Dry Bulk Rate Recovery Short-Lived?

Shipping rates for vessels transporting commodities such as coal, iron ore and grains racked up impressive gains in the first quarter of 2016 after hitting record lows, but the rally could flatten out into the second half as the macroeconomic outlook remains uncertain, the latest forecasts show from IHS Inc.

It's Now Cheaper To 'Buy' A Dry Bulk Freight Vessel Than A Starbucks Coffee

Just 3 months ago China’s slowing growth has crushed shipping rates to such an extent that hiring a 1,100-foot merchant vessel would set you back less than the price of renting a Ferrari for a day.

Rates for Capesize-class ships plummeted 92 percent since August to $1,563 a day amid slowing growth in China. That’s less than a third of the daily rate of 3,950 pounds ($5,597) to rent a Ferrari F40, the price of which has also fallen slightly in the past few years, according to Nick Hardwick, founder of supercarexperiences.com.

Types of bulk carriers (one more post)

I saw this picture and understood that I cannot avoid posting it. :)

Draft alterations depend on water density

Good day

It happened that I forgot the formula for the calculation of vessel's draft at different water density, though I searched the Internet and found nothing in English. So I decided to translate the article, which I found in Russian.

When the vessel passes from one water basin to another, the salinity (seawater density) changes.  It's very useful to know the way vessel's draft will change. And for the determination of vessel's draft delta we will turn to physics.

Types of bulk carriers - part 2 (briefly)

In our previous post we have learned much about the types of bulk carriers. However in practice all one needs to know is always less, than they write in books. Thus, this article is here to show you all you need to know about classification of bulk carriers according to their size.

Types of bulk carriers

I would like to enlighten the basics, which will understand the whole picture. And another good book will help me out. It's named "Bulk carrier practice" by Captain J Isbester. It was written in 1990's, so the information might be outdated, but the basics are still the same:

CP proformas

Earlier I have wrote about what is a Charter Party. And now it's time to make a list of different CP proformas for easy reference. The list will be kept here and it will be updated from time to time.

Our new Google Plus page

Good day everyone!

Glad to announce that we have created our Google Plus page so this blog will be more public.

Please click "follow" in order to see our news and publications in your feed. Also will be pleased to see your comments to our articles - what you like and what you don't like. Please tell us your opinion.

Seven feet under the keel, and favorable winds!

Letters of indemnity

What is a 'Letter Of Indemnity'

In general Letter of Indemnity (LOI) is a letter guaranteeing that contractual provisions will be met, otherwise financial reparations will be made. The principle behind a Letter of Indemnity is the guarantee that losses will not be suffered if certain provisions of a contract are not met.

What is a 'Letter of Indemnity' in shipping

In case one party, which is providing the LOI fails to meet some provisions of the contract, which are also stated in the LOI, it will have to make financial repatriations, or cover financial losses of the other party, which is accepting the LOI connected with this breach. There are various situations in which a Shipowner or a Disponent Owner may be offered a Letter of Indemnity. In each case, this offer will usually be made in return for the Owner taking on some non-contractual risk.

Sometimes Owners request the LOI to be countersigned by Shippers and Shippers' bank together with Charterers' signature and stamp as a confirmation that goods are paid and Shippers do not mind of cargo discharging or changing the receiving party, or any other changes. However, that is not something that is requested very often.

Types of 'Letters of Indemnity'

Each situation, when there is a need in providing the LOI may totally differ from another. However, there are some types, that are most common and often used in shipping practice. These are LOI for:
- non presentation of BsL at discharge port;
- production of clean BsL (for shipment of unclean cargo);
- discharge and delivery of cargo at another port;
- switch of BsL;

The LOI is issued, when Owners are to be indemnified in one of the above-mentioned situations. And the possibility of any of above is usually stated in the governing Charter Party. In case, the Charter Party does not allow, for example, switch of BsL, then Owners have rights to refuse the switch and accordingly refuse to accept relevant LOI from Charterers.

Delivery clause - Time Charter Party

Good day, Everyone.

I would like to start an explanatory course about basics of time and voyage charter. In this article I will enlighten the specifics of Delivery Clause of time charter. It will be based on materials from a very good book named "TIME CHARTERS", author Terence Coghlin.