Shipping Corp orders two AHTS at Cochin Shipyard

Mumbai: Shipping Corporation of India (SCI) has placed orders for construction of two anchor handling tug cum supply vessels worth about $ 35 million with Cochin Shipyard Ltd, the country’s biggest shipbuilder under state control, writes Livemine.com.

The shipbuilding contract between the two firms was signed in Delhi on thursday, according to a government official who asked not to be named. The contract also involves an option for building two more similar vessels with a pulling capacity of 120 tonnes that are used to support offshore oil drilling operations.Spokespersons for both SCI and CSL declined

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Supertankers Storing Oil Plan to Deliver Cargoes, ICAP Says

A fifth of supertankers being used to store oil are scheduled to deliver their cargoes, according to ICAP Shipping, a unit of ICAP Plc, the world’s biggest broker of deals between banks.

A so-called notice of redelivery was issued for seven of 33 supertankers storing crude, Simon Chattrabhuti, a London-based analyst at ICAP, said by e-mail today. There “may well be others storing or that have given notice,” he said. Two new carriers were hired to store oil, the analyst said. The amount of oil stored at sea climbed to the highest in at least two decades because traders could buy the commodity, sit on it and take advantage of higher prices in the future, according to Frontline Ltd., the biggest supertanker operator. Hamilton, Bermuda-based Frontline on May 28 estimated as many as 60 supertankers were storing oil. The storage trade boosted demand for vessels as oil supply and demand contracted. BP Plc, Citigroup Inc.’s Phibro LLC, Royal Dutch Shell Plc and Koch Industries Ltd. were among the companies that sought tankers to store cargoes. Most of the crude oil is being stored in the Gulf of Mexico and in Europe, according to E.A. Gibson Shipbrokers Ltd.

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EU supports restructure of Poland’s historic Gdansk shipyard

Two Polish shipyards in Gdynia and Szczecin were forced to halt production and dismiss more than 4,500 workers after the European Commission found that they had received illegal government aid.

The yards were subsequently sold by the Polish Government to the Netherlands – registered United International Trust, who upon confirming that they intended to resume shipbuilding, have not made any further commitments. However, recent developments for the reorganisation of the historically significant Gdansk shipyard have been deemed satisfactory by the European Commission, which said that it would most likely approve a restructuring programme for the shipyard before the summer.

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Mitsui OSK: spinning off container ops one option

Mitsui O.S.K. Lines Ltd , Japan's second-biggest shipping line in terms of sales, said spinning off its container shipping division was one option to turn around the loss-making business.

Mitsui O.S.K. is the only shipper among Japan's three major shipping companies to have forecast a first-half profit, as it managed to avoid the worst of a collapse in commodity shipping rates by locking in fees through long-term contracts. But the container business is the biggest drag on its earnings in the year to March 2010 due to unprofitable rates, sagging volumes and oversupply concerns. "That (spinning off) would increase flexibility and speed up decision making, consolidating the business with other firms for instance," Kenichi Yonetani, Mitsui O.S.K. senior managing executive officer, told Reuters in an interview on Thursday. He said he there would be more benefits in consolidating the business with that of a foreign ally than a Japanese rival such as Nippon Yusen KK or Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha ere would be no overlap of facilities. Mitsui O.S.K. expects a loss of 20 billion yen in the container division for the year to March 2010, following a 21.3 billion yen loss in the 2008/09 business year.

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