We take a look at what was said in the market in the past week.
“Assume the worst. But before you do the maths - talk to your bank!”
David Chopping of accounting firm Moore Stephens reckons its always best to factor in a few headaches when crunching out the accounts.
(Charterers face lease-accounting upheaval.)
“The IASB gets very upset about any industry groups that start complaining about the implications of something at a very late stage when they didn’t get involved at an early stage.”
Chopping on the International Accounting Standards Board which has feelings too, you know.
(Charterers face lease-accounting upheaval.)
“Looking forward the company is still short on cash about six months from now on our estimates and it still needs to raise another $50m in equity in connection with the Metrostar acquisition.”
Analysts at Norwegian firm Pareto Securities dish a bit of bad news on Peter Georgiopoulos’ Genmar after it sold three products tankers to raise $62m.
(Genmar ‘still short of cash’.)
“We need to look for partnerships in this area in China. While PetroChina and Sinopec are very difficult for foreign companies to access, we are currently seeking out partners who are shipping companies.”
William Hung, vice-president of strategic development at Teekay as the Canadian owner sets up some Chinese dates.
(Teekay has China firmly in its sights.)
“We want to invest in China. We are not just there to take from China. It is a long-term business for us and hopefully the Chinese will see us as a good partner.”
Hung is counting on it being two-way traffic in any relationship.
(Teekay has China firmly in its sights.)
“Old fashioned shipping is when you try to obtain vessels at prices you think are reasonable and will show a profit over a 20- year period. If you are willing to keep vessels and willing to subsidise them if they make losses, sooner or later they’ll make you some money.”
Michael Papaioannou, boss of Greek owner Helikon Shipping, claims he is in the game for the long, long haul.
“The important thing is that after 17 years this story is finished.”
Greek owner John Frangos after a long-running legal spat with the Haji-Ioannou family drew to a close...an expensive close.
(‘Fresh start’ for John Frangos as 17-year dispute ends.)
“We are just waiting for the right date to call the refund.”
Jean-Louis Bottaro, owner of French bulker outfit Setaf-Saget, on proposed newbuilding cancellations after the company was purchased from Bourbon.
(Setaf-Saget plans for new dry fleet.)
“I see that the bigger sizes will have a better life in the next five or six years.”
Italian owner Luigi D’Amato is hopeful larger bulkers and tankers can awake from their current rate nightmare...eventually.
(D’Amato to upsize both wet and dry.)
“IRISL is under tremendous financial pressure from international sanctions, and it is going to extreme lengths to obscure its network and the ownership of vessels.”
Stuart Levey, US under secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, is not at all impressed by the Iranians’ diversionary tactics.
“The cocktail is basically the inverse of what it was nine months ago.”
Anders Boenaes of Maersk Line on how boxshipping has been shaken and stirred in the past year.
(West Africa trade proves a challenge.)
“The market is moving really, really fast but you can’t see it.”
Steve Brackenridge of Westshore Shipbrokers on the offshore term market in the North Sea which is better than most people think, apparently.
“I think there is a general consensus among owners that they see a light at the end of the tunnel.”
Anders Kolbeinsen of broker RG Hagland reckons the offshore market in the North Sea is due a bit of a boost.
“The deeper a partnership develops, the bigger the possibility that one partner takes shares in the other.”
A financial observer as China Development Bank is rumoured to be cosying up to Nordbank.
(HSH on ‘win-win’ road with China Development Bank ties.)
“The amounts of money at stake are so large that the corruption will extend to the highest levels in all but the wealthiest countries.”
Tanker-industry veteran Jack Devanney who has lambasted plans to place a tax on bunkers arguing instead that taxing expelled carbon is the way forward.
(Tanker man proposes tax on funnel emissions.)
“Over the past five years, ransoms paid to Somali pirates have increased from an average of $150,000 in 2005 to $5.4m in 2010.”
A report from US-based think tank One Earth Future reckons Somalia’s shattered economy is finally getting the boost it needs.
“The continued increase in these numbers is alarming. As a percentage of global incidents, piracy on the high seas has increased dramatically over armed robbery in territorial waters.”
Capt Pottengal Mukundan, IMB director, as pirates are revealed to have abducted almost 1,200 crew in 2010.
“In a hijack it is not logical not to take the ship. I would see it as an anomaly, because of something we don’t know.”
Hans Tino Hansen, MD of Danish maritime security analyst Risk Intelligence, after Somali pirates took six crew members hostage but left their ship – and tons of weapons – behind.
“We believe that following unsuccessful attempts to start the main-engine, the pirates abandoned the M/V Leopard, taking the six-man crew with them. The full circumstances of the hijack are unclear at this stage.”
Denmark’s Shipcraft, owner of the Leopard, breaks its silence (somewhat) on the incident involving the arms ship.
"We're fine even if they are really exhausted and sad. But the situation was tragic and we were at the mercy of the waves.”
Italian yachtsmen Matteo Miceli and Tullio Picciolini after being rescued by the crew of Polish Steamship’s Delia in the middle of the Atlantic.
