French container line CMA CGM Group recorded USD 156 million net profit for the quarter ended June 30, up 66.7% compared to USD 94m net profit in the second quarter of 2014, with greater volumes carried and a dip in unit costs helping offset a sharp fall in freight rates and industry overcapacity.
Volumes carried during the second quarter increased by 6.2% year-on-year, to 3.3 million TEUs, compared to global market volume growth of between 1% and 2%. The company’s unit costs for the quarter fell 10.9%, largely due to the sharp fall in oil prices. However, average revenue per container carried decreased by 7.8%, leading to a 2.1% dip in quarterly revenue for the period, which stood at USD 4.11 billion.
The Panama Canal Authority (ACP) has suspended the first draft restriction that was scheduled to go into effect September 8, 2015.
Although the level of Gatun Lake is still well below normal levels for this time of the year, and the “El Niño” phenomenon is still present in the region, the amount of rainfall received in the Canal Watershed during the last few days—in addition to the water conservation measures implemented and the works done to deepen the navigational channel—has made it possible for the Panama Canal to suspend the announced restriction.
Nakilat, the shipping arm of Qatar’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) sector, has expanded its joint venture with Greek shipping company Maran Ventures Inc. to include two new LNG vessels.
Maran Nakilat Co. Ltd. was established in 2005 with four jointly-owned vessels, and the agreement has been expanded on three occasions. The new agreement increases the number of vessels jointly-owned by Nakilat and Maran Gas to 13, confirming Nakilat’s wholly and jointly-owned LNG fleet as the largest in the world.
The International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) in Hamburg has ruled against Italy’s request for India to provisionally release two Italian marines accused of killing two Indian fishermen in February 2012 while on anti-piracy duty onboard the Italian oil tanker Enrica Lexie.
ITLOS also ordered both parties to stop all legal proceedings relating to the Enrica Lexie incident, saying that an international arbitration hearing in The Hague will rule on the dispute.
Shipbuilding conglomerate Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering (DSME) is facing a lawsuit on the grounds of an alleged fraud against individual investors.
Namely, South Korean law firm Hannuri Law has revealed plans to file a joint lawsuit in September against the shipbuilder and Deloitte Anjin accounting firm on behalf of retail investors, who are reported to have lost over KRW 2.2 trillion (USD 1.9 billion) following DSME’s announced loss.
