TradeWinds digests the digits making the headlines this week:

Paper chase - Key figures from shipping’s favourite newspaper:

25: The VLCCs that NITC may find hard to trade if the European Commission makes provision of insurance cover to Iranian companies the subject of sanctions.

(Sanctions set to freeze out 25 VLCCs)

100: Happy centenary to the London insurance market’s Joint Hull Committee which wants to be a more transparent organisation interfacing with other shipping industry bodies.

(Small band gearing up)

200: And a happy birthday to Hill Dickinson who marked a double centenary with a Piraeus party for those of a litigious persuasion.

(Hill Dickinson celebrates 200 years)

599: The ConTex containership index figure after a concerted rise since an extended version was launched in February.

(Rates surge with ConTex close to 600)

18,000: The number of twenty foot equivalent boxes that a new generation of mega containerships will be able to carry according to Dr Hermann Klein of Germanischer Lloyd.

(Owners mulling monster vessels)

175m: The dollar levy facing oil companies around the world to help pay for the Hebei Spirit and Volgoneft-139 tanker spills.

(Oil companies facing $175m tanker spill levy)

1.2bn: Investment in dollars planned by Bernhard Schulte and Costamare in a dozen 9,000-teu containerships that will be the first speculative post panama boxships ordered since the global financial crisis.

(Owners to ink giants on spec)

Digital digits - Numbers hitting the headlines on www.tradewinds.no

0: Proceeds of the hijacking of the German containership Magellan Star. Pirates were led away empty handed after the US navy freed the ship without a ransom being paid or a shot fired.

(Magellan Star free)

70: Jobs to go in P&O’s UK ferry operation under a cost cutting drive.

(P&O axes 70 onshore jobs)

1,500: Euros per ship per day management fee that DryShips will pay to George Economou’s private company, Cardiff Marine, which also gets 1.25% of all vessel earnings and a 1% commission on sale and purchase deals.

(DryShips wins waivers)

1,659: Number of ship transits in August through the increasingly busy Suez Canal.

(Suez Canal getting busier)

17.2m: Amount in dollars paid by Embiricos’ Aeolos Management for the 95,000-dwt Teekay tanker Sotra Spirit (built 1995).

(Teekay sells to Greek)