Iron ore

In light of Gordon Lightfoot’s passing, FreightWaves Classics looks at the Edmund Fitzgerald tragedy, as well as whether Lightfoot’s song about the incident is historically accurate

Yantai Port in northern China and the Brazilian miner Vale have signed a so-called strategic cooperation framework to promote the sale of Vale’s iron ore. It is the second such deal for Vale in recent months.

As a major owner of Capesize bulkers, Golden Ocean is heavily exposed to events in Brazil.

Dry bulk shipping faced multiple headwinds in the first quarter, but NYSE-listed Scorpio Bulkers benefited from its smaller ships and its diversification into the product-tanker sector.

Australian mining giant Rio Tinto has admitted that there was a fire that damaged some of its iron ore export facilities at the port of Dampier last weekend. This story also includes a production losses update, a current cyclone weather update and an iron ore market analysis.

Australia’s maritime officials are keeping a wary eye on the oceans around north west Australia as Cyclone Wallace menaces the Pilbara-region coastline. The harbour master for Port Walcott directed that the port be cleared. However, it was a narrow miss for iron ore export facility, Port Walcott, as the cyclone swerved away. And so the harbour master cancelled the direction to clear the port. Iron ore exports are, nonetheless, likely to disrupted. But it’s not over yet as, to the north east of Wallace, a “tropical low” is threatening to build up into a cyclone too.

Major Australian miners BHP and Rio Tinto have both revealed that they were adversely affected by the recent category four Cyclone Veronica and that they have suffered iron ore production losses.

Dry bulk shipping around the northern coasts of Australia has been suspended, ports have been cleared of ships and land side operations have stopped owing to highly unusual circumstances – two very large, very strong, cyclones, Veronica and Trevor, are about to hit Australia near-simultaneously.

Dry bulk shipping around the northern coasts of Australia has been suspended, ports have been cleared of ships and land side operations have stopped owing to highly unusual circumstances – two very large, very strong, cyclones, Veronica and Trevor, are about to hit Australia near-simultaneously.

Freight rates for biggest ships fall below those of smaller ships, but that is set up for rebound, market experts say.

In announcing of giant revenues and super-massive dividends, Australian mining colossus Rio Tinto delighted markets, shareholders… and maybe even roboticists too!

The Grain Transport Report, a weekly publication by the Agricultural Marketing Service (a division of the U.S. Department of Agriculture) released information showing that total export inspections for grain (corn, wheat and soybeans) declined 22 percent from the previous week.

A quick round-up of what you need to know about maritime today, but didn’t have time to learn about, yet.

China’s National Bureau of Statistics reported slowing growth pointing to weaker exports as the China Manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) dropped to 50.8 percent, down 0.5 percentage points from the previous month to the second lowest reading in 12 months.

Corporate and industrial borrowing in China in the third quarter of 2018 surged to the highest level since 2013, just as the US Administration gets ready to impose the largest round of trade tariffs so far, targeting $200 billion worth of goods. A progressively weakening economy likely means a return to old school stimulus in fixed asset investments. .

Although Brazil’s massive truck strike has come to an end, the ramifications are still rippling through the country’s supply chain, and it looks like it could take certain industries up to a year to recover.