BIMCO members can now monitor the price spread between Marine Gas Oil Low Sulphur and 380 centistoke High Sulphur Fuel Oil in 32 different ports around the world with daily information supplied by MABUX.
The last two years have been extreme for the container shipping industry. When the crisis started in 2008, the industry first saw volumes contract sharply and subsequently rates dropped like a stone as liner companies were fiercely fighting for market shares at full speed – so to speak.
2015 never really took off, even though the global economic activity looked stronger earlier in the year. The negative indicators seen at the end of 2014 were not overcome, and we saw a significantly lower level of growth for global GDP in 2015 than in the previous five years. This was primarily due to the struggling emerging markets and developing economies, led by changes in China’s economic focus.
The new BIMCO magazine the “Bulletin” is out with articles covering the effect of the US-China trade war, the 2020 sulphur limit and the challenges of ship recycling and ballast water management. “The shipping industry is taking major steps and making huge investments to be ready for (2020) compliance. It is only fair that the nation states party to Annex VI of the MARPOL Convention live up to their end of the agreement,” BIMCO’s Secretary General, Angus Frew, points out in his foreword. Also, read the latest market analysis by Peter Sand and read why now is the wrong time to do business as usual as the trade war rages on.