limited - India
- Gujarat Mineral Development Corp Ltd - India
- Salva Resources Pvt Ltd - India
- PetroVietnam Power Coal Import and Supply Company
- Miang Besar Coal Terminal - Indonesia
- Posco Energy - South Korea
- Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited - India
- South Luzon Thermal Energy Corporation
- MS Steel International - UAE
- CNBM International Corporation - China
- India Bulls Power Limited - India
- Central Java Power - Indonesia
- Parliament of New Zealand
- PNOC Exploration Corporation - Philippines
- Orica Mining Services - Indonesia
- Karbindo Abesyapradhi - Indoneisa
- London Commodity Brokers - England
- European Bulk Services B.V. - Netherlands
- Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand
- Chettinad Cement Corporation Ltd - India
- Pendopo Energi Batubara - Indonesia
- Intertek Mineral Services - Indonesia
- Latin American Coal - Colombia
- Kideco Jaya Agung - Indonesia
- Bukit Makmur.PT - Indonesia
- Edison Trading Spa - Italy
- Formosa Plastics Group - Taiwan
- Indo Tambangraya Megah - Indonesia
- GAC Shipping (India) Pvt Ltd
- Madhucon Powers Ltd - India
- Energy Link Ltd, New Zealand
- OPG Power Generation Pvt Ltd - India
- Ambuja Cements Ltd - India
- Merrill Lynch Commodities Europe
- Eastern Energy - Thailand
- Billiton Holdings Pty Ltd - Australia
- Indogreen Group - Indonesia
- Barasentosa Lestari - Indonesia
- Bulk Trading Sa - Switzerland
- Straits Asia Resources Limited - Singapore
- Planning Commission, India
- GMR Energy Limited - India
- Semirara Mining and Power Corporation, Philippines
- Dr Ramakrishna Prasad Power Pvt Ltd - India
- Malabar Cements Ltd - India
- Thiess Contractors Indonesia
- Neyveli Lignite Corporation Ltd, - India
- Borneo Indobara - Indonesia
- Savvy Resources Ltd - HongKong
- Commonwealth Bank - Australia
- Bhushan Steel Limited - India
- Bangladesh Power Developement Board
- Asia Pacific Energy Resources Ventures Inc, Philippines
- Alfred C Toepfer International GmbH - Germany
- Samtan Co., Ltd - South Korea
- Minerals Council of Australia
- Medco Energi Mining Internasional
- Makarim & Taira - Indonesia
- Mercuria Energy - Indonesia
- Dalmia Cement Bharat India
- Renaissance Capital - South Africa
- Bhoruka Overseas - Indonesia
- Electricity Authority, New Zealand
- Siam City Cement - Thailand
- Videocon Industries ltd - India
- Australian Commodity Traders Exchange
- Petron Corporation, Philippines
- Gujarat Electricity Regulatory Commission - India
- Wood Mackenzie - Singapore
- Lanco Infratech Ltd - India
- Kohat Cement Company Ltd. - Pakistan
- The University of Queensland
- Ind-Barath Power Infra Limited - India
- SMG Consultants - Indonesia
- Independent Power Producers Association of India
- Vizag Seaport Private Limited - India
- Deloitte Consulting - India
- SN Aboitiz Power Inc, Philippines
- Economic Council, Georgia
- Kumho Petrochemical, South Korea
- Jindal Steel & Power Ltd - India
- The State Trading Corporation of India Ltd
- Meralco Power Generation, Philippines
- Binh Thuan Hamico - Vietnam
- Aboitiz Power Corporation - Philippines
- Tata Chemicals Ltd - India
- Iligan Light & Power Inc, Philippines
- Mercator Lines Limited - India
- Kalimantan Lumbung Energi - Indonesia
- Krishnapatnam Port Company Ltd. - India
- Carbofer General Trading SA - India
- Port Waratah Coal Services - Australia
- Aditya Birla Group - India
- Mintek Dendrill Indonesia
- Global Business Power Corporation, Philippines
- Therma Luzon, Inc, Philippines
- International Coal Ventures Pvt Ltd - India
- Pipit Mutiara Jaya. PT, Indonesia
- Offshore Bulk Terminal Pte Ltd, Singapore
- Globalindo Alam Lestari - Indonesia
- Star Paper Mills Limited - India
- White Energy Company Limited
- Coalindo Energy - Indonesia
- TNB Fuel Sdn Bhd - Malaysia
- Georgia Ports Authority, United States
- Sinarmas Energy and Mining - Indonesia
- Anglo American - United Kingdom
- Vedanta Resources Plc - India
- Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission - India
- Toyota Tsusho Corporation, Japan
- Directorate General of MIneral and Coal - Indonesia
- The Treasury - Australian Government
- Kobexindo Tractors - Indoneisa
- Bukit Asam (Persero) Tbk - Indonesia
- Sarangani Energy Corporation, Philippines
- Interocean Group of Companies - India
- Semirara Mining Corp, Philippines
- Meenaskhi Energy Private Limited - India
- Bukit Baiduri Energy - Indonesia
- Kapuas Tunggal Persada - Indonesia
- Ministry of Transport, Egypt
- PTC India Limited - India
- Grasim Industreis Ltd - India
- Xindia Steels Limited - India
- Rio Tinto Coal - Australia
- Coal and Oil Company - UAE
- Larsen & Toubro Limited - India
- Eastern Coal Council - USA
- Ministry of Finance - Indonesia
- New Zealand Coal & Carbon
- Central Electricity Authority - India
- Agrawal Coal Company - India
- Sojitz Corporation - Japan
- PowerSource Philippines DevCo
- GN Power Mariveles Coal Plant, Philippines
- Wilmar Investment Holdings
- Parry Sugars Refinery, India
- Oldendorff Carriers - Singapore
- Mjunction Services Limited - India
- Kepco SPC Power Corporation, Philippines
- Jorong Barutama Greston.PT - Indonesia
- Gujarat Sidhee Cement - India
- Holcim Trading Pte Ltd - Singapore
- McConnell Dowell - Australia
- Chamber of Mines of South Africa
- Riau Bara Harum - Indonesia
- Cement Manufacturers Association - India
- Altura Mining Limited, Indonesia
- Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd
- Global Coal Blending Company Limited - Australia
- Filglen & Citicon Mining (HK) Ltd - Hong Kong
- Singapore Mercantile Exchange
- Australian Coal Association
- Metalloyd Limited - United Kingdom
- Bhatia International Limited - India
- SMC Global Power, Philippines
- Marubeni Corporation - India
- Uttam Galva Steels Limited - India
- Antam Resourcindo - Indonesia
- Ministry of Mines - Canada
- Price Waterhouse Coopers - Russia
- IEA Clean Coal Centre - UK
- Truba Alam Manunggal Engineering.Tbk - Indonesia
- Indika Energy - Indonesia
- Kartika Selabumi Mining - Indonesia
- Indian Energy Exchange, India
- Indian Oil Corporation Limited
- Global Green Power PLC Corporation, Philippines
- AsiaOL BioFuels Corp., Philippines
- Energy Development Corp, Philippines
- Directorate Of Revenue Intelligence - India
- Bharathi Cement Corporation - India
- Vijayanagar Sugar Pvt Ltd - India
- Baramulti Group, Indonesia
- GVK Power & Infra Limited - India
- Power Finance Corporation Ltd., India
- Heidelberg Cement - Germany
- ASAPP Information Group - India
- Indonesian Coal Mining Association
- Petrochimia International Co. Ltd.- Taiwan
- Attock Cement Pakistan Limited
- Sree Jayajothi Cements Limited - India
- IHS Mccloskey Coal Group - USA
- TeaM Sual Corporation - Philippines
- Cigading International Bulk Terminal - Indonesia
- Siam City Cement PLC, Thailand
- Thai Mozambique Logistica
- Romanian Commodities Exchange
- Goldman Sachs - Singapore
- Dong Bac Coal Mineral Investment Coporation - Vietnam
- Bayan Resources Tbk. - Indonesia
- LBH Netherlands Bv - Netherlands
- Jaiprakash Power Ventures ltd
- Kaltim Prima Coal - Indonesia
- Karaikal Port Pvt Ltd - India
- Orica Australia Pty. Ltd.
- Ceylon Electricity Board - Sri Lanka
- Sakthi Sugars Limited - India
- Manunggal Multi Energi - Indonesia
- Africa Commodities Group - South Africa
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