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Thursday, 18 April 13
FEATURE: PREDICTING THE FUTURE - AND THE PAST - BIMCO
 It’s not predicting the future that is problematical, it’s the realisation that you have to relive the past again and again when you fail to learn from your mistakes. So much so in fact that, like a scientist studying the formation of the universe, it should become possible to predict the past too.
Shipping knows exactly how this feels, having ignored the simplest of supply/demand equations and instead put its faith in fanciful predictions that the world – and therefore business – had changed forever.
The trouble is that the more things change, the more they also stay the same. The belief that an industry could break completely free of the cycles which had marked its history for hundreds of years was in fact a departure from reality, the consequences of which we continue to live with.
At least we know now, in case we did not before, that the world will continue to be a difficult place in which to trade, and one need only attend one of the regular shipping industry trade shows to experience that feeling first hand.
Even in Asia, grounded more in trade and consumption rather than the optimism of capital markets, there is an expectation that the world which emerges from the industry’s longest downturn in a generation will be different to the one that went into it.
Classification Society Lloyd’s Register used the recent Singapore Maritime Week to launch its own piece of long range research, laying down competing scenarios of what the industry might have to be grappling with by 2030.
A thorough piece of work put together by LR, QinetiQ and Strathclyde University, it nonetheless can only really succeed in telling the reader what they might already suspect, particularly with regard to the economic/political backdrop.
It seems highly unlikely, for example, that the world will adopt anything but an aggressive posture to protection and preference, not simply for the length of the recession but subsequently, as the emerging nations that (again, we know) will come to dominate the industry flex their muscles.
The shipping industry gives thanks en masse for China’s rise but it must surely recognise that the trading partner with which it will have to deal is no US, no Europe, not even a Russia.
Shipping has traditionally enjoyed freedom of capital, movement of people, goods and services, all commodities it cannot be certain will be so readily available in future. The evidence of the tension emerging in Singapore last week over the need to balance immigration against the requirement to import skills to cement the city-state’s future growth is one clear example and far from being the only one.
Shipping also likes to be left alone and to do its own thing, rather in the same way as entrepreneurs enjoy conditions of privacy to found and grow businesses – unfettered by regulation and competitive constraints, served by relatively free-flowing debt financing.
Again, little to no hope there. Shipping’s dalliance with unreality has left it, if not high and dry, then in a new room with different lenders with very different ideas compared to its former ship finance partners.
Shipping is also highly regulated, but in some areas, less highly regulated than other comparable industries. The trouble is that the industry has done a bad job too often of arguing its case that the positives outweigh the negatives.
There are a number of reasons for that, not least that its main regulator has to juggle the demands of being a technical body on the one hand with being a political one on the other. The tidal wave of opprobrium heaped upon regulators during CMA was a little less obvious during Maritime Week but it is clear the costs of compliance, the need to demonstrate transparency and the requirement to operate under greater scrutiny will all be firm future requirements.
But can shipping change by enough to meet these needs? Of course it should – by practising restraint, by being more commercially adept, by making friends with regulators earlier in the rulemaking process, by recognising that market share without profit margin is a pointless metric and that it something looks too good to be true, it probably is.
To carve out a survival strategy that goes beyond merely putting off the inevitable for another seven years, shipping certainly has to get smarter, and not just in terms of the above commercial issues, however pressing they appear.
Shipping needs to cure itself of the affliction that it has suffered under for at least the last 20 years – you take care of providing sufficient growth, we’ll take care of the rest. The industry is being asked tough questions about its place in the world, just at the time when it has demonstrated the definition of commercial irresponsibility and lack of regulatory engagement. So, back to the future. There is a fine living to be made predicting even short term scenarios, but better cuttings and weblinks to be garnered by mopping up in the aftermath. Most of those doing the latter focus on how we failed to spot the emergence of various technologies and services in time to either make our fortunes or to adopt them to our competitive advantage, preferring to dismiss them as the short term fads driven by people who just want to sell us things before our current things have worn out.
But watch this space – there are two factors that will be decisive in marking out corporates for survival and perhaps the wider industry for adaptive evolution: attitudes to people and the use of technology. The entry into force of the MLC might not by itself guarantee better working conditions for all seafarers but it demonstrates a much clearer focus by regulators that owners will be unable to ignore and should turn to their advantage.
And as for technology? Well, without new approaches to designing, building and operating ships, incorporating not just some tried and trusted techniques but new – and as yet unproven – technologies, there is little hope of meeting future regulatory hurdles and energy efficiency requirements.
I said that predicting the past was possible and here is the history lesson. Owners will adapt and survive. Some will leave the stage and some big names disappear but long before 2030, we will see a new industry emerge. In fact this is not a prediction. It will have to happen.
Source: BIMCO / Hellenic Shipping
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Tuesday, 07 May 13
NEWCASTLE PORT'S COAL EXPORTS HOLD STEADY WEEK ON WEEK
COALspot.com - Newcastle port in Australia has loaded 2,975,160 tons of thermal and coking coal for week ended 0700 hours 6 May 2013, Newcastl ...
Monday, 06 May 13
INDONESIAN COAL PRICE REFERENCE FALLS CONTINUE
COALspot.com - The Indonesian government’s declared coal bench mark price has lost $ 3.23 / MT in May 2013.
The monthly coal pr ...
Sunday, 05 May 13
SUB-BIT FOB INDONESIA COAL - MIXED TREND; API 8 CFR SOUTH CHINA COAL - POSITIVE TREND
COALspot.com - Sub-Bit Indonesia coal swaps (FOB ) for average June 2013 delivery has gained 0.28 percent and API 8 CFR South China Coal shipment&nb ...
Saturday, 04 May 13
INDONESIA TO INDIA PANAMAX FREIGHT : FLAT TO SOFT - CAPT. REDDY
COALspot.com - The demand for iron ore picked up and its pushed up the cape size index by 7.86 pct. Cape index closed at 1,344 points. The BDI ...
Friday, 03 May 13
US PRODUCED 17.9 MILLION SHORT TONS (MMST) OF COAL IN A WEEK
COALspot.com - U.S. produced totaled approximately 17.9 million short tons (mmst) in a week (For the week ended April 27, 2013), EIA said in its lat ...
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- Bhatia International Limited - India
- PowerSource Philippines DevCo
- Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand
- Videocon Industries ltd - India
- Ind-Barath Power Infra Limited - India
- Chamber of Mines of South Africa
- Medco Energi Mining Internasional
- Aditya Birla Group - India
- Pendopo Energi Batubara - Indonesia
- Coal and Oil Company - UAE
- Sakthi Sugars Limited - India
- Global Green Power PLC Corporation, Philippines
- Trasteel International SA, Italy
- Asia Pacific Energy Resources Ventures Inc, Philippines
- Manunggal Multi Energi - Indonesia
- New Zealand Coal & Carbon
- GMR Energy Limited - India
- Indian Energy Exchange, India
- Bulk Trading Sa - Switzerland
- European Bulk Services B.V. - Netherlands
- Samtan Co., Ltd - South Korea
- Latin American Coal - Colombia
- Africa Commodities Group - South Africa
- SN Aboitiz Power Inc, Philippines
- The State Trading Corporation of India Ltd
- Holcim Trading Pte Ltd - Singapore
- Global Coal Blending Company Limited - Australia
- Bayan Resources Tbk. - Indonesia
- Coastal Gujarat Power Limited - India
- TeaM Sual Corporation - Philippines
- Thiess Contractors Indonesia
- Indonesian Coal Mining Association
- AsiaOL BioFuels Corp., Philippines
- Dong Bac Coal Mineral Investment Coporation - Vietnam
- Petron Corporation, Philippines
- VISA Power Limited - India
- Bukit Asam (Persero) Tbk - Indonesia
- The University of Queensland
- Economic Council, Georgia
- Renaissance Capital - South Africa
- Bhoruka Overseas - Indonesia
- Central Java Power - Indonesia
- Bukit Makmur.PT - Indonesia
- Meenaskhi Energy Private Limited - India
- Neyveli Lignite Corporation Ltd, - India
- Truba Alam Manunggal Engineering.Tbk - Indonesia
- South Luzon Thermal Energy Corporation
- Altura Mining Limited, Indonesia
- Maheswari Brothers Coal Limited - India
- Gujarat Electricity Regulatory Commission - India
- IHS Mccloskey Coal Group - USA
- Carbofer General Trading SA - India
- Karbindo Abesyapradhi - Indoneisa
- Indian Oil Corporation Limited
- Ministry of Transport, Egypt
- Xindia Steels Limited - India
- Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd
- Ministry of Mines - Canada
- Essar Steel Hazira Ltd - India
- Independent Power Producers Association of India
- Central Electricity Authority - India
- Tamil Nadu electricity Board
- Thai Mozambique Logistica
- Sinarmas Energy and Mining - Indonesia
- TNB Fuel Sdn Bhd - Malaysia
- Marubeni Corporation - India
- Uttam Galva Steels Limited - India
- SMC Global Power, Philippines
- CIMB Investment Bank - Malaysia
- Kalimantan Lumbung Energi - Indonesia
- Metalloyd Limited - United Kingdom
- Merrill Lynch Commodities Europe
- Posco Energy - South Korea
- Australian Coal Association
- Standard Chartered Bank - UAE
- Singapore Mercantile Exchange
- Timah Investasi Mineral - Indoneisa
- Energy Link Ltd, New Zealand
- Rio Tinto Coal - Australia
- Planning Commission, India
- Riau Bara Harum - Indonesia
- Agrawal Coal Company - India
- Interocean Group of Companies - India
- Leighton Contractors Pty Ltd - Australia
- PTC India Limited - India
- Semirara Mining and Power Corporation, Philippines
- IEA Clean Coal Centre - UK
- Mercator Lines Limited - India
- McConnell Dowell - Australia
- Borneo Indobara - Indonesia
- Straits Asia Resources Limited - Singapore
- Cement Manufacturers Association - India
- Wood Mackenzie - Singapore
- Savvy Resources Ltd - HongKong
- Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited - India
- Karaikal Port Pvt Ltd - India
- Deloitte Consulting - India
- Sree Jayajothi Cements Limited - India
- Therma Luzon, Inc, Philippines
- Semirara Mining Corp, Philippines
- Chettinad Cement Corporation Ltd - India
- India Bulls Power Limited - India
- Intertek Mineral Services - Indonesia
- Meralco Power Generation, Philippines
- Oldendorff Carriers - Singapore
- Parliament of New Zealand
- Formosa Plastics Group - Taiwan
- Grasim Industreis Ltd - India
- ICICI Bank Limited - India
- Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission - India
- Malabar Cements Ltd - India
- Globalindo Alam Lestari - Indonesia
- The Treasury - Australian Government
- Filglen & Citicon Mining (HK) Ltd - Hong Kong
- Anglo American - United Kingdom
- Goldman Sachs - Singapore
- San Jose City I Power Corp, Philippines
- Indogreen Group - Indonesia
- Port Waratah Coal Services - Australia
- Ambuja Cements Ltd - India
- Wilmar Investment Holdings
- Offshore Bulk Terminal Pte Ltd, Singapore
- Commonwealth Bank - Australia
- Banpu Public Company Limited - Thailand
- Jindal Steel & Power Ltd - India
- Energy Development Corp, Philippines
- Mjunction Services Limited - India
- Kideco Jaya Agung - Indonesia
- Vizag Seaport Private Limited - India
- Mintek Dendrill Indonesia
- Pipit Mutiara Jaya. PT, Indonesia
- Electricity Authority, New Zealand
- PNOC Exploration Corporation - Philippines
- LBH Netherlands Bv - Netherlands
- Alfred C Toepfer International GmbH - Germany
- Toyota Tsusho Corporation, Japan
- Bangladesh Power Developement Board
- Binh Thuan Hamico - Vietnam
- Vijayanagar Sugar Pvt Ltd - India
- Ceylon Electricity Board - Sri Lanka
- Sindya Power Generating Company Private Ltd
- Aboitiz Power Corporation - Philippines
- Orica Mining Services - Indonesia
- OPG Power Generation Pvt Ltd - India
- Antam Resourcindo - Indonesia
- Kobexindo Tractors - Indoneisa
- White Energy Company Limited
- Romanian Commodities Exchange
- Bukit Baiduri Energy - Indonesia
- Siam City Cement PLC, Thailand
- Australian Commodity Traders Exchange
- Sical Logistics Limited - India
- Bhushan Steel Limited - India
- Heidelberg Cement - Germany
- Lanco Infratech Ltd - India
- Kumho Petrochemical, South Korea
- ASAPP Information Group - India
- Bahari Cakrawala Sebuku - Indonesia
- Eastern Energy - Thailand
- Global Business Power Corporation, Philippines
- Parry Sugars Refinery, India
- Gujarat Sidhee Cement - India
- SMG Consultants - Indonesia
- Minerals Council of Australia
- MS Steel International - UAE
- Kaltim Prima Coal - Indonesia
- Barasentosa Lestari - Indonesia
- Krishnapatnam Port Company Ltd. - India
- Indika Energy - Indonesia
- Jorong Barutama Greston.PT - Indonesia
- Georgia Ports Authority, United States
- Price Waterhouse Coopers - Russia
- Kohat Cement Company Ltd. - Pakistan
- Makarim & Taira - Indonesia
- GAC Shipping (India) Pvt Ltd
- Jaiprakash Power Ventures ltd
- Baramulti Group, Indonesia
- Siam City Cement - Thailand
- Gujarat Mineral Development Corp Ltd - India
- GN Power Mariveles Coal Plant, Philippines
- CNBM International Corporation - China
- Coalindo Energy - Indonesia
- Kartika Selabumi Mining - Indonesia
- Billiton Holdings Pty Ltd - Australia
- Kepco SPC Power Corporation, Philippines
- Star Paper Mills Limited - India
- Directorate General of MIneral and Coal - Indonesia
- London Commodity Brokers - England
- Indo Tambangraya Megah - Indonesia
- Mercuria Energy - Indonesia
- Dr Ramakrishna Prasad Power Pvt Ltd - India
- Salva Resources Pvt Ltd - India
- Attock Cement Pakistan Limited
- Madhucon Powers Ltd - India
- Orica Australia Pty. Ltd.
- Sarangani Energy Corporation, Philippines
- International Coal Ventures Pvt Ltd - India
- PetroVietnam Power Coal Import and Supply Company
- Dalmia Cement Bharat India
- Sojitz Corporation - Japan
- Edison Trading Spa - Italy
- Miang Besar Coal Terminal - Indonesia
- Directorate Of Revenue Intelligence - India
- Cigading International Bulk Terminal - Indonesia
- Eastern Coal Council - USA
- Iligan Light & Power Inc, Philippines
- Tata Chemicals Ltd - India
- Ministry of Finance - Indonesia
- Kapuas Tunggal Persada - Indonesia
- Petrochimia International Co. Ltd.- Taiwan
- Bharathi Cement Corporation - India
- Asmin Koalindo Tuhup - Indonesia
- Larsen & Toubro Limited - India
- GVK Power & Infra Limited - India
- Simpson Spence & Young - Indonesia
- Vedanta Resources Plc - India
- Power Finance Corporation Ltd., India
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