Latest News
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China Shipbuilders Criticize Trump's "short-sighted" US Port Fees
China's Shipbuilders on Sunday blasted the U.S. Port Fees announced by Donald Trump's Administration on China-linked vessels as "shortsighted". The measure was aimed at China's shipbuilding sector. Trump signed an executive order on Wednesday to revive U.S. shipbuilding while reducing China's hold on the global shipping market. The next day, his government diluted the measures by protecting domestic exporters and vessel owner serving the Great Lakes region, Caribbean and U.S. territory. The dispute over ocean shipping, which carries 80% of all global trade, is just the latest in a trade war that has intensified between China and the U.S., pushing levies against each other's imported goods beyond 100%. China Association of the National Shipbuilding Industry has expressed "extreme anger and resolute resistance" against the U.S. measures, joining the protests of the government and the country's owners of ships. The shipbuilders stated that the decline of the U.S. industry of shipbuilding is due to its protectionist policies and has nothing whatsoever to do with China. It warned that the U.S. restriction would disrupt the global shipping system, cause a rise in shipping costs and increase U.S. prices, as well as harming the interests of the U.S. public. The industry group said that it expected the Chinese authorities to take strong measures to counteract the shortsighted U.S. behavior. On Friday, the government condemned "discriminatory steps" and urged Washington to "correct any wrongdoings." In a press release, the Ministry of Commerce pledged to "resolutely" take the necessary measures to protect our interests, saying that the fees "fully reveal its unilateralist and protective policies and are typical non-market practices". (Reporting and editing by Beijing Newsroom)
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At least 148 people die after boat catches fire in Congo, media reports say
Local officials cited in media reported that at least 148 bodies were discovered after a motorised wood boat capsized and caught fire. According to reports, the boat carried up to 500 passengers including women and kids when it sank in the Congo River, located in the northwest region of the country, on Tuesday. In Congo, boating accidents are common, as old wooden boats are used to transport people between villages, and they are often overloaded. The reports also stated that officials estimate hundreds of missing people. The previous estimate of 50 dead people was revised upwards. The boat, named HB Kongolo caught fire near Mbandaka after leaving the port of Matankumu to the Bolomba Territory. Sky News reported that about 100 survivors were transported to an improvised refuge at the town hall. Those with burn injuries were then taken to local hospitals. According to Competent Loyoko of the Associated Press, the incident happened when a fire broke out while a woman was cooking aboard the vessel. The report said that several passengers, including children and women, died when they jumped into the water, despite not being able swim. In 2024, a boat carrying 278 passengers capsized on Lake Kivu in eastern Congo, and at least 78 drowned. In a separate event, At least 22 people have died After a riverboat sank in December, in western Congo. (Reporting and editing by Chris Reese in Bengaluru, Mrinmay dey from Bengaluru)
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At least 148 people die after boat catches fire in Congo, media reports say
Local officials cited in media reported that at least 148 bodies were discovered after a motorised wood boat caught fire and capsized. According to reports, the boat carried up to 500 passengers including women and kids when it sank in the Congo River, located in the northwest region of the country, on Tuesday. In Congo, boating accidents are common, as old wooden boats are used to transport people between villages, and they are often overloaded. The reports also stated that officials estimate hundreds of missing people. Previous estimates put the number of deaths at 50. The boat, named HB Kongolo caught fire near Mbandaka after leaving the port of Matankumu to the Bolomba Territory. Sky News reported that about 100 survivors were transported to a temporary shelter set up at the town hall. Those with burn injuries were then taken to hospitals in the area. According to Competent Loyoko of the Associated Press, the incident happened when a woman cooking aboard the vessel started a fire. The report said that several passengers, including children and women, died when they jumped into the water, despite not being able swim. In 2024, a boat carrying 278 passengers capsized on Lake Kivu in eastern Congo, and at least 78 drowned. In a separate event, At least 22 people have died After a riverboat sank in western Congo in December, (Reporting and editing by Chris Reese in Bengaluru, Mrinmay dey from Bengaluru)
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At least 148 people die after boat catches fire in Congo, media reports say
Local officials cited in media reported that at least 148 bodies were discovered after a motorised wood boat sank and caught fire. According to reports, the boat carried up to 500 passengers including women and kids when it sank in the Congo River, located in the northwest region of the country, on Tuesday. In Congo, boating accidents are very common. Old wooden boats are used as the main means of transport between villages, and they are often overloaded. The reports also stated that officials estimate hundreds of missing people. The previous estimate of 50 dead people was revised upwards. The boat, named HB Kongolo caught fire near Mbandaka after leaving the port of Matankumu to the Bolomba Territory. Sky News reported that about 100 survivors were transported to an improvised refuge at the town hall. Those with burn injuries were then taken to local hospitals. According to Competent Loyoko of the Associated Press, the incident happened when a woman cooking aboard the vessel started a fire. The report said that several passengers, including children and women, died when they jumped into the water, despite not being able swim. In 2024, 78 people died when a boat carrying 278 passengers capsized on Lake Kivu in eastern Congo. In a separate event, At least 22 people have died After a riverboat sank in western Congo in December, (Reporting and editing by Chris Reese in Bengaluru, Mrinmay dey from Bengaluru)
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Russian oil rates from Baltic to India continue to fall as Urals remains under price cap
Two traders reported that the freight rates for Russian oil shipments to India from Baltic ports are dropping further from their recent highs in April, as Urals crude is trading well below $60, increasing tanker supply. The Group of Seven, together with the EU, will impose a $60 per barrel price cap on Russian crude oil by late 2022. This will restrict access to Western shipping services and insurance for purchases above this limit in an effort to reduce Moscow's funding of war. Costs of shipping Urals Oil from the Baltic Ports of Primorsk & Ust-Luga, to India have fallen to an average of $6 million for a one-way shipment. This is down from $7 million in late March and $8 million at the beginning of this year. Early in April, the global oil price fell, pushing Urals crude into Russian ports below $60 a barrel. This allowed more Western shipping firms to resume their services, including freight, for Russian oil. On Thursday, the price of Urals oil shipped from Primorsk port was $53.5 per barrel. After a new round U.S. energy sanctions announced in January took effect, the price of Russian crude shipping increased sharply. Russian oil sellers had to find new tankers to replace the ones that were hit by the sanctions. The cost of shipping Russian crude oil from the Baltic ports to India in January was $4.7-4.9million. Reporting by
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Indian ports continue to offer discounts on Russian Urals despite lower Saudi prices
Four trading sources said that the discount for Russian Urals oil cargoes loaded in May to Brent dated this month remained at this month's levels, even though Saudi Arabia reduced its official selling price of oil. They said that May Urals cargoes were selling at a discount of $2.50-3 a bar to dated Brent, on a DES basis (delivered from ship), which is close to the estimates for April cargoes. "Urals Prices held firm despite Saudi Arabia’s decision to cut prices for the competing Arab Light Oil. Russian barrels are very much in demand," said an Urals trader. Saudi Arabia's Aramco (the world's biggest oil exporter) lowered its official contract price for Arab Light Crude by $2.30 a barrel to $1.20 over the benchmark average Oman/Dubai, in response to an OPEC+ agreement to increase production. The price of Urals FOB (free-on-board) in Russian ports has fallen to its lowest level since 2023, as Brent oil prices have dropped, which is limiting the revenues for Russian oil sellers. Traders said that the price of Urals is supported by the fact that there was a shortage in April-May and refinery runs were higher than expected in Russia. According to industry sources, calculations show that idle oil refining capacities at Russian refineries are expected to fall in May compared to April. This year, drone attacks on Russian refineries led to unplanned outages from January to March. Reporting by Nidhi in New Delhi, and reporters in Moscow. Editing by Kirovan Donovan.
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Italy picks former Terna CFO Scornajenchi to run gas grid group Snam
State lender Cassa Depositi e Prestiti announced on Thursday that the Italian government had chosen Agostino Scornajenchi to replace Stefano Venier, as CEO of Snam's gas grid group. Snam is controlled by the right-wing government of Prime Minister Giorgia Melons through CDP. Venier was appointed while the previous government, led by Mario Draghi as Prime Minister, was still in office. Scornajenchi is currently the head of CDP's venture capital division. He was Terna’s chief financial officer from November 2012 to November 2023. Snam shareholders will likely approve CDP’s proposal during a May 14 meeting. Snam, under Venier's three-year mandate as CEO, helped reduce Italy’s dependency on Russian gas. This was achieved by establishing two new LNG terminals, and increasing supplies from North Africa, and Azerbaijan. Venier has also signed a contract with Edison for the purchase of three gas storage facilities and begun work on boosting the transport capacity of the network from the south to the north to increase the flexibility in the national gas infrastructure. Snam, a partner in the first Italian carbon capture and storage (CCS) project, has received the support of European Commission to build a grid for transporting green hydrogen into northern Europe. The group, which earns the majority of its profits from regulated activities such as gas, LNG transportation and storage management, posted a 14 percent increase in its core adjusted profit to 2,75 billion euros last year ($3 billion). ($1 = 0.8880 euros) (Reporting and editing by Alvise Armillini and Keith Weir, with Francesca Landini & Giuseppe Fonte)
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After an island-wide blackout, power has been restored to 41.5% customers in Puerto Rico
After a blackout that affected the entire island on Wednesday, Luma Energy reported that it had restored power to approximately 41.5% customers by Thursday. Luma stated on its website that approximately 609,711 customers of its 1.5 million had service by 6:25 am local time. Luma Energy released a statement saying that its crews would continue to work throughout the day in order to restore service for 90% of their customers within 48 hours. The blackout is the latest of a string of major blackouts in the U.S. territory, since the grid was destroyed by Hurricane Maria last year, and had to be rebuilt. The company stated that as part of its response efforts, it is investigating the cause of the incident. This includes what role the well-known fragility of the power system played in this island-wide blackout. Luma Energy was formed by units of Canadian energy company ATCO, and U.S. construction firm Quanta Services. (Reporting from Scott DiSavino, New York; Anmol Choubey, Bengaluru. Editing by Ros Russel)
Government says that Czech Republic will be fully independent from Russian oil
Government officials announced on Thursday that the Czech Republic is now completely independent from Russian oil supplies, for the first ever in its history. This follows the completion of capacity improvements on the TAL pipe coming from the West.
In a Thursday news conference, Czech TV broadcasted by Prime Minister Petr Filia that the first increased oil supplies have arrived at the central oil depot of the Czech Republic.
The Czech government is trying to reduce its partial dependency on the Druzhba Pipeline, which has been delivering Russian supplies for more than 60 years.
At the end of last year Czech pipeline operator MERO completed an upgrade along the Transalpine (TAL) pipeline, which carries oil from tankers in the Italian port of Trieste to Germany, where it feeds into the Ingolstadt-Kralupy-Litvinov (IKL) pipeline to the Czech Republic.
With the TAL upgrade, the Czech Republic now has a capacity of 8 million tonnes per annum. This is enough to meet its annual requirements.
Orlen Unipetrol, a Czech refiner, had been sourcing about half of its crude oil needs from Russia. The other half was sourced through TAL.
The company has been using oil from the state reserves in order to maintain production since the halt of supplies through Druzhba began in March. However, it is now preparing to switch over to a full supply through TAL after the increase in capacity. (Reporting and editing by David Holmes; Reporting by Jason Hovet)
(source: Reuters)