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Airbus deliveries dropped 4% in May according to sources
Airbus delivered 51 aircraft in May, according to industry sources, a drop of 4% compared to the same month last. This brings the total number of aircraft delivered so far in 2024 to around 243, a 5% drop from the first five month period. Airbus declined to comment before a performance bulletin for the month of June. As airlines increase pressure on the world's biggest planemaker over delivery delays, it is aiming to hand over 820 aircraft to its customers in total for the year. This represents a 7% rise in deliveries. The head of Saudi Budget Airlines, who attended the annual meeting of airlines in New Delhi last week, criticised the manufacturers for the supply problems that have continued for several years after the pandemic. flyadeal calling delays "inexcusable". Airbus expects that the delays caused by the slow arrival of engines will stabilise over the summer.
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HK Express CEO: Increasing competition from Hong Kong is causing a drop in fares.
Cathay Pacific’s budget airline HK Express faces a major challenge in reducing the cost of tickets. This is due to the increased competition following the opening of a third runway at Hong Kong’s airport. CEO Jeanette Mao, speaking to reporters at the IATA annual conference in New Delhi, said that many airlines, including HK Express, and its low-cost competitors, are taking advantage of the third runway, which opened in November, in order to increase their flight capacity. According to Mao, HK Express is the fastest growing airline in the world, with flight frequency up 46% since 2023. It expects to grow more than 30% by this year. She said, "But this aggressive increase in supply has also put pressure on the yield." HK Express' annual yield (a proxy for airfares) fell by 23% in 2024. This was mainly because of intense competition on regional routes, which pushed airfares lower. Cathay Pacific’s full-service carrier saw yields fall 12%. As airlines in Asia continue to increase seat capacity, airfares are falling from the post-pandemic highs. Asia's recovery in air travel has been slower than the rest of world because China and Hong Kong have taken longer to resume international flights after COVID-19. Mao stated that the capacity between Hong Kong, and short-haul destinations increased by almost 40% last year. As a result, fares to Southeast Asia and Northeast Asia have been under pressure. Mao stated that some Asian airlines with low-cost bases use the "fifth freedom" rights which have been permitted in Hong Kong for many years to fly routes out of the city to destinations beyond the foreign airline's country. This puts them directly in competition with HK Express routes. Thai AirAsia, for example, launched in June a Bangkok-Hong Kong route to Okinawa. Mao added that the grounded Airbus 320neo aircraft due to Pratt & Whitney engine problems, which are industry-wide, has also impacted HK Express. She said that half of the A320neos still in the fleet were grounded. However, there is no timeline for when this issue will be resolved. She said that the situation was improving, but that the airline needed more clarity from engine manufacturers "to regain confidence in our recovery aircraft reactivation". Pratt is owned by RTX. They did not respond immediately to a comment request. Reporting by Nandan Mandyam, New Delhi; Writing by Lisa Barrington and Editing by Jamie Freed
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India's Adani Group shares fall on news that the US is investigating alleged sanctions evasion by Iran
The shares of India's Adani Group companies fell between 1% to 2.5% on February 2, a day following a Wall Street Journal report that U.S. prosecutors are investigating whether Adani entities imported Iranian LPG through Mundra port. In a press release, an Adani spokesperson called this report "baseless" and "mischievous", adding that "we are not aware of any investigations by U.S. Authorities on this topic." Adani Enterprises, the flagship company of the group, opened with a 2.2% decline in shares. Adani Ports dropped 2.5%. Adani Total Gas and Adani Power were all down between 1% to 2%. India's benchmark Nifty 50 Index was down by 0.4%. Adani Enterprises, and Adani Ports were the biggest percentage losers. The WSJ reported that it found tankers traveling between the Gulf of Mexico and Gautam Adani’s Mundra port, located in western India, displaying traits experts believe are common among ships evading sanction. The report could not be independently verified and neither the U.S. Department of Justice nor the U.S. Attorney's Office of Brooklyn responded to comments. Adani Ports is the biggest gainer in the Adani Group so far this season, with a 16% increase, while Adani Total is the largest loser at 11%. Sethuraman NR, Mrigank Dhaniwala (reporting)
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India's equity benchmarks open lower; Adani stocks decline
Adani Group stocks weighed on India's benchmark equity indexes Tuesday after Wall Street Journal reported the U.S. was investigating alleged imports via Mundra Port of Iranian LPG. As of 9:23 a.m. IST, the Nifty 50 fell 0.23% to 24660.7 and the BSE Sensex dropped 0.28%, to 81143.46. The benchmarks both rose by about 0.4% in the first few minutes of trading before they reversed gains. Adani Enterprises, Adani Ports and Adani Ports all fell 2.5% on the day. Adani Group has denied "any deliberate involvement" in sanctions evasion, or trade of Iranian-origin liquid petroleum gas. They also said that they were unaware of any investigation conducted by US authorities. Seven out of thirteen sectors were up, but gains were modest. Small-cap and middle-cap indexes performed better, with gains of 0.5% and 0.2% respectively. This reflects the resilience of domestic markets despite headline pressure.
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South Korean delivery workers are allowed to take a rare break from their services in order to vote in the snap election
After pressure from activists and unions, South Korean ecommerce and courier firms agreed to a rare stoppage of their delivery service on Tuesday. This was to give busy delivery workers the time they needed to vote in the country’s snap presidential elections. South Koreans rely heavily on couriers for everything from clothing to fresh food, and the service is usually available all year round. Coupang, South Korea's largest e-commerce site, has agreed to stop express deliveries, for the first since its launch in 2014. It joins other local delivery services, such as CJ Logistics, and Hanjin Logistics. Coupang, a New York-listed company, announced in an announcement on its platform that deliveries would be suspended between 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Wednesday. The majority of South Korea's tens and thousands of delivery workers are classified as gig workers or independent contractors, which means they do not have the same protections under the law as permanent employees. Couriers complain that they have not seen the full benefits of improvements in labour rights for other sectors. Some workers were pleased with the agreement to temporarily stop services during the elections. "I am happy with the decision. On the other hand, I regret that night drivers are not allowed to rest," said Cho Shin Hwan, a Coupang messenger who worked on previous elections. In the 2022 presidential elections, nearly 8 out of 10 South Koreans who were eligible to vote voted. This was a higher turnout than in recent elections in other democracies like the United States or Japan. In South Korea, presidential election days are declared a national holiday to encourage workers and students to vote. Polls will be open from 6 a.m. on Monday (2100 GMT) until 8 p.m. on Tuesday (1100 GMT). Kim Eun Jung, Deputy General of the People's Solidarity for Participatory Democracy (a non-governmental organization), said that those affected had worked hard to make this happen. He highlighted how delivery workers are excluded from labour protection laws. The Constitutional Court called the June 3 presidential elections after President Yoon Suk-Yeol was ousted earlier this year by the Constitutional Court for his brief imposition of martial laws on December 3. Reporting by Hyunsu Yaim Editing by Ed Davies, Michael Perry and Michael Perry
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Robotics company raises $60 Million to Scale Up Wind Turbine Repair
Aerones is a Latvian tech company that counts GE, Enel, and others as customers. It has raised $62million to fund a global roll-out of robots, and other AI enabled solutions, to protect and maintain tens of thousands of wind turbines across 30 countries. The wind power industry is rapidly growing and accounts for nearly 10% of global energy production. However, the majority of turbines still require manual maintenance. This leads to blackouts lasting days and costs energy companies and turbine operators large sums of money. Aerones' robots are able to maintain and service large wind-turbines blades in half the time that it would take humans. This is a cost-effective, efficient and safe solution for growth. He said that the industry was growing very quickly and that maintenance was difficult. The wind turbine downtime is more expensive than labour, and this bottleneck drives up the price of renewable energy. He said, "We don't just wait until the blade falls to the ground. We work on how to stop it from falling." Activate Capital, a U.S.-based investor, and S2G Investments led the equity funding round. Aerones will also receive a grant of 4 million euros from the EU Innovation Fund, and a further 30 million euro round of funding in 2023. Kruze explained that Aerones was rapidly expanding in the United States, so it was crucial to bring on U.S. Partners this time. The company opened a Dallas office last year and has been hiring and training locals. Kruze stated that the company will return to market later this year to raise between $15 and $20 million in venture debt. Aerones said that since 2020 it has generated nearly 400,000 MWh more clean electricity, and avoided 165,000 tonnes carbon emissions.
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Officials say that Ukrainian strikes have cut off power in areas occupied by Russia
Officials from Russia in Ukraine said that drone and shelling attacks by the Ukrainians caused power outages in large areas of Russian-controlled territory, including in Zaporizhzhia region and Kherson region in south Ukraine. Officials have said that the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Station - Europe's biggest nuclear facility - has not been affected by the Russian invasion in February 2022. The Russian officials who run the plant have said that radiation levels are normal in the facility. It is currently shut down and does not produce any power. The governors of the two regions, who are Russian-installed, said that the Ukrainian attacks had prompted the authorities to take emergency measures and to switch power sites in order to maintain power reserves. Yevgeny Beletsky, the newly-installed Russian Governor of Zaporizhzhia, wrote on Telegram that all areas under Russian control were now without power. Belitsky wrote that high-voltage electrical equipment in the Zaporizhzhia Region's northwestern region was damaged as a result the shelling of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. "There is no power in the entire region." Energy Ministry of Zaporizhzhia Region has been ordered to develop reserves of power. "Health care sites were transferred to the reserve power sources." Vladimir Saldo, the Governor of Kherson, a region in Russia's westward extension, said that debris from drones falling had damaged two substations. This knocked out electricity for more than 100,000 people living in 150 towns and villages. He said emergency crews were working to restore power as quickly as possible. In the long winter months, Ukrainian villages and towns suffered repeated power cuts due to Russian strikes on generating capacities. Both sides have repeatedly accused each other of attacking the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Plant and putting the plant at risk of a catastrophic nuclear accident. In response to a Ukrainian complaint, the U.N. nuclear watchdog International Atomic Energy Agency said that they saw no signs that Russia was planning to restart the Zaporizhzhia station and connect it to Russian grid. The IAEA monitors are permanently stationed at Zaporizhzhia, as well as other Ukrainian nuclear power plants. (Reporting and editing by Franklin Paul, Ron Popeski, Stephen Coates and Lidia Kelly from Melbourne)
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CANADA-CRUDE-Discount on Western Canada Select heavy crude widens; wildfires affect production
On Monday, the discount between West Texas Intermediate (WTI), North America's benchmark futures contract, and Western Canada Select (WCS), widened but remained within historically tight ranges as wildfires affected Canadian crude oil production. WCS for Hardisty, Alberta delivery in July settled at $8.80 per barrel below the U.S. benchmark WTI according to brokerage CalRock. It had settled at $8.50 below the U.S. standard on Friday. According to calculations, wildfires in Canada have disrupted the production of more than 344,000 oil sands barrels as of Monday. This is about 7% of Canada’s oil output. Two trading sources reported that Cenovus Energy, a Canadian oil company CVE.TO, declared force majeure in its supply of Christina Lake dil-bit heavy oil due to wildfires burning in Alberta. Rory Johnston is an energy analyst and the founder of Commodity Context, a newsletter that provides market information. He said Canadian heavy crude was trading at "crazy tight discounts" in recent months. The opening of the Trans Mountain Pipeline expansion one year earlier, which increased the country's capacity to export oil, is partly responsible for this. * Oil prices rose nearly 3% globally on Monday, despite the fact that OPEC+ continued to increase production, despite President Donald Trump's latest tariff threats weighing on the U.S. Dollar. The bulk of trading in the Canadian crude oil market takes place from the 1st of every month to the day before pipeline nominations due.
President of a Japanese shipping company fears that US tariffs could slow down cargo flow, he says
Nippon Yusen, Japan's biggest shipping line, fears that tariffs imposed by U.S. president Donald Trump could increase the price of cars and everyday goods, reducing consumer demand and slowing down cargo flow, according to its president.
"The tariffs do not fall directly on the consumers but they are ultimately responsible for the burden, which reduces the flow of goods." In an interview with Takaya Soga on Monday, he said that this was his biggest concern.
Last week, Trump announced plans to impose 25% tariffs on automobile imports. This move is expected to hurt Japan's export driven economy. He also promised to announce reciprocal duties targeting all trading partners this Wednesday.
"Tariffs can have a significant impact on the economy," Soga added, adding that the actual cargo movement will determine the extent of this impact.
Soga, however, sees benefits that could come from the trade conflict. He said that even if cargo volume declines, delays caused by tariff-related procedures could disrupt logistics and tighten ship demand, which would increase freight rates.
NYK may find new business opportunities if China begins to source raw materials outside of the U.S.
In anticipation of U.S. Tariffs, a rush for consumer goods drove cargo movements in December up until the Chinese New Year. However, there has not been a major change in material flow since they went into effect, Soga stated.
The United States also plans to charge docking fees at U.S. port for any ship that is a part of a large fleet including Chinese-built or Chinese-flagged ships and will pressure allies to follow suit or face retaliation.
According to NYK, of the 800 ships owned or operated, less than 10 percent are Chinese-built.
He said that the U.S. Government will examine carefully whether or not this policy will be implemented. Therefore, we cannot state now that we are going to stop ordering vessels from China.
Soga anticipates that Red Sea avoidance will continue as long as geopolitical risk in the Middle East persists. Last year, disruptions in the Red Sea caused by attacks by Yemeni Houthi militants consumed extra capacity as many ships took an extended route around Southern Africa.
Soga stated that while the congestion of container vessels in the Panama Canal is mostly resolved, NYK has asked the Panama Canal Authority (PCA) to restore Tier 1 priority status for LNG tanker traffic.
Soga stated that the company may delay its plans to invest in vessels for offshore wind projects in Japan due to a slower than expected market development. However, overseas investments would proceed faster. (Reporting and editing by Sonali Paul, Additional reporting by Tim Kelly)
(source: Reuters)