Salvors are still conducting preparations for the third chain cut through the hull of the wrecked ro/ro Golden Ray. 

Azerbaijan increased the total volume of cargo transshipment via its Baku Port by 20 percent to 4.8 million tons in 2020, the port has reported.

Los Angeles County is at the epicenter of the current COVID surge. That county’s Los Angeles/Long Beach port complex is simultaneously at the epicenter of America’s import surge. These two spikes are now converging as hundreds of California dockworkers catch COVID.

Korea’s three major shipbuilders — Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering (KSOE), Samsung Heavy Industries and Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME) — are jumping into the offshore wind power business. As the government is pushing for Green New Deal projects, they are seeking to get a piece of the action.

The market weakened even further this week with rates dropping and the timecharter equivalent for the main front haul voyages heading towards, if not actually realising, negative returns. In the Middle East 280,000mt to US Gulf via the Cape/Cape routing is assessed another point down at WS18, whilst 270,000mt to China is rated a further four points lower than last week at just below WS30 (which translates into a timecharter equivalent of -$800/day). In the Atlantic, rates for 260,000mt West Africa to China fell two points this week to WS31 (about $1,650 per day). For voyages of 270,000mt US Gulf to China the market dropped another $100k to just below $4.2m, which corresponds to daily earnings of about $8,000/day basis a round voyage.

The Capesize market rocked and rolled these past few days. But by weeks end little had changed on the Capesize 5TC as it settled down -884 to $24,631. This was a positive difference of $733 to the beginning of the week. The market was not without plenty of activity as the Atlantic Basin continues to maintain a strong positive sentiment with the Transatlantic C8 sitting at $36,425 against the Transpacific C10 at $17,133. Hampering logistics efforts in the Pacific had Cyclone Lucas kicked off the cyclone season in the North-West Australia region. The West Australia to China C5 had a decline in value this week of 0.941 to settle at $7.873. The activity out of Brazil has been tense with a standoff between charterers and owners breaking now slightly to the downside. The Brazil to China C3 now trades at $19.245. Period activity has been ticking over at a healthy level as the strong case for this year continues to hold.

DP World, UAE Region’s flagship free zone, Jebel Ali Free Zone (Jafza) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with UAE-based STAR-K Kosher Certification to educate its partners in the food and agricultural commodities sector about kosher certification, aiding them to get certified as kosher. The MoU was signed by Ahmad Al Haddad, Chief Operating Officer, Parks and Zones, DP World, UAE Region and Rabbi Ahron Haskel, President, STAR-K Kosher Certification in the Middle East, Europe and Africa, in the presence of Rabbi Yanki Hoffman, Vice President, STAR-K Kosher Certification in the Middle East, Europe and Africa.