TradeWinds Wavelength - a weekly shipping news show

In this week's episode of Wavelength:

Donald Trump and ChIna's Xi Jinping meet and talk trade and Iran. Is there any impact for shipping?

Read more: China presses for Strait of Hormuz reopening as Trump and Xi meet

Read more: China opposes toll and ‘militarised’ Strait of Hormuz, US officials say

Read more: Xi-Trump summit heralds tariff easing plan

Danish Ship Finance warns shipping not to under estimate CHina's ambitions to wean itself off global commodity imports

Read more: Chinese energy plans to shake up shipping, warns Danish Ship Finance

Read more: Beijing elevates shipping, ports and maritime logistics in new five-year plan

Wallenius Line and Alfa Laval joint venture is soon to get wings and fly to China. It also wants to see wind become the ne engine of the ship

Read more: How new Oceanbird boss wants to see wind become shipping’s primary power source

Read more: Wallenius and Alfa Laval’s windtech solution Oceanbird rises

Production and host: Craig Eason

Additional editorial reporting: Yannick Guerry, Huaqing Ma, Paul Peachey

A TradWinds/DN Media podcast

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this week’s Wavelength:

Paul Peachey, TradeWinds risk correspondent, joins Craig Eason to assess the latest events in the Gulf as US and Iranian blockades continue, as do attacks and talks of a ceasefire. 

Read more: ‘Just a love tap’: US hits Iranian ports after destroyers face sustained Hormuz attack

Read more: Consensus building that Strait of Hormuz reopening impact will trickle down to shipping

Read more: US Strait of Hormuz insurance scheme still closed for business

In the US, experts continue to support proposals to back up a national shipbuilding programme, but where is the demand?

Read more: Trump administration looks to nuclear propulsion to revitalise US maritime sector

Read more: ‘We can act’: Trump’s FMC chair threatens to create penalties for Net-Zero Framework tax

And why the new chair of the US Federal Maritime Commission went to the IMO to push against the net-zero fund.

Read more: ‘We can act’: Trump’s FMC chair threatens to create penalties for Net-Zero Framework tax

Listen to the whole interview on Wavelength Plus.

Production and host: Craig Eason

Additional editorial input: Paul Peachey, Eric Priante Martin, Yannick Guerry

A TradeWinds/ DN Media Podcast

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

 In this episode:

As the Iran and US/Israeli ceasefire tentatively holds, so do the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. Angelica Kemene, head of market and climate strategy at Optima Shipping Services joins Wavelength host Craig Eason to discuss the ongoing impact on the tanker market rates and how the UAE leaving OPEC could impact trades once the Strait of Hormuz opens.

Read more: Tanker market finds delicate balance as oil prices surge to multi-year highs

Read more: Oil surges as blockades set to cause months of disruption

Industry climate talks. have been continuing in London for the last two weeks with the sides seemingly well entrenched in their positions not putting talk of compromise into action. Can the net zero framework be saved? Or is it back to the drawing board. Craig talks to UCL professor Tristan Smith about the outcome of the two weeks and TradeWinds risk correspondent Paul Peachey is int he studio having been canvassing opinions in the corridors of the IMO over the last week

Read more: IMO chief urges nations to bridge gaps and clinch shipping decarbonisation deal

Read more: Don’t expect too much out of the IMO this week

And Holly is back with another episode of Granular, this time from Geneva Dry

Producer and host: Craig Eason

Additional reporting: Paul Peachey, Yannick Guerry and Holly Birkett

A TradeWinds/DN Media podcast

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Decarbonisation was high on the agenda Singapore Maritime Week, where TradeWinds held its Shipowners' Forum this week. 

Shipping companies are taking another look at their green strategies in the absence of an adopted Net-Zero Framework regulation from the International Maritime Organization.

Meanwhile in Europe, the next FuelEU Maritime deadline will hit at the end of this month for owners who have operated ships to, from and within Europe over the past 12 months.

In this week's episode:

•In the Strait of Hormuz this week, there have been ship seizures and rising concerns about sea mines. TradeWinds reporter Matt Coyne gives us an update.

Read more: Container shipping remains paralysed in Middle East Gulf as MSC seizures ramp up tensions

Read more: Clearing Iran’s Strait of Hormuz mines could take six months, US defence officials tell lawmakers

•As the IMO begins another week of talks to see if its Net-Zero Framework can either be pushed through or rewritten, we hear from Eastern Pacific Shipping boss Cyril Ducau on his company’s decarbonisation plan.

Read more: Eastern Pacific Shipping boss explains how to ‘outperform the market’ in volatile times

Read more: Eastern Pacific Shipping sees wind of change in Singapore

•The Poseidon Principles launched almost seven years ago. Its new chairman Paul Taylor tells TradeWinds about how the initiative will aid shipowners in cutting carbon emissions.

Read more: ‘We have to have teeth’: Poseidon Principles boss signals strategic shift

•Shipowners with tonnage that sailed to or around Europe last year have just days left to decide if they want to pool vessels to share emissions credits or face potentially huge penalties from FuelEU Maritime. Craig Eason looks at the options with Frederike Hesse, co-founder of emissions accounting platform Zero44.

Read more: Shipowners face major pooling losses after EU gets its sums wrong

Read more: Don’t pay the penalty: FuelEU non-compliance costs will hurt

•And finally, we speak to the artist known as "Hardo", who trades commodities by day and makes art by night – this time, it’s all about shipping. He talks about how anyone and everyone in shipping and finance can tap into their creativity.

Read more: The kings of shipping and commodities — as only Hardo sees them

Read more: Meet the ‘Banksy of shipping’. The anonymous artist committing dry bulk markets to canvas

Host and producer: Holly Birkett.

Additional reporting: Matt Coyne, Craig Eason and Julian Bray.

A DN Media/TradeWinds podcast

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode:

TradeWinds newbuilding expert Irene Ang joins host Craig Eason in the studio to run through the surge in orders for VLCCs, looking at who, where, when and why.

Read more: Yangzijiang Maritime orders eight VLCCs in deal worth close to $1bn

Read more: JP Morgan tipped to enter VLCC arena with $500m newbuilding deal

The US goes on the hunt for more Iranian ships.

Read more: US ramps up scope of Iran blockade to target ships ‘regardless of location’

Lomar Shipping offers its ships for start-ups to use as testbeds. We speak to Lomarlabs managing director Stylianos Papageorgiou about why.

Read more: Lomarlabs boss lifts the lid on its cleantech portfolio

Also in this edition: our Singapore special report, including a profile of dry bulk operator Dava.

Read more:

How Singapore became a launchpad for global ambitions

Dava eyes expansion as shifting trade routes reshape bulk markets

Host and producer: Craig Eason

Additional reporting: Irene Ang, Eric Priante Martin and Huaqing Ma

A DN Media/TradeWinds podcast

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this week's episode:

A fragile ceasefire in the Middle East does not mean shipping can easily flow again through the Strait of Hormuz. TradeWinds Holly Birkett and Matt Coyne run through the impact and implications of the ceasefire and the reluctance for shipping to think it is safe.

Read more: Shipping stocks fall as Trump hits out at Iran over Hormuz handling

Read more: Strait of Hormuz crossings at near standstill as MOL awaits government guidance

Gard boss and new chair of the International Group of P&I Clubs Rolf Torre Roppestad talks to TradeWinds risk correspondent Paul Peachey about the impact of conflicts and sanctions on casualties and insurance implications

Read more: Conflict and sanctions threaten global shipping order, warns world’s largest marine insurer

Belgium gas carrier owner and operator Exmar has just taken possession of two ammonia dual-fuelled carriers, the industry's first. Lucy Hine spoke to Exmar chief executive Carl-Antoine Saverys about the delivery and whether the vessels will be using green ammonia.

Read more: Exmar ships that can slash emissions by 95% debut into changed world order

(The full interview can be found on Wavelength Plus podcast)

There's a new boss at the US Federal Maritime Commission and she does not intend to just sit on the sidelines and the country seeks to revitalise its maritime industry

Read more: Trump’s Federal Maritime chair sets sights on boosting US-flag shipping

And shipyards and hull coating makers claim an EU bottleneck in approving new biocide chemicals for hull coatings is detrimental to the blocs competitiveness as Asian yards can offer more innovative solutions to tackle biofouling. Craig Eason talks to i-Tech, one of the biocide additive makers that is feeling the impact.

Read more: Europe restricts shipowner hull coating choices as new additive approvals slow to a trickle

Producer and host: Craig Eason

Additional reporting: Holly Birkett, Lucy Hine, Eric Priante Martin, Matt Coyne

A TradeWinds/DN Media podcast

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

 In this week’s episode:

What to do with 23-year old LNG carrier Arctic Metagaz, adrift in the Mediterranean after being attacked and gutted, and can any lessons be learned?

Read more: Cargo and fuel to be removed from damaged Russian LNG carrier next week

International Maritime Organization decarbonisation talks will restart soon. What next? Craig Eason talks to Tristan Smith at University College London about the proposals that are coming in and the two camps emerging in the battle

Read more: Trump team looks to kill off Net-Zero Framework for shipping

Maria Ogbugo from the African Future Policies Hub joins the podcast to talk about unifying the voice of Africa at the IMO despite some countries having very different views.

Read More: Divided African states seek to unite for next IMO climate talks

And the Climate Ethanol Alliance is urging US farmers and ethanol producers to see the huge potential in shipping’s decarbonisation.

Read more: Can US farmers sway Trump to make a U-turn on IMO decarbonisation policy?

Host/producer: Craig Eason

Additional reporting: Lucy Hine, Yannick Guerry

A DN Media/TradeWinds podcast

The Wavelength archive

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this week’s Wavelength podcast:

It has been a landmark week for deals in the crude tanker space, but the big-money investments and fundraising come as around 20,000 seafarers remain trapped the Middle East Gulf.

It was confirmed this week that Gianluigi Aponte’s MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company is buying into South Korea’s Sinokor Maritime Co.

Sinokor’s buying and chartering spree this year has given the company a potential 20% to 25% market share in VLCCs.

Read more: Official: World’s richest shipowner equal partner with Sinokor in VLCC superpower

Read more: Is VLCC consolidator Sinokor Maritime about to raid the suezmax sector?

Meanwhile in Oslo, Capital Tankers completed its initial public offering of shares marking the first shipping IPO anywhere for five years. Raising $500m, it was the biggest shipping public offering anywhere in two decades.

The Evangelos Marinakis-backed company had a great start on the bourse, but the share price was rocked by the war in the Middle East. 

Questions are beginning to swirl about how crude tankers will be affected if there is less oil on the water, if the blockade of Hormuz drags on.

Read more: Capital Tankers: War offers ‘sobering illustration of how quickly energy trade routes can be disrupted’

Read more: Evangelos Marinakis can build a rival to Frontline on John Fredriksen’s home turf

The International Maritime Organization this week called an emergency meeting to make plans for a humanitarian corridor that would allow ships and their crews to be evacuated from the Gulf through Hormuz. 

But, as international politics clashed, the IMO meeting found that drawing up a viable plan and executing it quickly will be easier said than done.

Read more: Time is short: IMO chief urges action for 20,000 seafarers trapped in Middle East Gulf

Read more: Strait of Hormuz safe corridor plan wins backing from UN shipping regulator

The idea for an humanitarian corridor through Hormuz was supported this week by the vice president of the China Shipowners’ Association, Zhao Qingfeng.

Speaking at the TradeWinds Shipowners’ Forum in Shanghai, Zhao supported a specific window of time to allow vessels to leave the war zone.

Read more: ‘We will not make war money’: Chinese shipowners call for Hormuz window

Host: Craig Eason.

Producer: Holly Birkett.

Reporters: Andy Pierce, Paul Peachey, Matt Coyne and Yannick Guerry.

A TradeWinds/DN Media Podcast.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this week’s Wavelength episode: 

As the conflict drags towards its third week, we examine the impact so far, including in China and the US.

Read more: Oil flows will take ‘months’ to recover after the war: IEA

Read more: US eases sanctions on Russian shadow fleet amid oil price spike

Read more: Day 14: US claims protection convoy always part of war planning

We also look at a new voluntary injury compensation scheme for Bangladesh recycling workers.

Read more: Injury fund launched for Bangladeshi recyclers

And the intensifying debate over how to get sanctioned shadow fleet tankers out of the water and into the hands of recyclers.

Listen to the full interview on Wavelength Plus on ACAST

Producer and host: Craig Eason

Additional editorial input: Yannick Guerry, Eric Priante Martin and Huaqing Ma.

A TradeWinds/DN Media Podcast

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is episode 100 of the Wavelength podcast and published in the midst of turmoil and uncertainty in shipping

In this week’s episode:

The impact on shipping of the attacks by the US and Israel on IranWe look at the potential lack of planning by the Trump Administration to take into account how Operation Epic Fury will impact shipping and global trade

Read our full coverage here

Matt Coyne talks about how VLCC rates skyrocket on the back of conflict and crude oil shortage.

Read more: ‘All about war’ for VLCCs as Embiricos nears record-setting $700,000 per day fixture

Paul Peachey reports that vessels heading to or in the Gulf region can not get war risk insurance are not true. He also talks to the IMO secretary general about seafarers stuck in the Gulf.

Read more: Strait of Hormuz insurance cover available to shipping, insists London market

European Commission revealed its broadest ever plan to invest in shipping and the maritime industries. We get the response from European Shipowners secretary-general Sotiris Raptis.

Read more: EU aims to anchor Europe as ‘leading waterborne continent’

Producer and host: Craig Eason

Additional editorial input: Julian Bray, Matt Coyne, Paul Peachey, Yannick Guerry

A TradeWinds/DN Media podcast

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.