It's been a week littered with big deals, the biggest being the near billion dollar takeover of Norway's Ocean Yield by one of the founders of the private equity industry. It's hard to think of a more positive signal of trust in the medium-term outlook.
Meanwhile, as people enjoyed going to live events again at London International Shipping Week, Mediterranean Shipping Co's Soren Toft doubled-down on recent comments from his former boss, AP Moller-Maersk's Soren Skou, that today's container shipping supply chain crunch would only ease when people started buying less stuff.
It must be the first time in history that two of the world's biggest shipowners have envisioned the benefits of a slump in demand. These are strange times indeed.
Here's what I've been reading this week:
1. KKR to take Ocean Yield private as Kjell Inge Rokke cashes out in $829.5m takeover
When it comes to private equity and shipping, much of what we've seen recently has been about these financial firm's exit, which some have dubbed Prexit. But giant KKR going in deeper with a takeover of Kjell Inge Rokke-backed Ocean Yield. Rokkexit? Doesn't quite have the same ring to it.
2. Nisshin Shipping mulls $290m LNG-fuelled kamsarmax bulk carrier order
This week saw LNG fuelling moving further down the ship size scale in newbuilding orders. Louis Dreyfus Co, for example, is gearing up to become the first company to order dual-fuel tankers that can run on the commodity, and Hartmann Group of Germany is involved in a project to construct up to six 3,500-teu containerships to use the fuel. If Nisshin moves forward with its contemplated order, it would be the first deal for LNG-fuelled kamsarmaxes.
We are not the creators of demand, we are the servers of demand.
Soren Toft
3. Don’t blame lines for container shipping crisis, says Soren Toft
Supply chain woes have been rippling across global trade as recovering demand collides with shipping delays, leading governments to take a close look at soaring freight rates that fattened liner operator profits. Mediterranean Shipping Co chief executive Soren Toft used London International Shipping Week to issue a staunch defence of his sector, noting that containership operators have worked hard to expand capacity to meet the demand spike.
4. Shell’s Trauth: LNG can reduce up to 80% of greenhouse gas emissions
Shell shipping chief Karrie Trauth, meanwhile, was out to defend LNG as a fuel for ships at a time when methane, the main component of the fuel, faces scrutiny as a contributor to climate change. The Shell Shipping & Trading senior vice president said LNG is still key to the fuel mix in decarbonisation efforts, and using it could cut greenhouse gas emissions by 80% compared to 2008 levels.
5. SSY says high prices will halt 'sporadic' speculative tanker orders
Despite punishingly low spot market rates, tanker owners have still placed some newbuilding orders this year. But shipbroker Simpson Spence Young believes the sporadic ordering might come to an end for the second half of this year because of prices that, for a VLCC, have risen from $87.5m at the start of the year to $95m by July.
6. Boutique N2Tankers eyes growth through long-term charters
Don't call N2Tankers a pool operator. The aframax company gets that a lot, as the Synergy Marine-managed outfit was described that way in its early days. But three years on, N2Tankers has established itself as a "boutique aframax tanker operator", and it's looking to strike time charter deals to grow its fleet.
