We take a look at what was said in the market in the past week.
How demolition buyer Rakesh Tulshyan describes what his company, Wirana, is up to. But does it mean (I) his Singapore based company is teaming up with the FBI, (II) bringing owners of rustbuckets to justice, or (III) just doing rather well in the ship scrapping business?
(‘Going gangbusters’ in hot scrap market)
“It may not be all over yet.”
Norden chief executive Carsten Mortensen appears less than totally confident about the future of the dry cargo market but he is quite sure his company stands financially strong.
(Norden warns of more dry failures)
“We are taking on eight new recruits as we planned before the disaster and it is our intention to rebuild the shipyard and carry on.”
It is far from business as usual for Yamanishi Shipbuilding the yard devastated by the Japanese earthquate and tsunami but it hopes to resume production within a year.
(Yamanishi in fighting mood as recovery process kicks in)
“As the state of lawlessness spirals downward in the Indian Ocean and the level of violence that the pirates are prepared to use to coerce seafarers and to influence the hostage negotiation increases, this breach of the ransom agreement sets a precedent that is of the upmost concern.”
How the Indian National Shipowners Association views the continued detention by pirates of seven seafarers after their ship was ransomed. The seamen appear to be held hostage in a bid to persuade the Indian Navy to release captured pirates.
(Piracy threat to crews escalates)
“It was a joint understanding among us not to release any Indian citizens. India hasn't only declared war against us, but also it has risked the lives of many hostages."
And a pirate explains why the seven crew members are still being held.
STX explains why it is dropping its Finnish captain and putting a South Korean executive at the helm.
“The sanctions make it very difficult to trade with Iran but not necessarily unlawful. This puts the shipowner in an awkward position as while he may have an obligation to follow charterers’ orders, this may in turn expose him to unknowing violation of some of the sanctions. Life at least from the lawyer’s perspective would become much easier if trade with Iran were simply made unlawful.”
Nordisk managing director Georg Scheel wants clear cut sanctions...but what would his legal team do if life was nice and straightforward?
(FD&D specialist Nordisk points to post-crisis legal disputes continuing at very high levels)
“We could be seeing a situation where Golar books vessels at the three major South Korean shipyards to ‘corner’ the LNG shipping market some years down the road.”
Erik Nikolai Stavseth of Arctic Securities sees John Fredriksen building a winning hand in the LNG game.
“We do not rule out the possibility of acquiring good second-hand tonnage. So far, however, the difference between the price asked by sellers and the price the buyers are willing to pay is too large.”
Concordia’s Hans Noren expects falling newbuilding prices will force the secondhand market down.
“This is a somewhat arid dispute.”
What Lord Justice Tomlinson made of the mutual suspicions of CMA CGM and bunker supplier Petroval that led to a hard fought legal battle over settlement of a $4.5m bill.
