‘Shipshape 10 List’, a list of news and articles published in the current week that a senior executive in shipping, shipping finance, commodities, energy, supply chain and infrastructure should had noticed; news and articles that are shaping the agenda and the course of the maritime industry.

Sometimes seemingly tangential, periodically humorous, occasionally sarcastic, sporadically artistic, inferentially erotic, but always insightful and topical.

And, this week’s ‘Shipshape 10’:                                                                                     

On innovation and new technologies in shipping:                                                         1. Shipping-Technology Startup Freightos Raises $25 Million (The Wall Street Journal)

On the continuous enfeebled state of the offshore drilling markets:                           2. Ocean Rig Files for Bankruptcy (The Maritime Executive)

On crude oil and OPEC:                                                                                                    3. China Tanked Oil Once, It Can Do It Again (The Wall Street Journal)

On the prospects of shale oil in the USA:                                                                       4a. Fracking 2.0: Shale Drillers Pioneer New Ways to Profit in Era of Cheap Oil (The Wall Street Journal)                                                                                                                    4b. U.S. Petroleum Exports Climb to Record as Crude Output Grows (Bloomberg)

On steaming (thermal) coal, natural gas, renewables and emissions:                        5a. Lacklustre power demand in Asia throws a cloud over coal (The Economist)                 5b. India becomes more active in the fight against global warming (The Economist)             5c. The Other Permian Shale Boom (Bloomberg)

On coking (metallurgical) coal:                                                                                        6. China’s the Real Cyclone for Coal (Bloomberg)

On trade, insightful article:                                                                                              7. Whatever Happened to Free Trade? (The Wall Street Journal)

Mexican buyers of U.S. corn look elsewhere; good news for dry bulk shipping:      8. Mexico eyes duty-free corn deals to counter Trump (The Financial Times)

South China Sea and other geo-political considerations:                                            9a. The South China Sea presents a reality check for America (The Financial Times)           9b. Is China challenging the United States for global leadership? (The Economist)               9c. A bigger catch: China’s fishing fleet hunts new ocean targets (The Financial Times)       9d. China building navy’s biggest amphibious assault vessel, sources say (South China Morning Post)

On boutique cruising:                                                                                                     10. Cruise Vacations for the Anti-Cruise Crowd (The Wall Street Journal)

Cruiseship MV ‘Norwegian Gem’ departing New York Harbor; photographed as vessel was passing the Statue of Liberty. Image credit: Karatzas Images.

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