On April 7, Dryad Maritime published a White Paper outlining how a shift in the United States’ foreign policy might lead to an uptick in piracy in the Indian Ocean and East of Suez in the next year and a half.According to Commercial Director of Dryad Maritime, David Hunkin OBE:With the US strategic focus now firmly fixed on the Asia Pacific region and Iran ‘coming in from the cold’, it is only a matter of time before western navies begin withdrawing the warships that have been so successful in...

The International Maritime Organization (IMO)’s Environment Protection Committee has reached an agreement on new, more restrictive regulations for the vessel emission of NOx from emission control areas (NECAs).There was a fair amount of uncertainty at the most recent session of the Committee about the entry into force of these regulations; Russia raised questions about the technical possibility of putting the regulations into effect, and the country was supported in its effort to postpone the...

In the three-month period through February of this year, confidence levels in the shipping industry have risen to their highest level in six years, according to a Shipping Confidence Survey published by Moore Stephens.The average confidence level in February, as expressed by respondents, was 6.5 on a 10-point scale, in comparison to 6.1 in the previous survey from last November. This level is the highest since 2008, when a level of 6.8 was recorded in May.Improvement was recorded across all...

The Port Authority of Tampa bay is thrilled to acknowledge the March 17th purchase of CF Industries’ phosphate properties by the Mosaic Company.The $1.4 billion transaction, which includes the phosphate company’s shipping facility and warehouse at Port Tampa Bay, also includes CF’s benefication plant in Hardee County, its 25,000 South Pasture phosphate mine, and its Plant City manufacturing facility.A long-time user of the Port Tampa Bay, Mosaic is the world’s largest producer of...