Newsletter No.33 2018

On Wednesday 5 September the Baltic Exchange Wine Society welcomes back wine expert David Hughes to host a celebration of the emerging wine regions of Spain. 

Guests will be welcomed with a glass of Reserva Cava followed by a further six wines of varied styles of grape, accompanied by a selection of tapas. 

The event is priced at £15 for members, £20 for non-members (prices exclude VAT) which includes all seven wines and tapas. 

Seats are limited so those interested in attending should register their interest in good time by emailing events@balticexchange.com

To view the flyer, click here.

On 27 September 2018, the Baltic Exchange will be holding its Freight and Commodities Forum in Copenhagen.

The event will open with a networking lunch followed by sessions on:

• Commercial Impact of the 2020 Sulphur Cap
• Dry Market Outlook
• Bulk Commodity Trends
• Dry Benchmark Revisions
• Freight Risk Management

The forum is open to member companies and invited guests only. 

The event will commence with a networking lunch at 1 pm.

To view the full programme, click here.

To register, click here.

On the morning of 27 September, the Baltic Tanker Market Session will bring together clients and brokers from across the European wet markets to hear freight and commodity output forecasts from leading analyst as well as updates on benchmark revisions and proposals. This will be followed by a networking lunch for all market participants. 

Part of the Baltic Exchange Freight & Commodities Forum

The session will take place between 11.30 am – 1 pm.

To view the full programme, click here.

To register, click here.

The following individuals have applied for Membership under an existing member company:

The following has applied for Sole Trader Membership:
Mr P F Pinheiro Machado

Any comments should be passed to Karen Karanicholas by 29 August 2018.

Shipping giant Maersk and technology firm IBM’s creation of a blockchain-enabled shipping solution, with over 90 participatory organisations, will in IBM’s words empower multiple trading partners to collaborate by establishing a single shared view of a transaction “without compromising details, privacy or confidentiality”. TradeLens, as it’s known, offers real-time access to shipping data and shipping documents — including the Internet of Things and sensor data from container weight to temperature control.

What makes TradeLens special, however, is the 94 organisations that are actively involved, or that have agreed to take part, in the solution, which is constructed on open standards. Those who are throwing their hat into the ring include container carriers Hamburg Süd and Pacific International Lines as well as logistics companies Damco, Agility and CEVA Logistics. Additionally, over 20 of the world’s port and terminal operators, including APM Terminals, PSA Singapore and Europe’s largest port — the Port of Rotterdam — are piloting the product, with this figure meaning that around 234 marine gateways globally either have been involved or will be actively taking part in the TradeLens initiative.

Other ventures

Universal standards for blockchain undeniably reduce risk and risk management in shipping is to be welcomed. However, the Maersk-IBM platform is not the only blockchain project in the shipping world and many cooks could well spoil the blockchain broth. Just 10 days after TradeLens was revealed, Chinese blockchain startup Yuanben announced that it had inked a Blockchain Technical Service Cooperation Agreement with Maritime Silk Road Platform, the Zhuozhi Logistics Group online public booking platform, to deliver blockchain services for global maritime freight. According to the deal, blockchain will be deployed to provide node deployment, digital content deposit certificates and a search interface for cargo tracking.

Commenting on the agreement, Maritime Silk Road Platform head Dr Cai Kunying said: “This co-operation is a successful example of the combination of emerging blockchain technology and traditional information management system technology. Yuanben blockchain technology will protect the global freight of the Silk Road.”

Those who are throwing their hat into the ring include container carriers Hamburg Süd and Pacific International Lines

Yuanben said that the blockchain services “will truly serve the physical supply chain”, helping grow the latter’s business on a global level and “escort” its international logistics services. Additionally, the blockchain startup claimed that Maritime Silk Road Platform will help its blockchain’s technology “to land and promote the effective connection between blockchain technology and traditionally-recognised economies”.

Head of the blockchain initiative at Yuanben Fan Xi said: “The support for blockchain technology for the offshore silk road is a new expansion and innovation in the application of blockchain. This exemplifies cooperation between emerging blockchain technology and traditional information systems. This successful example of a combination of management system technologies will promote a more efficient, transparent and secure development of the supply chain industry and accelerate the upgrade of global trade.”

On top of this new Chinese blockchain co-operation, July saw Blockchain Labs for Open Collaboration subsidiary Maritime Blockchain Labs unveil a new association to examine how blockchain could help shipping operators better trace bunker fuels’ quality and source (including environmental effect details). BIMCO, Lloyd’s Register and the International Bunker Industry Association are part of the grouping, which will look at how blockchain technologies could help deliver an “efficient, tamper-resistant and auditable chain of custody” for bunker fuels, providing assurances that can aid operators with compliance with tightening global regulations on air pollution and carbon emission reporting. The ultimate goal, according to the consortium, is to lower safety risks and make a more dependable framework for the accurate monitoring of shipping emissions like those of carbon and sulphur.

Once a novel concept, blockchain is now making clear headway in the shipping world. Whether 2018 will go down in shipping history as the year the industry started to take note of the technology is unknown, but so far, the blockchain activities within the sector have served as a good start. The question now, given the disparate moves regarding embracing digital ledgers within shipping, concerns how long it will take for universal shipping standards for the technology to be agreed upon. Blockchain, by its very nature, encapsulates risk reduction for shipping stakeholders, but too much choice and a lack of consistency in standards threaten to do the opposite.

The Baltic Exchange will be holding a Young Baltic Association (YBA) event in Singapore on the evening of 6 September at the Exchange Bar. 

For more information, click here.

The Baltic Exchange will be holding a Young Baltic Association (YBA) event in Copenhagen on the evening of 26 September at the Ruby Bar. 

For more information, click here.

The Baltic FC will join Danish brokers heading to Madrid for a three-way tournament against Spanish Brokers from 14-16 September. Anybody interested in joining in, either on the field or for socialising off the field, please contact 1st XI: Nat Twiggs (ntwiggs@pacificbasin.com) / Vets XI: Alan De Rosa or Tony McDonald (tmd@maerskbroker.com).

Photos from the last round in Copenhagen can be found here.

The Baltic Exchange Golf Society (BEGS) Company Cup will take place on Thursday 13 September at The Shire London, the UK’s only Seve Ballesteros designed course.

The Company Cup is open to all shipbroking golfers, with the format below:

• Two-person teams, competing in four balls over one round on the Seve Ballesteros Master’s course.
• Stableford scoring system, with the combined score counting to each two-person team.
• Each team does NOT have to consist of employees from the same company, clients/visitors are welcomed.
• Teams can be two principals from the same company or different offices, a principal and a broker or two brokers.
• There is no limit on the number of teams any one company wishes to enter, the more the merrier.
• There will be additional prizes for nearest to the pin, longest drive in the rough and longest drive on the fairway.
• Baltic Exchange is looking for a sponsor for a hole in one competition on one Par 3, with a car as the prize.
• Official handicap certificates are not required, but anyone playing off 24 or higher that does not have an official club handicap cannot score more than 30pts.
• This event can contribute as one of the sports for the overall David Bradley Cup winner.

Running times are as follows:

08:30 – Arrival time, bacon roll & coffee

09:15 – Tee off for morning 9 holes (front 9)

12:45 – Sit down lunch

14:00 – Tee off for 18 holes

19:00 – Drinks/prize giving

(All times are approximate & subject to change.)

Availability is on a first come first served basis.

Anyone interested in registering should contact James Pendered.