Total imports of iron ore and soya beans were lower in 2018 than in 2017, down 1% and 7.9% respectively, and although imports of coal grew 3.7% in 2018, this was slower than the growth in 2017.
China's import of iron ore will continue to be a key driver for the demand growth in 2017 for the dry bulk shipping industry, alongside shipping of grains.
BIMCO has established a new subcommittee to develop a Dynamic Positioning (DP) Annex for the SUPPLYTIME 2017. The DP Annex is expected to be the next addition to the library of specialist pro-forma Annexes, which is being developed by BIMCO in collaboration with industry experts. It will provide a framework for the use of DP systems in the offshore and other relevant sectors.
US seaborne coal exports are up 57% in total volume and 61% in terms of tonne-miles for the first five months of 2017 compared to the same period last year. If US coal exports remain high throughout 2017 it will have a solid effect on the global seaborne coal trade and support the overall improvement in the dry bulk shipping industry.
The AMSA Marine Notice 7/2017 addresses the following areas; Software quality assurance, Anomalies, ECDIS data presentation and performance check dataset, Chart carriage requirements, Mode of ECDIS operation, ECDIS training requirements and Port state control inspections.