India’s recent decision to diversify crude imports to reduce the dependence on Middle Eastern crude will have little impact on the freight rates in the crude tanker market. Although an increase in long-haul crude imports by India from the Atlantic basin will boost tonne-mile demand for crude tankers in the short term, ongoing oversupply in the market will cap any surge in freight rates.

Vessel operating costs are expected to continue rising on a hardening marine insurance market, as conclusion of the P&I renewal season exposes the fallout from rising claims and the impact of Covid-19 on global merchant shipping.

LPG shipping is expected to face more headwinds in 2021 after a volatile first two months of the year. As we move deeper into 1Q21, China’s LPG demand has resumed after the Lunar Holidays in early February, aiding the plunging rates to find some floor. However, the cold wave in the US and further production cuts in the Middle East will squeeze LPG supply in 1H21; this will put downward pressure on LPG shipping rates.

The attractiveness of a career at sea has been an industry concern for a number of years. Long periods away from home, increasing administrative demands for paperwork on board, and the threat of criminalisation being major factors. Covid-19 impacts, which have been particularly harrowing for seafarers, have added to these issues, presaging an inflection point in global seafarer supply.

The recent development of replacing coking coal with hydrogen in crude steel production has created a buzz that coking coal might soon be out of favour. For dry bulk operators this is a potentially negative development, but is this really the case?