Once the partying at Posidonia has stopped and the last bubbles of champagne have evaporated into the Athens dawn, those left behind in Greece will very soon have to face up to the reality of having to sort out the enormous economic mess. On the17 th June the Greek people will once again be heading to the polls in an attempt to elect a government to steer the country through what will be the most critical period in the nation’s recent history. Up until now Greek shipowners have been largely protected from government interference from Athens and enjoyed the benefits and tax advantages of keeping a ‘presence’ inside Greece.

Aframaxes, already this year’s worst- performing oil tankers, are poised for the lowest annual rates in at least 15 years as Europe’s economic stagnation curbs demand, the region’s most-accurate shipping analysts said. The 800-foot vessels will make about $12,000 a day in 2012, the least since 1997, said Anders Karlsen, an analyst at Nordea Markets in Oslo.

Greek investors continue to show their presence on a weekly basis either in the secondhand or newbuilding market, Golden Destiny says in a market report. Week ending 1st June, four transactions were reported in the secondhand market, one in the aframax tanker, two in the gas lpg market and one in the handy container sector, while in the newbuilding front Lomar Shipping appears to have ordered 2 x 1,100 teu, containers with options for four more at an undisclosed price with delivery within 2014.

The softening charter markets did not assist last week's second hand SnP activity. Following the sale of the 2004 afra RUBY RIVER last week to Greek buyers, another older unit, the 'EAGLE CHARLOTTE' (97 built Japan, 107k dwt class) is now reported as committed to Greek buyers at levels close to usd 9,6 million.

The job of the marine underwriter, put simply and traditionally, is to ensure that more is taken in to the premium account than is paid out after claims. Aside from the complexities of reinsurance and laying off risks, it might seem a relatively undemanding task for the experienced insurer. But talk to any informed marine underwriter and there is a list of nagging concerns which need to be addressed before he will happily take a line on some maritime risk.

Crude oil tanker tonnage in the size range from Aframax to VLCC is now recycled at the age of just 21, a level not seen since 1995. The poor freight market now increasingly impacts the segment of more mature tankers, effectively reducing the room for more demolition to balance the market. Moreover, the excessive demolition of crude oil tanker tonnage in recent years has reduced the fleet which is likely to exit the active fleet in near future for recycling to 2%.

In the Panamaxes the M/V SHINING BLISS (76,939 dwt 2007 blt Namura) has obtained US$ 23.9m from greek buyers, the latest Clarkson Hellas S&P Weekly Bulletin reports. Clients of Fairsky Shipping and Trading are rumoured to have sold mid 90s built handymax M/V NENA A (42,975 dwt 1994 blt Hyundai) to Italian buyers for US$ 9.75m. The vessel had just passed her drydock in Greece last month.

For very many years, operators of ships running in short sea trades around Europe have pointed to the obvious disparities in the level of bureaucracy they have been forced to endure when taking cargo across an “internal” EU border and the freedoms enjoyed by road hauliers. They point to the lack of any sort of controls at the land frontiers after these were dismantled, and the absence of the cumbersome procedures truck drivers were once forced to endure. They point to the obvious speed advantages this facility provides, where once drivers were forced to queue, sometimes for hours, when the customs posts were in operation.

Clients of Dileton Maritime of Greece are reported to have purchased en bloc three MR units, namely MAERSK  CLAUDIA,  MAERSK  CAMERON  &  MAERSK  CASSANDRA  (46K  BLT  1995  HALLA/S.KOREA IMO 2) for $10 million each, according to the the Lion Shipbrokers weekly S&P report.

By Mike Corkhill

The drive for the use of LNG as a marine fuel is gaining ground. The initiative was launched by Norway a decade ago and is now being taken up by its Northern European neighbours. Meanwhile, other parts of the world are monitoring what is happening in Europe and assessing the ability of their gas supply chains to deliver the volumes of LNG required for vessel bunkering to the right place at the right time. The use of LNG as marine fuel as yet is quite modest. Some 25 small vessels in Norwegian coastal service have LNG fuel systems and a new oil bunker barge for Rotterdam has been built to run on LNG.