WORLDWIDE MARITIME NEWS (XI)
1. - MAERSK´S P3 ALLIANCE: U.S REGULATORY APPROVAL
P3 alliance has won the approval of the U.S Federal Maritime Commission (FMC)taking a step closer to further approvals for the grouping widely opposed by Asian shippers. The FMC ruling will only apply to U.S. trades. The P3 alliance, which will have a fleet of 225 container ships totalling 2.5 million TEUs (twenty-foot-equivalent-unit containers), would operate 42 percent of the capacity on the Asia-Europe route, 24 per cent on the Transpacific and up to 42 per cent on the Transatlantic trade and could result in reduced competition on the U.S. trades. However, transportation cost and transportation service will remain the same . Separate approvals need to be given by the European Union and China’s Ministry of Commerce before the three partners can fully launch the P3 alliance.
2. – CHINA: WORLD´S LARGEST LIQUID FUELS IMPORTER
U.S. Energy Information Administration reveals that in September 2013 China's net imports of petroleum and other liquids exceeded those of the United States on a monthly basis, making it the largest net importer of crude oil and other liquids in the world. The rise in China's net imports of petroleum and other liquids is driven by steady economic growth, with rapidly rising Chinese petroleum demand outpacing production growth. Saudi Arabia continues to be the largest supplier of crude oil to China and in 2013 provided 19% of China's 5.6 million barrels per day. Another suppliers are Oman, Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, Angola, Venezuela, and Russia.
3. - NEWBUILDING ACTIVITY: IMPROVING DRY BULK MARKET CONDITIONS
The gradual improvement of the dry bulk market, as expected for some time now, is urging shipowners to increase their newbuilding ordering activity, in an attempt to take advantage of the still low prices, compared to the 2007-2008 highs. As a result, 2014 has so far proved to be the best year in terms of contracting activity, since 2008. Over the course of the past week, shipbrokers reported newbuilding orders for a total of 63 vessels with a deadweight of 4,517,648 tons, while 29 transactions were reported at an undisclosed price. It seems that newbuilding market is recovering.
4. - EUROPE´S INDUSTRIAL SECTOR: PERFORMANCE BOOSTED BY NON-EURO REGION
According to BBC news, the slow recovery of Europe's industrial sector has been boosted by a better performance in countries outside the euro bloc.
Industrial output in the 18-nation eurozone fell 0.2% in January compared with December. But in the full 28-country European Union (EU28) output was up 0.1%, reversing December's falls. Compared with a year ago, industrial production grew 2.1% in the euro area and 2.4% in the EU28.
5.- MAERSK: PROFIT FORMULA
Despite the challenges that shipping industry nowadays has to face, Maerks Line recorded a profit of US$ 1,5 bn for 2013 and a return on invested capital of 7,4%. The key of its success are the cutdown of costs and vessel size. Maerks line was able to reduce cost by over 8%, moving faster than rates have gone down. It is due to its vessels efficiencies that reduce Bunker consumption by just over 12% . Another important aspect is that Maerks is eco-friendly with the enviroment and by 2020 the reduction of CO2 will be about 40%. Talking about vessel size, over the past 3-4 years it has increased by 40% which has been positive in terms of economies of scale, having a positive impact on costs.