John Faraclas – picture credits Panagiotis Tsakos Photography –
Let’s see if the Year of the Rooster turns the Markets upside down and the BDI makes waves; the Geopolitical front now turns bleak, not just sour. John Faraclas daily and weekly recap:
The BDI (Baltic Dry Index) lost another 18 points since yesterday and now reads 752, which is 75 points down since last Friday the 27th of January… when it stood at 827 points…
The Capers’ BCI 2014 was down 83 points at 981 (below the 1,000 point-threshold), which is also 258 points DOWN since last week’s 1,239 points. And now what!
Panamaxes have fallen, but not that much, just four points with the BPI reading 922 which is also 46 points below last week’s closing.
Supras’ BSI was down three at 667 points, which is minus 25 from last Fridays closing, and
The Handies’ BHSI was down four at 382, which is 37 points down since last week.
So we are in the most dangerous point and it remains to be seen when the BDI gets the famous 1,500 points that we have been screaming all along to see the index above the 2,200-2,300 points so there will be a bit of a good time and smiles will be all around…
The Wets too continued to fall; the last published BDTI (Dirties) and the BCTI (Cleans) were down 13 and four points at 864 and 491 respectively; that’s 101 and 124 points down …respectively. Oppps!
CAUTION, get geared, and try your best? No wishful thinking, just know how to accept and tackle this harsh market reality. We invite you to read what other mediums and analysts AND specialists where …”predicting” back in 2013 and 2014 for today’s market… Shame, shame for that was a gross manipulation of the markets and on top of anything else all reporting was far behind vis-à-vis geopolitics, BREXIT, the new American president, Europe et al, needless to say the continuous recession all over Planet Ocean, despite the “looks” of the stock markets and the burses…
The price of WTI stood at the end of the day close to US$ 53,80 – it might go upwards a bit, but… Comparing with last week’s closing at US$53,20; well, we reiterate the view that anything above the US$ 50 mark is disastrous for all, mainly for the poor masses which need support…
Many bankruptcies around and CAUTION is a very mild expression, but at least a must for all stakeholders…
The Geopolitical front, per our title today is B L E A K !!!
Read more on Geopolitics and this morning’s atrocities in Paris later on; until then, be on guard for any eventuality – a warning worth mentioning and one can see the reasons why…
23:45 GMT Update:
The MIGRANTS issue, for which 25 centum of World news is devoted for, maintains by far its lead from all other issues. As a consequence of what is going on with the MIGRANTS and conversely terrorism, the USA’s president is going beyond any precedent so that he ensures nothing nasty whatsoever takes place in the USA. He faces some hiccups, but he insists; let’s see what happens there at the end of the day.
In Greece and Italy MIGRANTS mainly continue to arrive from the Anatolian Coast of Turkey and North Africa respectively.
In Turkey, a country with great aspirations, one must draw the line and stop this despicable behaviour not just against the Greek Islanders – particularly in the Eastern Aegean, or Greece, but conversely Europe, showing zero tolerance and expose Turkish authorities’ orchestrated blackmail. Enough. The entire Mighty Continent suffers, and we remind you of three more million still on Turkish soil awaiting to be “transferred” over… In Libya, due to the current state of affairs, unless there is a proper Naval Blockade, more and more will try and make it to Italy, its Med islands, Spain and Malta. Malta just had the 28 European Union leaders in a sort of a summit and wonder the end result there on the discussed issues including that of the MIGRANTS and the deal reached to curb the flow from Libya, a country with a UN-backed government unable though to control its territory. This though seems not to be the case with Turkey where there is a very powerful regime which keeps on purpose a blind eye despite last March’s deal with the EU. The “humanitarian” and “other” agencies are in general too much blah blah thus we see so many deaths; shame. Don’t mention all the Governments involved in this palaver! All in all and given deaths in MIGRANTS’ so called camps, we strongly condemn all governments involved in this despicable and inhumane situation – no excuses! Let us remind you that during this week over 2,000 MIGRANTS have been rescued…going from Libya to Italy…
We hope that logic and humane behaviour prevails as the region, mainly confined between the Caucuses down to the Horn of Africa and from Gibraltar to Afghanistan, is the region producing exceptional problems and as we have warned the World War III is ante portas, as amongst other problems we have the famously infamous Middle East problems with Israelis and Palestinians locked in a deadlock, the Greek – Turkish ongoing saga, the Cyprus issue, Syria and Iraqi saga, the ISIS terrorists backed by political, religious and business hooligan politicians, their cronies and possibly the superpowers, the Kurdish issue, Armenia and Azeri long standing animosity, Putin’s Russia with the Crimea annexation and Eastern Ukraine up in flames – we don’t carry on… A wake up call to all is being send through this very report, as otherwise except more than a mess…
Terrorism made its presence more than felt in Paris outside the Louvre this morning sending alarms once again; the kind of attack with a machete by the 29 year old Egyptian tells it all! Now you see why every single day at the end of every daily report we advise you to be on guard for every eventuality! If these attacks continue in Europe, I bet you we are going to see a military state of affairs and Martial Law to rule the day as well as a revenge of the worst kind. The time has come!
Before leaving this turbulent region we must state three issues:
Turkey’s despicable undercover provocations to all its neighbours and particularly against Greece, its neighbour, NATO ally and an EU state. Enough Mr. Erdogan; sooner or later your backers will sacrifice you as you have overstayed the welcome of your neighbours. Mr. Erdogan you must respect the entire neighbourhood you and your likes live in, otherwise take your hordes and return where you really belong as for the last one thousand years you and your ancestors have created a real mess. Turkey MUST respect all treaties, particularly that of Lausanne which is with all nations surrounding the former Ottoman Empire and now what is left Turkey; any jeopardy will be for the Turks to blame…
Greece too has many issues to solve, both internal and external and the muppet puppet show of Syntagma (Constitution) Square must go… Equally Greece should stop paying a single penny to her debtors given the scam against the Greek people from Germany and Brussels and proceed with dignity to a heroic GREXIT, an act to be also celebrated to the full. A team of ARISTOS should take over for the next ten years and streamline the country; eventually afterwards elections can take place, NOT now. Let it been known, that Greece is a self-sustained nation in all aspects and can thrive as it has in the past but not with current 300 MP’s in office. It can become an exporting nation not just in the Balkans and Middle East but beyond. A blessed fertile land and all mineral resources there, the best tourist destination in six main sectors 365 days a year; add the most powerful shipping on earth and see what you get!!!
Israel must come to terms with the Palestinians and the two-state solution is a must. Former president Obama showed his dislike just before leaving power and few hours ago president Trump was more than straight forward in saying to Prime Minister Netanyahu that settlements are not helpful to peace!
Watch out the conflict in Yemen. The entire Arabian Peninsula could be in flames…
BREXIT begins to enfold and the best ever thing that happen lately in the United Kingdom goes ahead. The United Kingdom will definitely thrive outside the European Union. We are a thousand percent sure about the BREXIT’s future success!
Norwegians are crossed with Russians accusing them of hacking and cyber-warfare; caution!
Interesting expectations from the French, Italian and German as well as Dutch elections are ….expected!
At the other side of the Atlantic the USA is flexing its muscles under a very determined president Trump; a very strange situation enfolds there. We shall see.
In the Far East, China amid its New Year celebrations expect the Rooster to lead; we shall see. Too many high expectations from the punters on China evaporate. Another country to watch as a collapse might cause tremors. Nobody really cares about the internal affairs of China, only for its trade with the rest of the world and this can turn sour… The South China Sea might ignite clashes in the region and the USA and Japan have vested interests.
North Korea has been warned by General Mattis, the new USA Defence Secretary, that there will be an overwhelming response to its provocative nuclear tests. This raises the stakes and Mattis is a very tough cookie…
Japan too raises concerns and Abe can also respond in an equally powerful way.
Australian hiccups with Donald Trump following a tense telconv with Australian PM Malcolm Turnball… MIGRANTS being the issue yet again…
Africa remains as per last week.
Latin and South America are also regions to be closely watched. Putin’s interest is to support Maduro’s Venezuela…
The world is on fire and that will affect shipping! Our major concern, due to the spreading of instability, both financial and political which will end in conflict, is that the dire straits remain open, as if they begin to close, it will be detrimental…
On another note now:
The University of the Aegean got thumbs up following the announcement by the Hellenic Quality Assurance and Accreditation Agency (HQA), of the results of the external periodic evaluation of the 22 Greek public Universities ; excellent!
The 16th International P&I Conference in Greece last Thursday was more than a success. The PMC event surpassed any previous of its kind!
Mare Forum’s Singapore 2017 event is on the 8th of February; last chance to book avoiding disappointment!
The Hellenic Engineers Society of Great Britain 22nd Annual Dinner and Dance takes place at the Grosvenor House on the 11th of February; ensure you don’t miss the event of events in the British Capital
Capital Link’s Cyprus Shipping Forum is coming up next week on the 9th of February in Limassol; ensure you are there!
The same organisation is organising the Greek Shipping Forum “Opportunities and Challenges” in Athens on the 15th of February; ensure you don’t miss same.
European Shipping Week 2017, the super event of the year taking place in Brussels 27 February to the 3rd of March, comes at no better time, beyond even the imagination of the organisers given what took place since its announcement.
Mare Forum’s Athens event “Everything is changing” takes place in Athens on the 7th of March – the best time under the circumstances…
On the same day in Dubai The Marine Money Gulf Ship Finance Forum takes place…
Intermodal Asia 2017 is coming up in the Far East on the 21-23 March. Shanghai in China the place to be!
Have a nice weekend and as said above, BE ON GUARD for every eventuality!
