Editor’s selection: London calling, Goodbulk’s dry goodbye and Marinakis’ ammonia double act

TOP STORY

Ahead of London International Shipping Week, TradeWinds looks at how change is in play for global shipbroking.

Broking has long been challenged as an industry that will one day no longer be needed and yet here it still is — for many, bigger and bolder than ever, reports Lucy Hine.

So where is its heart these days, what keeps its leaders up at night, who’s buying who and how will the business look in 10 years’ time — if it survives as it has done up until now that is?

TradeWinds put four key questions to the heads of eight of the major broking houses.

Read their responses here.

IN THE NEWS

Sustainability scorecard | Just three shipowners and operators scored an “A” grade in Position Green’s annual report card for Nordic-listed companies’ sustainability disclosures. The report from the software and advisory focused on an ESG framework of environment, social and governance matters comes as executive chairman Joachim Nahem warned that shipping still faces gaps as it gears up to comply with upcoming disclosure rules from the European Union.

Goodbye dry bulk | The question for some time now has been: after selling off the entirety of its capesize fleet, what will GoodBulk do next? The bulker owner on Thursday confirmed that it intends to remain focused on the dry bulk space, but said only that it is assessing “potential new opportunities”.

Russia IMO role | The shifting politics of global shipping threatens to end Russia’s 63-year membership of a key decision-making body of the London-based International Maritime Organization. Elections later this year will decide the 40 countries that for two years from January will make up the executive — the IMO’s council — in the first vote since the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Order double up | Greek shipowner Evangelos Marinakis has emerged as a key player in the push for a new breed of very large ammonia carriers. Last week, TradeWinds reported that Idan Ofer’s Eastern Pacific Shipping will be ordering four dual-fuel VLGCs — dubbed VLACs — at Hyundai Heavy Industries that will be able to carry a full load of ammonia or LPG.

Green Seas | This week’s newsletter takes a deep dive into carbon insets, exploring how shipping stakeholders can trust the emissions reductions they represent when some offsets face doubts and how they can drive maritime decarbonisation forward.

COMMENT

Wavelength | This week’s Wavelength column asks how can seafarers be protected from sexual violence while, just as on land, few cases at sea are ever prosecuted.

Recently, TradeWinds reported that US officials had decided not to move forward with prosecution in what may be the highest-profile case of alleged rape on a merchant vessel at sea.

The fact that there will be no trial or even charges in the alleged sexual assault of the US Merchant Marine Academy cadet Midshipman X, who has since revealed herself as Hope Hicks, is far from unusual, at sea or on land.

Read the article in full here.

IN-DEPTH

LISW23| London remains the world’s top-rated city in terms of the number of legal experts, maritime law companies and registered maritime lawyers, a study by Menon Economics and class society DNV found last year.

But the UK maritime legal sector has suffered bad publicity — and a cautionary tale — this year with the insolvency and subsequent rescue of London-headquartered Ince & Co, once considered the leading shipping law firm.

Read Holly Birkett’s story here.

AND FINALLY...

Mercy Ships | Tim Webb, the head of tankers for shipbroker BRS, signed off his successful seven-year stewardship of a hospital ships charity committee in Geneva in a grand manner by proposing to his long-term partner in front of 420 industry players at a fundraising gala.

Webb, who retires next year after 40 years in the shipping industry, went down on one knee to propose to his partner of 15 years, Coco Conte, on an emotional night that celebrated the $7m raised by the shipping community over the last seven years for the Mercy Ships charity.

Read the story here.