We take a look at what was said in the market in the past week.
"We will continue to use electricity at night only as we don’t want to finish up this fresh supply of fuel soon.”
Crewman on stranded Samho Dream becomes energy-conscious out of dire necessity.
"If people lose money they should just shut down their shop and move on with their lives."
Vasilis Bacolitsas has no sympathy for marine hull insurers fallen on hard times.
“We thought there would be more tasked to collect the ransom. But we were wrong.”
You can just sense the disappointment of Indonesian rear admiral Iskandar Sitompul, whose men shot dead four pirates after handing over a ransom. At least they saved money on bullets.
“The company could have been declared in default by the convertible note holders on any judgment over $15m that the company was unable to pay, bond, or otherwise discharge...”
Horizon Lines breathes a sigh of relief as $45m anti-trust fine is reduced to $15m.
"While our markets continue to show weakness, particularly crude freight rates, and our results remain disappointing, we believe our business is moving in the right direction."
Well, it is if you consider racking up a bigger first quarter loss progress. Morten Arntzen of OSG accentuates the positive.
“A lot of owners suffered but were kept alive somehow and now they are back in black figures.”
Maersk Tankers’ Tommy Thomassen hopes the recovery of the containership industry is mirrored by tankers.
“There is ample opportunity for owners to take advantage of the more attractive economics of a triangulation voyage in which a ship picks up a second backhaul cargo instead of returning to its original load port in ballast. In this fashion, shipowners can often be paid for two voyages concurrently, effectively increasing their utilisation beyond 100% from an earnings prospective.”
An unnamed tanker broker goes beyond 100% and demonstrates a firm grasp of economics in these uncertain times.
“It’s a business promotion gimmick.”
Bangladesh Ship Breakers’ Association advisor Anam Chowdhury accuses devious cash buyers of deliberately spreading yard closure rumours to push up prices.
“With further delays and maybe cancellations and an increase in tonne miles we will see a better balance of tonnage over the next two years.”
Frontline’s Jens Martin Jensen stays positive on tankers. He seems to be missing a few “ifs” in there.
“So far banks have refrained from pulling the trigger on bad loans, perhaps understandably, as they did not want to become shipowners by force in a down market.”
Nikolas Tsakos holds open the possibility that some owners may yet face the firing squad in tough markets.
“We go to a lot of trouble to keep all sources of ignition off the deck of a tanker."
Piracy expert Angus Campbell reassures the world about keeping firearms off tankers.
“For the next few months, I expect an increase in the storage business which may allow tanker rates to firm a bit.”
Stavros Hatzigrigoris comes up with another reason for tanker owners to be cheerful.
“We are very keen to build on the number of female officers.”
AET’s Fared Khan leads the way on the long-overdue recruiting of women to run ships.
