With kids back in school, the maritime events calendar is back in high gear. This past week has seen Gastech convene in Milan, the International Union of Marine Insurance’s (IUMI) annual conference in Singapore, while Oslo played host to the high-level Pareto Securities Energy Conference featuring a who’s who of shipowning heavyweights, many of whom would have been discussing this week’s big Norwegian tanker tie-up.
Tor Olav Trøim is staging a major comeback to the tanker sector, with plans to list a new pure-play VLCC venture backed by a roster of high-profile shipping investors. His Oslo-listed vehicle Bruton will merge two dual-fuel VLCCs on order at New Times Shipyard with a parallel pair ordered by affiliate Andes Tankers, led by Lars-Christian Svensen. The combined four-ship fleet, with deliveries through 2027, is supported by Trøim’s Drew Holdings, Emanuele Lauro-led Scorpio, and Peter Livanos’s Blenheim Special Investment, which hold 5% and 6% stakes in Bruton, respectively. Trøim himself owns 48% of Bruton, while UK shipbroker Affinity (Shipholdings) controls 12%. Magnus Halvorsen’s MH Capital and Norwegian businesswoman Celina Midelfart are invested with about 9% and 6%, respectively. Former Frontline executives Robert Hvide Macleod (3%) and Jens Martin Jensen (1%) are also onboard.
In terms of the most high-profile shipping news story of the week, that unquestionably originated in California on Tuesday where a ZIM-chartered containership suffered a serious cargo accident while alongside at the Port of Long Beach yesterday, with around 70 containers falling into the harbour during discharging operations — some striking a clean air barge moored nearby, all caught on video, ensuring the shipping news item made the mainstream news channels.
In dry bulk, the big news this week saw global mining group Anglo American and Canadian miner Teck Resources agree to merge in a deal that will create one of the world’s largest copper producers with a combined market value of over $53bn. Both firms have been in the takeover spotlight in recent years, with Glencore making a run at Teck and BHP showing interest in Anglo American. If approvals proceed as planned, Anglo Teck will enter the market as one of the sector’s most copper-focused groups, positioned to ride long-term demand for the red metal.
Finally, today’s Splash Wrap podcast carried below delves into the ongoing problems arising from misdeclared cargoes, with more than one in 10 shipments flagged for deficiencies in new a cargo safety report issued this week.
