We take a look at what was said in the market in the past week.
“This isn’t the sort of scenario where you declare victory - I was hoping I’d be proved wrong.”
Scorpio Tankers boss Robert Bugbee who (seemingly) correctly predicted a lack of any fourth-quarter tanker rally.
(‘Green shoots’ in tanker market.)
“Rates are dreadful at the moment...As I said a few weeks ago, we’re all going to have to work for our money now.”
Bugbee fears having to actually do some hard graft for once.
(‘Green shoots’ in tanker market.)
“It’s going to be bad for everyone, not just those that ordered at the top of the market.”
One shipbroker gives tanker heads an early Christmas present they didn’t want.
(Operating super-expensive VLCCs will ‘be bad for everyone’.)
“Something usually comes out of the blue and saves the tanker market.”
ACM’s James Gundy is holding out for a hero at the end of the shite.
(Seasoned players keep on hoping.)
“It looks like if it’s going to come, it’s going to come later than last year...We’re looking for a catalyst but I don’t know when it will come.”
Bjorn Moller, chief executive of Vancouver-based Teekay Corp, is also wondering where the next big break is going to come from.
(Seasoned players keep on hoping.)
“My numbers are currently under review.”
Jonathan Chappell, an analyst at JP Morgan, goes back to the drawing board due to the dire tanker markets.
(Ongoing slump forces reality check.)
“The IPO market, which was an important driver behind the recovery in asset values in the first half of 2010, is currently firmly closed for crude tanker companies.”
Martin Korsvold, an analyst at Pareto Securities, comes out with the bad news on tankers we all suspected.
“Maybe [they were] a bit too fast. They always want to make great news. I am standing with my feet on the ground”.
Sovcomflot boss Sergey Frank rubbishes a statement from Daewoo that the tanker owner has signed up for 12 newbuilds at a Russian-Korean joint-venture yard.
(Frank not counting chickens.)
“The new venture has to show its class. We cannot put all our eggs in one basket.”
Frank reckons the Zvevda-DSME start-up facility can’t afford to get cocky.
(Frank not counting chickens.)
“They will probably be the greenest aframaxes ever built; efficient and very smart”.
The Sovcomflot chief already knows what colour he wants for the cerebral newbuilds.
(Frank not counting chickens.)
“Sometimes they were more conservative, sometimes we were.”
George Angelakis of Greek operator Anbros Maritime on a ‘good cop/bad cop’ joint venture with SK Shipping.
(Anbros Maritime switches out dry tonnage.)
“Hansa would have you believe that the unfortunate events of this week are due to a dispute over the condition of the vessel. This is not the case...The real reason is Hansa’s financial difficulties, and in particular Hansa’s repeated failures to pay the owners for the charter of the [ship]."
Greece’s Restis Group lets the owner of a bankrupt German cruise operator have both barrels.
“Shipping seems to be on the up, although there are not many players in this sector and transparency is an issue.”
Hurun Rich List 2010 as Hosco and NCS chief Gao Yanming is named China’s 18th richest man.
Good to see the industry is about as transparent in China as elsewhere.
(New ‘shipping king’ in China.)
“I think you will see at the end of the year a brutal reaction by the European Union.”
One source recons the EU is about to get real tough on Croatia about its shipyard situation.
(Croatian yards fear ‘brutal’ EU plan.)
“It’s the right time. Ships are cheap. If it doesn’t work, you get out and don’t lose your shirt.”
A broker as old hand Igal Dafni gets back into the game with a new boxship venture, Great Eagle Shipping Lines.
(Asian veteran reappears at Great Eagle.)
“This is a stalking horse for a review of the competition regime that’s going to be conducted by the FMC.”
An industry observer as liner outfits are put on alert by the World Shipping Council over proposed changes to the US Shipping Act.
(Trade body alerts lines to perils of proposed US legal changes.)
“The master, who had had insufficient rest, was requested to get 24 hours rest before the ship sailed.”
The UK’s MCA gives the master of Norden’s tanker Nord Fast the night off after it was clamped for a few days.
"As soon as we find all of them, we plan to deport them."
An investigator with the Jeju immigration office after 33 Chinese cruiseship passengers illegally vanished from Costas Classica in South Korea.
(Chinese cruisers vanish in Korea.)
“For those people who have been speculating that DOF is stretched financially, this decision demonstrates the company’s confidence in its ability to raise sufficient funding for its growing capex load.”
Erik Tonne of Arctic Securities on DOF after it shelved its plan to float its Brazilian shipowning arm – apparently a sign that all is well.
(Ditched IPO soothes talk of DOF pain.)
“They have had the Brazilian contracts for so long that they more or less took them for granted.”
A Norwegian source on established open-hatch outfits Gearbulk, Saga Forest and Star Shipping as STX Pan Ocean nips into the Brazilian market for a monstrous $5bn charter deal.
