High prices clip offshore suppliers? profit margins
FLOATING production markets will be buoyant for at least five years, but contracting profit margins have been hit by increasing costs for engineering services and equipment, says international offshore oil and gas industry supplier SBM Offshore.
USCG ?candid? on Cosco Busan
HAVING more experienced personnel on site, and more co-operation between local responders and the trained US Coast Guard response team, would have helped package the Cosco Busan oil spill better for public consumption in California and elsewhere, an internal USCG review has determined, writes Rajesh Joshi.
Price of litre of petrol tops 1 for first time in UK as oil surges on a North Sea storm. By Graeme Wearden.
The pound climbed to $2.10 for the first time since 1981 today, boosted by speculation that China was preparing to shift its foreign reserves out of dollars. By Graeme Wearden.
Market report: London shares resumed their downward trek today, knocked by volatile oil prices, a tumbling dollar, jitters around banks and more anxieties on Wall Street. By Katie Allen.
Share ThisThe world financial system is on the “brink of systemic meltdown”, the head of the International Monetary Fund warns.
Struggling US car giants General Motors and Chrysler are in talks about a possible merger, US media say.
Venezuela shuts all branches of restaurant chain McDonald’s for 48 hours, citing tax irregularities, officials say.
News, explainers and analysis see full coverage of the global turmoil
UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown calls for falls in the price of oil to be passed on to consumers ‘as quickly as possible’.
President George W Bush vows to work “aggressively” to restore economic stability, as world stock markets tumble.
Share ThisTough new ballast water rules set to protect Seaway ecosystem
ENVIRONMENTAL lobby groups in Canada and the US have welcomed the decision by the US St Lawrence Seaway authorities to compel ocean-going ships entering American ports on the waterway to take new measures to prevent the introduction of invasive aquatic species.
SHIPOWNERS who have tonnage entered mutually in Gard P&I Club, one of the world?s top two such organisations, are to receive a total $9m ?give back?.
THE financial restructuring of government-owned Hindustan Shipyard has been delayed further and referred to a group of ministers after suggestions that its expansion plans could cause national security concerns.
JINHUI Shipping and Transportation, the Oslo-listed Hong Kong bulker operator, saw net profit surge 109% to $12.8m in the first quarter buoyed by soaring charter rates. Turnover climbed 49% to $54.3m.
Share ThisBarrot sets date for ending SNCM investigation
THE European Commission will decide the fate of French Mediterranean ferry operator SNCM within the next two months, EU transport commissioner Jacques Barrot said, writes Justin Stares in Brussels.
SOUTH Tyneside College has launched a new course to hammer home the hazards of entering an enclosed space at sea, writes Felicity Landon.
SHIPPING faces an upsurge in port and onshore labour disputes amid the worst global financial crisis since 1929, according to niche marine mutual the Strike Club.
NEXT week?s critical stockholders? meeting at Oceanaut, the blank cheque company sponsored by Excel Maritime Carriers, has been cancelled ?in light of market conditions? which threaten to undermine its transformational deal for a fleet of bulk carriers.
LONDON insurers should be as concerned about the impact from a catastrophic event in the Gulf of Aden as they are from spiralling ransom demands, a leading London market underwriter has said.
ONE of the five propeller blades of the German-owned CSCL Kelang was found to be missing when it drydocked at MWB shipyard in Bremerhaven. The Antiguan-flagged, 36,003 dwt, 2001-built container vessel was towed from Paranagu to Germany by the tug Sumatras on a six-week voyage after it suffered damage in a grounding off the Brazilian coast. Ralf Witthohn
GULF Marine, headed by the former Asian boss of Total Lubmarine, has entered the marine lubricants market to challenge the traditional dominance of existing firms such as Shell, Mobil and Chevron, writes Keith Wallis.
SOUTH Korea?s Busan Port Authority will break ground on it most ambitious project yet when it starts to convert cargo piers into an international cruise and passenger terminal and a business and tourist centre in November.
SEAFARERS? unions will next week lobby the European parliament in support of their demands that employment terms and conditions on intra-EU ferry services be regulated at levels prevailing in Europe, writes David Osler.
SOMALI pirates have freed the Japanese chemical tanker Irene and its 25 crew after a $1.6m ransom was paid, a regional government official has said.
THE global financial crisis has not stopped two Shanghai-listed shipowners from securing bank loans worth a total of Yuan4.2bn ($615m) to fund their newbuilding projects, writes Sandra Tsuiin Hong Kong.
INTERNATIONAL Chamber of Shipping chairman Spiros Polemis has said applying an emissions trading scheme to shipping would distort competition and unfairly penalise the most environmentally-friendly form of transport, writes Neville Smith.
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Share ThisMortgage boss forfeits $37.5m
The boss of Countrywide Financial agrees not to take $37.5m owed to him following the bank’s takeover.
