John Faraclas
The Markets “still” buoyant
The BDI (Baltic Dry Index) was up 14 points and now stands at 1,440 points; the Wets with mixed feelings… John Faraclas’ midweek recap:
What a contained rise of all Dry Indices, eh!
The triple-digit surge of Capes during the beginning of the week (Monday and Tuesday) was halted with just 30 points plus and the BCI now stands at 2,983 points…
The Panamaxes were up, after continuous minor hiccups and the BPI now reads 1,121- up ten points!
13 for luck and the Supras now stand at 796 points…
The Handies’ BHSI managed to clinch two points and now stand at 498…
All in all a contained rise but once again we need to go over and above the 2,000 points, not to say the 2,500 so all doesn’t … dry-out! You dead well know what I mean.
The Wets with …mixed feelings; the last published BDTI (Dirties) and BCTI (Cleans) stood at 1,301 – plus four and 951 – minus ten points respectively. Good to see the Dirties over and above the 1,300 point threshold!
The WTI was down 30 cents at US$ 58.11; still on the high. We need to see this going below the US$ 50.00 mark to alleviate the troubles of 7.6 out of 7.7 billion people. The middle and poor societies are in severe trouble with these prices. CAUTION!
The Geopolitical situation remains more than perplexed with the main issues we cover still creating havoc to all:
The MIGRANTS; the faulty line from Gib to Afghanistan and from the Caucuses to the Horn of Africa with its major ten hot spots; The messy EU; The British elections; The Iranian issues; Hong Kong; President Trump’s cases; the explosive South America; the Trade War mainly between the USA and China… Ah, Africa in a mess too with 500 million people without electricity and the proxy war by the super powers there in full force…
On another tone and note we were delighted to cover three excellent events, one being an anniversary, in the British capital:
Jos Standerwick
The 44th International Maritime Industries Forum & Maritime London annual dinner at the RAC – Royal Automobile Club, was coupled with a timely seminar on “Sanctions and their impact on international trade and shipping” with over 50 (fifty) delegates attending.
In the fractious geopolitical environment that exists, the use of sanctions by nation states and supranational bodies as a tool to change the behaviour of other states is increasing rapidly. These sanctions have a serious effect on the free and global movement of trade. Sanctions are often broadly defined and far-reaching, creating a complex compliance challenge that has serious implications for stakeholders within the industry.
Daniel Martin
The event was introduced by Jos Standerwick, with an excellent panel of experts in the field: Simon Bennett from the ICS (International Chamber of Shipping), Shreyas Chipalkatty from Citi Group, Rob Lomas from International Registries, Guy Sear from IHS Maritime & Trade and Ewa Szteinduchert from the Standard P&I Club. A well construed intro slides speech by Daniel Martin, partner at HFW. The seminar explored the wide-reaching implications of sanctions on owners, insurers, flag states and financiers, the effect they are having on the industry generally and what can be done to avoid potential breaches. Just above we mentioned “timely event” as it is a prime target for criminals to evade sanctions and we always mention this category at the end of each of our daily Market and Geopolitics reports!!!
The Panel
A small but handy booklet on “Assessing Global Sanctions Risk” meticulously prepared by law firm HFW was given to all delegates. Good to see many friends and experts from the Square Mile and beyond, amongst them Lord Jeffrey Mountevans, Captain Pottengal Mukundan and his colleagues from the ICC’s International Maritime Bureau, Tim Davis from the West of England P&I Club, the ever present Manolis Nerantzis from Tsakos Shipping London Ltd, George Savopoulos from the LOC Group, Peter Stokes from Lazard & Co Services, and make new contacts with Sheena Amin from the DFT and Alexander Freundlieb from KFW.
Excellent organisation by Olga Jaques, the events manager of Maritime London and Victoria Marsh of IMIF.
Dr. Aleka Sheppard during her keynote speech
The next event was an apotheosis for Dr Aleka Mandaraka-Sheppard, the founding director of the London Shipping Law Centre, at the Savoy Hotel on the Strand for the 25th anniversary celebrations of unrivalled education and debates fostered by this estimable law centre!
An excellent champagne reception in the River Rooms overlooking Father Thames, a good warm-up to see friends, relatives and supporters as well as meet and make new friends!
What a keynote speech that was by Dr Sheppard, very touching indeed! She was warmly applauded by the 270-plus international guests!
Lord Tomas of Cwmgiedd
A unique moment for her efforts now paying off!!
After an excellent dinner at the Lancaster Ballroom, the “Reflections” came up; two well construed speeches by the Right Hon Lord Thomas of Cwmgiedd – one of the United Kingdom’s most distinguished jurists, and Matheos Los – a real shipping man with high calibre positions in our industry. Both were warmly applauded by the guests. It was a good double run of the events influencing our time and in particular the last 25 years in the shipping industry.
The Vote of Thanks was proposed by George A Tsavliris, a great supporter of the LSLC who also gave a gift on behalf of all to Dr Sheppard.
A short speech on the RNLI and a very supportive donation going to… the Yellow Boot of the RNLI !!!
Matheos Los
The Prize Draw followed– missed the winner, but we will revert with a full report soon and many photos with special moments for many present tonight.
Congratulations to Gerard Matthews, the LSLC manager, for his organisational skills, who did wonders alongside his team in making this anniversary event more than memorable! Watch this space!
Lastly we inform you that at the Hellenic Observatory of the LSE a lively debate took place, chaired by Prof Kevin Featherstone on “Brain Gain”. Will revert when we have more news on this event, a highly appropriate one given the “Brain Drain” that Greece suffered (2010- 2019, yes until now) with 447,000 25-40 year olds having left the country as a result of which this despicable crisis (we have mentioned this figure recently if you check our reporting).
Angela Stathi, CEO of Reload Greece, Konstantinos Kyranakis, Greek MP, Professor Kevin Featherstone and Angeliki Kosmopoulou, executive director of the A.C Laskaridis Charitable Foundation.
Meantime, the IMO 31st Assembly continues its deliberations, meetings and receptions…
That’s all for tonight – approaching the midnight hour. Continue to remain on guard from actions emanating from Pirates, Terrorists, Criminals and Business Hooligans whatsoever wherever you are on Planet Ocean.
