Baltic index rises; trend
seen as positive for now

Source: http://www.malaya.com.ph/09032010/ship2.html

LONDON - The Baltic Exchange’s main sea freight index, which tracks rates to ship dry commodities, rose on Wednesday as active buying of freight derivatives contracts boosted sentiment.

But brokers said firmer iron ore physical buying was needed to sustain gains.

The index, which gauges the cost of shipping commodities including iron ore, cement, grain, coal and fertiliser, rose1.03 percent, or 28 points, to 2,741 points.

Brokers said firmer manufacturing data in China and the United States drove the buying of freight derivatives contracts.

"The futures market is telling us that we will have a quite strong move up in the capesize spot index at the end of this week and next week," said Tor Svelland, head of commodities at Pareto Securities.

"We also saw partly good news from China and the US and the commodity markets are holding, so it looks like we are in for an upward trend right now rather than a move down."

The capesize market has seen volatile activity in recent weeks. A rally in August was driven by Chinese iron ore imports from Australia and Brazil on capesizes after Karnataka, India’s second-largest ore producing state, banned exports from 10 of its ports in July.

Shipper PSL sees dry freight
near all-time low next year

Source: http://www.malaya.com.ph/09032010/ship3.html

SINGAPORE - Freight rates for dry bulk carriers could tumble near historic lows next year as new ships flood the market and iron ore demand in China weakens, said the head of Precious Shipping on Wednesday.

However, Precious Shipping -- which manages 21 dry bulk carriers and charges its customer on a daily basis -- is unlikely to be significantly impacted by the weakening freight market as it has already booked a quarter of its vessels through 2013, said Khalid Hashim, the managing director of the Thai-listed firm.

The Baltic index, which gauges the cost of shipping dry commodities, including iron ore, cement, grain, coal and fertiliser, has fallen around 10 percent so far this year. It traded at 2,713 points on Tuesday, up 0.04 percent or 1 point.

Hashim told Reuters his outlook for the index was "very negative", forecasting the benchmark index could slide to levels not seen for nearly a quarter of a century.

"If you look at the index in historical terms, the lowest it hit was 554 points in the mid-80s, then it came down to 663 in December 2008, it could come to somewhere close to this type of number," Hashim said on the sidelines of an industry conference.

Aboitiz Jebsen crew conferred Outstanding Seafarer Award
FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 3, 2010 PHILIPPINES
http://www.malaya.com.ph/09032010/ship1.html

Aboitiz Jebsen (Abojeb) seafarer Electrical Engineer Demosthenes Quiñones was recently chosen one of three Outstanding Filipino Seafarers by the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE).

Quiñones was conferred the award by International Maritime Organization (IMO) Secretary General Efthimios Mitropoulos and Labor Undersecretary Romeo Lagman. Mitropoulos was in Manila for the International Diplomatic Conference of the IMO at the Philippine International Convention Center.

Quiñones, currently onboard Hapag Lloyd’s container ship Rotterdam Express as Electrician Officer, has been with Jebsens Maritime Inc for 13 years.

Represented by wife Josephine, Quiñones received a certificate of recognition and a P300, 000 prize courtesy of Smart Communications.

Santos plans $1.8B rights issue to fund LNG

Source: Malaya Business Insight / Shipping & Transport

MELBOURNE- Australian energy firm Santos Ltd plans to raise as much as A$2 billion ($1.8 billion) in a rights issue to fund its $ 15 billion Gladstone liquefied natural gas project, the Australian newspaper said on Thursday.
Santos, working with JPMorgan, would launch the issue after completing gas and equity-stake sales to state-run Korea Gas Corp (KOGAS) and China’s Sinopec Corp, the paper said without revealing its sources. Santos, Australia’s third-largest oil and gas producer, declined to confirm the report and JPMorgan also declined to comment. A santos spokesman reiterated comments by chief Financial Officer Peter Wasow last week that if required the company would issued new wquity to support its credit rating “in a manner that rewards existing shareholders. “ Wasow also said last week the company was prepared to sell up to 15 percent of the Gladstone project and was already in advanced talks with anumber of Asian buyers over long-term gas deals and equity stake sales.
The company has not yet approached shareholders about a capital raising, one investor said, adding that he would judge the price on any rights issued based on the price the company was able to fetch for equity stakes in the project.

Frontline boss sees tough tanker market

Source: Malaya Business Insight / Shipping & Transport

OSLO- The crude oil shipping business will struggle to make profits in the next few years amid depressed world economic growth, the chairman and main owner of oil tanker group Frontline Ltd said on Thursday.
“The US economy is pretty weak, it can take a long time before it gets back on its feet,” John Fredriksen a billionaire known as “Big Wolf” in Norway, told Reuters on the sidelines of an offshore oil seminar.
“ We can see that the economy in China is slowing down and that it is affecting international shipping,” he said. “I’m bearish.. the last couple of years have been pretty rough … It is going to take longer than expected (for the world economy to recover) .. It could take years.”
However, Fredriksen said Frontline was positioned to turn a profit in the third quarter with many of its vessels fixed on long-term hire, adding the shipper could be looking to add to its fleet once asset prices got cheaper.
Fredriksen, also chairman and main owner of the world’s number two deepwater oil rig group Seadrill Ltd, said the company aims to challenge market leader Transocean Ltd’s position within a few years.

Baltic index rises; trend
seen as positive for now

Source: http://www.malaya.com.ph/09032010/ship2.html

LONDON - The Baltic Exchange’s main sea freight index, which tracks rates to ship dry commodities, rose on Wednesday as active buying of freight derivatives contracts boosted sentiment.

But brokers said firmer iron ore physical buying was needed to sustain gains.

The index, which gauges the cost of shipping commodities including iron ore, cement, grain, coal and fertiliser, rose1.03 percent, or 28 points, to 2,741 points.

Brokers said firmer manufacturing data in China and the United States drove the buying of freight derivatives contracts.

"The futures market is telling us that we will have a quite strong move up in the capesize spot index at the end of this week and next week," said Tor Svelland, head of commodities at Pareto Securities.

"We also saw partly good news from China and the US and the commodity markets are holding, so it looks like we are in for an upward trend right now rather than a move down."

The capesize market has seen volatile activity in recent weeks. A rally in August was driven by Chinese iron ore imports from Australia and Brazil on capesizes after Karnataka, India’s second-largest ore producing state, banned exports from 10 of its ports in July.

Shipper PSL sees dry freight
near all-time low next year

Source: http://www.malaya.com.ph/09032010/ship3.html

SINGAPORE - Freight rates for dry bulk carriers could tumble near historic lows next year as new ships flood the market and iron ore demand in China weakens, said the head of Precious Shipping on Wednesday.

However, Precious Shipping -- which manages 21 dry bulk carriers and charges its customer on a daily basis -- is unlikely to be significantly impacted by the weakening freight market as it has already booked a quarter of its vessels through 2013, said Khalid Hashim, the managing director of the Thai-listed firm.

The Baltic index, which gauges the cost of shipping dry commodities, including iron ore, cement, grain, coal and fertiliser, has fallen around 10 percent so far this year. It traded at 2,713 points on Tuesday, up 0.04 percent or 1 point.

Hashim told Reuters his outlook for the index was "very negative", forecasting the benchmark index could slide to levels not seen for nearly a quarter of a century.

"If you look at the index in historical terms, the lowest it hit was 554 points in the mid-80s, then it came down to 663 in December 2008, it could come to somewhere close to this type of number," Hashim said on the sidelines of an industry conference.

Baltic index edges up;
cargo inquiry stays weak

Source: http://www.malaya.com.ph/09022010/ship2.html

LONDON - The Baltic Exchange’s main sea freight index, which tracks rates to ship dry commodities, edged higher on Tuesday, but brokers said the market needed to see stronger iron ore activity to sustain gains.

The index, which gauges the cost of shipping commodities including iron ore, cement, grain, coal and fertiliser, rose 0.04 percent, or 1 point, to 2,713 points. Rates were not published on Monday due to a public holiday in the UK.

"There is no direction today and people are just waiting to see where the market is heading," said Petter Rishovd, a commodity broker with Pareto Securities.

"I definitely see some upside potential in the capes and the rest of the market is fairly flat."

A recent rally earlier this month had been driven by Chinese iron ore imports from Australia and Brazil on capesizes after Karnataka, India’s second-largest ore producing state, banned exports from 10 of its ports last month.

"We suggest the iron ore export ban in the Indian state of Karnataka gave a short-term boost to capesize ton-mile demand, but it remains to be seen how permanent it is as the Indian government rejected the demand of some states to ban ore exports," Cantor Fitzgerald said.

Posted on 09:41 PM, September 01, 2010
PAL attendants gearing for strike; airline gets more cancellations
http://bworld.com.ph/main/content.php?id=16989

FLIGHT attendants and stewards of Lucio C. Tan-led Philippine Airlines (PAL) plan to file a notice of strike before the Labor department early next week, after rejecting an P80-million compensation package from the management.

Andy Ortega, vice-president of the PAL-Flight Attendants’ and Stewards’ Association of the Philippines, said the group’s officers would wrap up meetings with members this week.

“We are not like the usual employees who work in offices every day.

Most of our members are out of the country or Metro Manila. If they are not busy, the officers are maximizing that time to discuss with [members] the status of the mediation meetings and also to get their approval for the strike,” he said.

Talks over a new collective bargaining agreement are in a stalemate as the union claims the P80-million package is not enough for 1,600 flight attendants and stewards.

PAL claims it cannot afford a bigger package because of financial difficulties.

PAL spokeswoman Ma. Cielo C. Villaluna said the management respects the decision of the flight attendants and stewards, but reminded them of the “negative consequences” of a strike.

RP seeks membership in UN anti-piracy body
September 1, 2010 10:30 am
http://balita.ph/2010/09/01/rp-seeks-membership-in-un-anti-piracy-body/

MANILA Aug. 31 —- The Philippine Government is pushing for membership in the United Nations Contact Group Against Piracy, even as it urges the Security Council for global cooperation against the poverty-rooted scourge, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said on Tuesday.

In the meantime, another good news is that while there have been cases of ships being waylaid on the high seas by mainly Somalian pirates, DFA claimed that recently “there was no incident” wherein their Filipino crew members were hurt.

According to DFA, 542 Filipino seafarers manning 45 vessels have been hijacked in the Gulf of Aden since 2006. Of the number, 461 seafarers and 39 vessels have been released, it added.

DFA said efforts are being made to rescue those still in activity through domestic and multilateral channels, including joint activities with the Bahrain-based Joint Naval Foces in the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean and via membership in anti-piracy groups.

DFA’s Office of the Undersecretary for Migrant Workers Affairs closely coordinates with the relevant Philippine embassies and manning agencies to ensure the safety and well-being of the captives and for their salaries released to their families despite their absence.