Brazil News

Brazil Iron Ore Exports on the Rrise

Brazil's iron ore exports rose sharply in the first half of May, data showed on Monday, recovering from a more than seven-year low in April, as higher prices encouraged sellers to close more deals internationally.Until May 17, Brazil exported 16.2 million tonnes, according to data from the Foreign Trade Secretariat (Secex), which is part of the Ministry of the Economy. In the whole of April, Brazil exported 18.3 million tonnes, as the impact of miner Vale's Brumadinho dam collapse weighed.The export recovery comes amid higher iron ore prices.

First Ship from Antwerp to Açu

As BBC Amethyst anchored in Porto do Açu, Brazil, she becomes the first vessel to make the big crossing from Antwerp to the Brazilian sea port."Quite an achievement for Port of Antwerp International and the local partners who invested in the Brazilian port, thereby promoting trade with Antwerp. Brazil, the biggest economy of Latin America and number 7 in the world, is a key trading partner for the Port of Antwerp," said a press release from the Europe’s second-largest seaport.A Siemens gas turbine…

Clipper Bulk Axes 40 Staff

International dry bulk shipping company Clipper Group  has launched a comprehensive restructuring involving a large number of layoffs, especially at the company's Copenhagen headquarters.The dry bulk carrier announced a series of initiatives to strengthen its business platform amid continued weak markets.Initiatives include agreements to strengthen the company’s financial position, downsizing of organization and office network, other cost savings, changes to Senior Management as well as a more focused market approach…

Ports Part of Solution, Not the Problem - BPA Chair

Martin Lawlor, Chief Executive at the Port of Blyth and Chair of the British Ports Association: "Ports part of the solution, not the problem on a range of challenges facing the UK."A record turnout of over 300 guests gathered in London today for the British Ports Association’s annual lunch and AGM, which struck an optimistic tone about the role of ports in supporting a range of economic and environmental goals.Maritime Minister Nusrat Ghani MP, speaking at the lunch, said: “Ports are key to the vitality of the UK economy – underpinning regional and national growth.

Compliant & Efficient Solutions for Telford Offshore

In July 2015, Worldwide Recruitment Solutions (WRS) was awarded the contract as a provider of managed services for Telford Offshore (previously Sea Trucks Group). As a rostered managed services provider tasked with providing all contract manpower requirements and associated mobilization and HR services, WRS undertook responsibility for two DP3 accommodation vessels and one DP2 multipurpose support vessels (MPSV), working in the offshore oil and gas industry in Brazil, Mexico and Nigeria.A combination of factors created challenges to the success of these projects…

BIMCO: "Continued Pressure" for Bulkers

Demolition of dry bulk ships in the first four months of 2019 was 120% higher than in the same period of 2018. Much of this increase comes from demolitions of Capesize ships, up from 1.1m DWT between January and April 2018 to reach 3.4m DWT in the first four months of 2019.Despite the increasing in scrapping, the bulk carrier market, particularly on the large ship side, will remain under pressure for a number of reasons, starting with stagnant demand, from the short term shock and impact of the dam collapse in Brazil and bad weather in Australia…

MTL: Allan Named Senior Naval Architect

FPSO and marine integrity management specialists, Marine Technical Limits (MTL) has welcomed a senior naval architect to its team.Paul Allan, who has more than 10-years’ experience in delivering naval architecture and marine warranty surveying (MWS) to the oil and gas industry, has been appointed to the position of Senior Naval Architect by the Kintore-based firm.The chartered engineer will be supporting the MTL team developing systems and procedures, driving MWS and supporting the company’s global FPSO and marine activities.MTL…

Charity Helps Cadets Achieve Career at Sea

“Coming from a small town, my cadetship allowed me to go further and experience much more than I ever imagined I could.”Rachel Vassallo, 23, from South Shields, is one of the 70 students who have received a Sailors’ Society scholarship since 2015 to help achieve a career at sea.Rachel began her training in September 2015, starting at South Shields Marine School.“I had only been on one ship before and that was the Shields Ferry,” she said.“Learning about topics such as celestial navigation and ships stability was quite daunting but with training on firefighting…

Seagull Maritime Acquires Tero Marine

Seagull Maritime announced that they have acquired a majority of the shares in Tero Marine. Tero Marine, headquartered in Bergen, Norway, has developed fleet management software for the shipping industry for more than three decades. The company’s flagship, TM Master, is recognized as one of the leading brands in the business. Today, TM Master is a crucial tool for shipowners all over the world, not only as an instrument for planned maintenance (and asset management), but also as a business intelligence resource.Tero Marine is growing fast and has currently more than 55 employees…

Hamburg Süd History is Museum Bound

Hamburg Süd and the International Maritime Museum Hamburg (IMMH) have signed an agreement to catalog and display the historical collection of the shipping company, which was founded in 1871. Using images, ship models, documents and other artefacts from Hamburg Süd’s archive, the project aims to make the history of Hamburg Süd accessible to the general public in the form of a permanent exhibition. There are also plans to organize a special exhibition for 2021 to mark the company’s 150th anniversary.

Latin American Ports Cargo Throughput Rose 7.7%

Container throughput in ports of Latin America and the Caribbean increased by 7.7% in 2018 in comparison with the previous year.According to the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), this analysis is based on the performance of a sampling of 31 countries and 118 ports and port areas in the region.According to the annual report unveiled by the United Nations organization – which was called  “port ranking” in prior years – the data largely maintained the heterogeneity seen in throughput behavior in previous periods, both in reference to ports and countries.

“It’s the steel production, stupid!”

BIMCO's Peter Sand, in a new report, weighs in on the implications for the Dry Bulk sectors.Chinese imports of iron ore keep falling, while its crude steel production keeps growing. China’s increased use of scrap metal for its production of crude steel is fundamentally critical to the dry bulk shipping industry. Mostly Capesize ships are impacted by this, way beyond the temporary iron ore export disruptions in Brazil and Australia.Chinese steel production grew by a massive 12.6 million tonnes (+9.2%) in the first two months on 2019 as estimated by China Iron and Steel Association (CISA).

China's Commodity Imports Tepid, but Improving

If you were looking for evidence that China's economy has lost momentum, you may be tempted to think that you've found it in the unimpressive growth, or lack thereof, in imports of major commodities in the first quarter.Customs data for the first quarter show only crude oil has recorded significant growth in import volumes in the first quarter, with copper data mixed and iron ore and coal dropping.This would seem to confirm the narrative of slowing growth in the world's second-largest economy amid the ongoing trade and tariff dispute with the United States.But as usual the devil is in the deta

Petrobras Takes Two of Six Port Terminals in Brazil Auction

Brazil auctioned off six port terminals for liquid fuels in the northern state of Para to private operators on Friday, with subsidiaries of state-run oil company Petroleo Brasileiro SA winning two of the areas.The government raised nearly 450 million reais ($117 million) in the auction of the terminals — five in the Miramar port in the city of Belem and one in the Vila do Conde port in the city of Barcarena.The rights to operate the terminals are the latest in a slew of assets Brazil is selling as part of its drive to shore up public finances and reduce a gaping budget deficit.In an auction br

Fakes Make Up 3.3% of Global Trade

Trade in counterfeit and pirated goods, mostly originated in China, has risen steadily, posing a major challenge in an innovation-driven global economy, revealed a new study.Trade in counterfeit and pirated goods has risen steadily in the last few years – even as overall trade volumes stagnated – and now stands at 3.3% of global trade, according to a new report by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the EU’s Intellectual Property Office.Trends…

Rotterdam Port Invests in Expansion

The Port of Rotterdam Authority said that its gross investments increased 91% to EUR408.1 million (USD461Mln) in 2018, the highest level since the construction of Maasvlakte 2.By far the largest part of this amount was used to further improve the logistical accessibility of the port of Rotterdam, for example by starting construction of the Container Exchange Route and building the Princess Amalia Viaduct, said a press release from the largest port in Europe, located in the city of Rotterdam…

Brazilian Soya Bean Exports Soar

According to a research note from BIMCO, Brazilian soya bean exports are up 85.2% in the first two months of 2019, this following a record high exports in 2018 of 83.6 million tonnes, which was a 22.7% increase from 2017.According to BIMCO, 2019 has seen the highest ever export of soya bean during the month of February. Exports totaled 6.1 million tonnes, a 112.6% increase from the 2.9 million tonnes exported in February 2018. Strong demand, in particular from China, the world’s largest soya bean importer…

OSM CEO to Build Opportunities for Female Seafarers

In his first week in the new role of OSM Maritime CEO, Bjørn Tore Larsen has outlined his vision for greater female participation in the maritime industry, particularly with regards to vessel crews.Larsen, the founder and Chairman of the global ship management company, believes a healthier gender balance will help shipping in the quest for long-term success and commercial sustainability.OSM is a leader in the ship management segment, with over 500 vessels in the fleet, approximately 30 office locations and some 11,000 expert seafarers.

New Container Port Opens in Costa Rica

The inauguration of APM Terminals Moín, Costa Rica yesterday will enable products to be shipped on transatlantic routes to European and Asian markets without transshipment.The new terminal will also move Costa Rica to number one for connectivity, out of 139 countries ranked by the World Economic Forum, said a press release from the international container terminal operating company headquartered in The Hague, Netherlands."At APM Terminals we partner with governments to become the best port operator in the world and Moín is a great example.

Uncertainty Mounts in Dry Bulk Shipping

Uncertainty mounts in dry bulk shipping  against a backdrop of weaker growth in Chinese imports, said BIMCO."The extent of the freight rate recovery in 2018 was limited – when compared with initial expectations – by a faster-growing fleet. Q4-2018 wasn’t as strong as it often is either, but we now know that was merely the beginning of a sharp downturn. On top of that, in the first month of 2019, leading the way even further down was a massive lack of cargoes. By early February…

Bunge Posts Q4 Loss as Trade War Hits Soy Prices

Global grains merchant Bunge Ltd reported a fourth-quarter loss on Thursday as fallout from the U.S.-China trade war dragged down soybean prices in Brazil.Shares of the White Plains, New York-based company slumped nearly 4 percent in premarket trading to $50.75 per share.Brazilian soy prices had swelled to a steep premium to U.S. beans after China slapped steep tariffs on shipments from the United States in July. But that premium narrowed after the countries declared a temporary truce in their trade war on Dec.

Dry Bulk Market Outlook Darkens After Vale Casualty

The prospects of dry bulk shippers carrying iron ore from mines to smelters have worsened due to the accident at Vale's Brumadinho dam in Brazil, Golden Ocean said on Tuesday as it presented forecast-beating quarterly earnings.The dam in the town of Brumadinho, which contained tailings, the mud-like byproducts of iron ore mining, burst on Jan. 25, killing at least 166 people and with almost 200 more still missing.Brazil's Vale, the world's largest iron ore mining company, has…

Sunken Stellar Daisy Located

The Stellar Daisy, a massive South Korean tanker that sank in March 2017, was spotted on the floor of the South Atlantic Ocean nearly two years later.Exploration company Ocean Infinity said that it has located the wreck of the lost South Korean tanker, Stellar Daisy, at a depth of 3,461 meters in the South Atlantic Ocean, approximately 1,800 nautical miles due west of Cape Town.Stellar Daisy sank on 31 March 2017, transporting iron ore from Brazil to China. Tragically, 22 of the 24 crew were lost.Working from Seabed Constructor…

Boskalis Sells Stake in SAAM SMIT Towage

Royal Boskalis Westminster N.V. (Boskalis) has signed an agreement with SAAM S.A. (SAAM) relating to the sale and purchase of the equity stake held by Boskalis in SAAM SMIT Towage. Under the terms of the agreement, the total (100%) enterprise value of SAAM SMIT Towage is valued at $560 million. Boskalis expects to receive $201 million in cash for its equity stake in the joint venture.The towage joint venture between Boskalis and SAAM was formed in 2014 which at the time covered the respective towage activities in Brazil, Panama, Mexico and Canada.

BIMCO: Trade War Cease-Fire for Dry Bulk Sector

Following an almost total halt in exports of soya beans to China in the last quarter of 2018, the new year has brought new hopes for American farmers and the dry bulk shipping sector. The USDA reported that in the first four weeks of 2019 754,609 tonnes of soya beans were ready to be shipped in China, up from only 25,347 tonnes in December.In addition to the ready shipments, on February 5 and 6, the USDA reported sales totaling 3.2 million tonnes of soya beans to China, the majority of which is to be delivered between now and September 1…

QP, Exxon to Build $10B LNG Plant in Texas

Exxon Mobil and Qatar Petroleum announced a final decision to finance a $10 billion-plus project to export liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the Texas Gulf Coast.Construction of the Golden Pass LNG export project located in Sabine Pass will begin in the first quarter of 2019 and the facility is expected to start up in 2024, said a press release.“Golden Pass will provide an increased, reliable, long-term supply of liquefied natural gas to global gas markets, stimulate local growth and create thousands of jobs…