Braemar Seascope is pleased to announce that it is further strengthening its shipbroking division by opening a new tanker chartering office in Oslo. This follows the recent establishment of a deep sea tanker chartering desk in Houston.

ERMA FIRST ESK Engineering Solutions S.A. participated in the major international exhibition “Sea Asia2013”, which took place in early April, in Singapore. ERMA FIRST participated in collaboration with and through the booth of Pamarine Private Limited, the company’s representative in Singapore. Sea Asia is one of the fastest growing maritime exhibitions in Asia, while attracting leading international companies from the shipping industry.

Two bulk carriers collided early Monday morning off Messinia, Greece near the island of Sapienza. One bulker has sunk with two crew members found dead and as many as eight crew members currently missing. The Hellenic coast guard is currently leading the rescue efforts.

The Cyprus Shipping Chamber (CSC) remains confident that Cyprus shipping will sail through the stormy waters with steady course, the CSC President Eugen Adami told the Chamber`s Annual General Meeting.

TAIWAN's Evergreen is making changes to its transpacific service network by starting a weekly direct service linking central China with the US west coast and arranging slot exchanges with partners.

Greek players continue to dominate the dry bulk second hand market, Lion Shipbrokers report. Seven to eight prospective buyers (half of them being Greeks) are currently inspecting Japanese controlled panamax BOTAFOGO (76K BLT 2001 IMABARI/JAPAN).

Navarone S.A. is reported to have placed an order for two 35,000dwt vessels at Yangfan Group of China for delivery in 2014, according to Golden Destiny. In the secondhand market, Greek owners showed their presence only in the bulk carrier segment with the purchase of two kamsarmax newbuilding resales for about $25mil each.

The biggest oil tankers hauling Middle East crude to Asia lost money for a fourth week as ships continued to outnumber cargoes in the Persian Gulf.

Healthy returns for shipowners in the East of Suez Long Range II clean products tanker market is luring operators of dirty Aframax vessels to convert their ships to trade in the clean segment, shipping sources said.

Since the peak in 1999, crude exports from the North Sea (UKC) have fallen by an average 6% per annum to 2.07m bpd in 2012. This reflects the declining extraction potential of the region. However, for just over a year, tonne-miles generated by UKC crude exports have surged, despite production continuing to decline.