Vessels linked to India’s Gatik Ship Management have shifted to new companies as the shadowy Mumbai-based operator grapples with the loss of flagging and insurance services over its trade in sanctioned Russian oil. Lloyd’s Register has become the latest company to join the maritime service exodus by Western outfits after informing Gatik that it will withdraw certification of 21 vessels by 3 June.

This week the maritime industry lost a titan with the passing of German shipping legend Bertram Rickmers. The 71-year-old succumbed to injuries incurred when he fell down a flight of stairs at his villa during his wife’s 60th birthday celebrations. He entered the family business in the early 1980s, when the family’s shipping empire had fallen on hard times. Bertram, with his brother Erck, built up a fleet of more than 100 container ships and 30 multipurpose vessels after buying back Rickmers-Linie from Hapag-Lloyd.

Australian mining company South32’s head of shipping Su Yin Anand had some poignant advice for the shipping industry ahead of her upcoming departure to a different sector. Speaking at the TradeWinds Shipowners Forum held in Singapore on Thursday, Anand said the industry needs to invest more in its people. She pointed out that shipping isn’t doing enough to upskill and train seafarers.

Thenamaris’ asset sale and fleet-renewal drive is acquiring ever bigger dimensions, it emerged this week. The Greek shipping giant disclosed that its newbuilding orderbook at Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding in China has reached six 114,000-dwt product tankers. In April, TradeWinds reported that the outfit’s newbuilding tally had climbed to four.

Zim management believes much of the liner industry is loss-making because spot freight rates are unsustainable and will have to improve. That is why managers of the New York-listed carrier are sticking by their forecast of a return to profitability in the second half of the year.

Floating LNG production-focused Golar LNG is in the process of selling for scrap one of the vessels it had lined up as a potential conversion candidate for an FLNG unit. Demolition brokers said the 126,000-cbm Golar Gandria (built 1977) has been sold on an “as is” basis in Labuan, in east Malaysia, where the ship has been laid up.

This week, our Green Seas environmental newsletter explored the argument that clean fuels represent an opportunity for the Global South, as developing nations call for an equitable transition that won’t batter their economies.

And finally, TradeWinds caught up with a team of maritime millennials who have global ambitions in the dry bulk chartering space. Dubai-based Leeway Brokers has only been in business for five years, yet its young, dynamic and growing team has managed to bring in some top-tier clients in dry bulk.

Read more