SPDB Financial Leasing, part of Shanghai Pudong Development Bank (SPD Bank), has signed an operating lease agreement for two 11,380 TEU CMA CGM boxships.

The signing ceremony took place in Shanghai on November 18, 2019, the bank said in a statement.

Under the agreement, SPDB Financial Leasing purchased two vessels from the French shipping company CMA CGM.

No details on the price have been disclosed.

The transaction is said to be the first cross-border leasing project involving domestic financial leasing companies in the Lingang New Area.

As explained, the deal is in line with the SPDB Financial Leasing’s strategy to expand its presence in the ship leasing sector.

The Chinese company currently owns seven CMA CGM containerships and two Pacific Gas VLGC LPG vessels, data provided by VesselsValue shows.

World Maritime News Staff

The IMO Intersessional Working Group on Reduction of GHG Emissions from Ships agreed last week to establish a dedicated workstream for the development of lifecycle greenhouse gas/carbon intensity guidelines for all relevant types of fuels.

As explained, the move comes in an effort for the International Maritime Organization to encourage the uptake of alternative low- and zero-carbon fuels in the shipping sector.

Specifically, the guidelines could include biofuels, electro-/synthetic fuels such as hydrogen or ammonia, as well as other types of fuel.

Many participants to the intersessional meeting highlighted the importance of undertaking this work as soon as possible, in order to pave the way for the decarbonization of the shipping industry.

The working group also agreed the draft text of a Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) resolution which would urge Member States to develop and update a voluntary National Action Plan (NAP) with a view to contributing to reducing GHG emissions from international shipping.

The resolution would invite Member States to elaborate those arrangements that they put in place or plan to do so to support emission reduction from ships, in accordance with their national conditions. It would also encourage those states which had already adopted national action plans to share their experiences with the IMO.

The draft resolution will be submitted to the next MEPC session with a view to its adoption, according to the IMO.

Candidate measures to further reduce GHG emissions

The IMO has already adopted mandatory technical and operational measures to improve the energy efficiency of ships and reduce GHG emissions, including the energy Efficiency Design Index (EEDI) for new ships and the Ship Energy Efficiency Management Plan (SEEMP) for all ships of 400 GT and above.

The initial strategy lists a number of candidate measures that could also be considered to further reduce emissions and help achieve the targets in the strategy, in particular 40% reduction of carbon intensity from shipping by 2030. Short-term measures could be measures finalized and agreed by the committee between 2018 and 2023. A procedure for assessing the measures’ impact on states has been approved, the IMO said.

During the working group session, a number of proposals were discussed. They fell into two goal-based approaches, a technical approach and an operational one.

Proposals for a technical approach included an Energy Efficiency Existing Ship Index (EEXI), which could require ships to meet set energy efficiency requirements after the measure taking effect. Other technical proposals relate to mandatory power limitation on ships.

Operational approaches would include focusing on strengthening the ship energy efficiency management plan, as required in SEEMP. This includes proposals for mandatory carbon intensity reduction targets. Operational proposals also include measures to optimize speed for the voyage. Proposals to limit ship speed were also discussed.

As informed, there was general agreement in the group that a mandatory goal-based approach for both the technical and operational approaches would provide the needed flexibility and incentive for innovation.

The group agreed that the technical and operational approaches should be further developed in parallel, with informal coordination before the next intersessional meeting.

The sixth session of the Intersessional Working Group on Reduction of GHG Emissions from Ships met on November 11-15 at IMO Headquarters in London, United Kingdom. It was attended by nearly 400 representatives from nearly 70 Member States, as well as from the UNFCCC, the European Commission, the League of Arab States and around 30 non-governmental organizations.

The seventh intersessional meeting will be held on March 23-27, 2020.

Singapore-listed Yangzijiang Shipbuilding secured 11 shipbuilding orders so far in the second half of 2019 as new order momentum picked up in recent months.

Further to the 5 new orders that the group signed in the first half of 2019 amid an overall weak market, the second half started out better with a further 11 orders worth a total of USD 487 million.

 

The units contracted in the second half of the year include three 82,000 dwt bulk carriers, four 31,800 dwt Great Lakes bulk carriers and another four 325,000 dwt bulkers.

This brings the group’s 2019 orderbook to 16 vessels with total contract value of USD 696 million, considerably less compared to the 36 shipbuilding orders, worth USD 1.46 billion, reported in the same period in 2018.

As at November 13, 2019, with an outstanding order book of USD 3.18 billion for 83 vessels, Yangzijiang was ranked number one in China and number five in the world.

 

The shipbuilder said that the orders would keep its yard facilities “at a healthy utilization rate up to 2021 and provide a stable revenue stream for at least the next 1.5 years.”

For the third quarter, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding’s net profit dropped by 10 percent year-on-year to CNY 702.3 million (USD 100 million) from CNY 778.6 million (USD 110.9 million) amid an overall weak market.

 

Revenue in the three months ended September 30 was 5.42 billion yuan, up just 1 per cent, as Yangzijiang delivered 13 vessels in Q3, versus six vessels for the same period a year ago.

Global new shipbuilding orders declined by 44% in DWT terms in the first nine months in 2019 compared to the same period in 2018. The decline was primarily due to the uncertainties related to global trade, weak global economic outlook and shipowners taking time to firm up their plans to cope with the IMO 2020 rules on emission, the shipbuilder explained.