We take a look at what was said in the market in the past week.
“One VLCC for free - not bad.”
Pareto Securities analyst Martin Korsvold on John Fredriksen’s Frontline striking a very large cost-cutting deal at Zhoushan Jinhaiwan.
“When an important tanker person is being cautious, it’s reasonable to listen.”
Lazard Capital Markets analyst Urs Dur on Scorpio Tankers president Robert Bugbee who is so cautious on tankers that he has just gone and bought himself a nice products tanker.
(Analysts hedge bets on tanker rally.)
“Sometimes analysts are late on their calls - it happens. Sometimes we’re early. It’s generally not clear until after the fact. People remember when we’re wrong and we usually don’t get a lot of credit when we’re right.”
It seems like analysts and journalists have a lot in common, Urs!
(Analysts hedge bets on tanker rally.)
“Some owners are inevitably going to have to throw their cards in and sell their vessels.”
Arctic Securities analyst Erik Nikolai Stavseth reckons there’ll be no deal with banks for some owners who may just fold.
(Analyst warns of distressed sales on tanker front.)
“I would say ‘shock’ is a fair word to describe what some shipowners are feeling over the situation. They went to Brazil expecting one thing and ended up with something else.”
A Norwegian offshore source on as a tax impasse in Brazil appears to have finally been broken.
(End in sight for Brazilian tax impasse.)
“Then the [muck] hit the fan. And the financial crunch became a fact.”
Either Neptune Offshore chief executive Bjorn Endresen or TradeWinds appears unwilling to use the word ‘shit’...at least until now.
“As Norwegian gadget freaks, we like to have the latest and the greatest tools and designs.”
Endersen has plans to dish out ipads and Kindles to all crew soon.
(High hopes for employment in deepwater sector.)
“Obviously the picture looks slightly better than a year ago but still the over capacity issue is haunting the industry’s future.”
Greek broker N Cotzias issues a spooky warning on overcapacity in the dry-bulk market.
"You can buy almost anything from Boa, within reason. He has always been a bit of a wheeler dealer.”
An offshore broker on Ole ‘Dell Boy’ Bjornevik of Boa Offshore which just sold a support vessel.
(Boa deal to set ball rolling?)
“We agreed to help Perseveranza grow. We are now looking to beef up this vehicle.”
Fabrizio Vettosi, boss of Venice Shipping & Logistics, which helped get a company controlled by Giuseppe D’Amato’s Perseveranza di Navigazione on the moooove.
(Vettosi-led fund hungry for more.)
“It does make one wonder if all the unbudgeted supplementary calls were a panic reaction by the clubs’ managers and directors. I’m sure owners will not see any money returned!”
Malcolm Godfrey, boss of broker Arthur J Gallagher, thinks cash calls are a cash cow for clubs.
(Soft market in prospect at renewal.)
“Farstad is definitely not poor.”
Farstad Shipping chief executive Karl-Johan Bakken after the company quickly raised almost $70m in a bond issue.
(Farstad bond issue raises eyebrows.)
“If there were any concrete plans, I wouldn’t tell you, and if there were no concrete plans, you wouldn’t believe me. So there you go. But the more time passes, the more likely it is that a deal will be done.”
Bakken tells TradeWinds about the company’s impending acquisition plans...well, basically.
(Farstad bond issue raises eyebrows.)
“West Travel is about to convert its property or part thereof into money for the purpose of placing its property beyond the reach of its creditors.”
Lawyers for bunkering outfit Kristensons-Petroleum Inc on trying to arrest a vessel belonging to failed US cruiseship owner CruiseWest.
(Battle rages for dregs of CruiseWest.)
"The EU has pushed us to the wall."
Zvonko Segvic, a union leader in Croatia, as hundreds of yard workers from Brodosplit march in protest at sell-off plans.
(Workers protest Croatian yard sale.)
“When we brought out our first 8,000 teu [vessel], we were lambasted in the marine press. But within months, there were dozens of them on order and within a year, there were well over 100. Even calculations on the back of a fag packet showed you that as a mainline operator you couldn’t afford not to have them.”
Peter Curtis, Seaspan Ship Management vice-president, reckons the company was the butt of jokes for a while before word filtered through that there was no match for box behemoths.
(‘Double whammy’ for owners and charterers.)
“One thing about a scrubber is I can put one in an engine room with two [generator] sets and a boiler and I won’t lose any cargo volume.”
Curtis is big on looking for efficiency all over the ship.
(‘Double whammy’ for owners and charterers.)
“I can’t go into details about what we can do as we don’t want the pirates to know what we are doing.”
Soren Andersen, head of vessel management at Maersk Line, as the Dane teams up with rivals CMA CGM and MSC to give Somali piracy the bullet.
(Liner big guns in anti-piracy push.)
“If you tell it to the media you might as well tell it to the pirates.”
Jeez, everyone’s being tight-lipped on piracy at the moment! Lieu Col Per Klingvall keeps his cards close to his chest as Brussels extends EU NAVFOR’s area of operations against Somali pirates.
(Brussels extends operating area of counter-piracy task force.)
“After the tremendous success of the world's first International Cougar Cruise, December 2009, aboard Carnival, we were shocked that they refused to allow another.”
Rich Gosse, boss of organiser Cougar Events, as the ‘Carnival Cougars and Cubs’ event becomes the ‘Right Royal Romp’.
"Never in all of my 25 years with the FWC have I seen anything like this, and I have responded to some strange calls.”
David Bingham of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission after a rare owl took up residence onboard the world’s largest cruiseship Oasis of the Seas.
(Rare owl removed from cruiseship.)
"You do not get young, fit people wanting these jobs - people need to be fit for these jobs - that is the bad thing about it.”
Pim de Lange, Stena Line's North Sea chief, gets himself into a big, fat mess over hiring practices for ferries.
On the other hand, obese crew could double as ballast. That cost-saving tip is for free, Pim.
