Draught limits tighten on lower Mississippi River
The US Coast Guard (USGC) placed further restrictions on traffic on the lower Mississippi River as water levels continue to deteriorate.
The USCG on 22 September announced that all northbound traffic cannot have draught deeper than 9.5ft from Tunica, Louisiana, to Greenville, Mississippi. For Greenville to Tiptonville, Mississippi, barges must remain above a 9ft draught, the shallowest draught channel allowed for the lower Mississippi River by the US Army Corps of Engineers.
All northbound transit also cannot load more than four barges wide or configure more than five barges wide.
Southbound traffic from Tiptonville to Greenville cannot be more than six barges wide or deeper than 9.5ft. Greenville to Tunica southbound barges can load as deep as 10ft but cannot be more than seven barges wide.
All locations between Cairo, Illinois, and Greenville fell back to their low water threshold over the weekend as rainfall from Hurricane Francine flowed down the river.
More grain has moved downriver this year compared with last year as the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) expects higher US grain exports in the 2024-25 marketing year. Around 367,000 short tons of grain moved for the week ended 14 September, which is about double the same period a year earlier, the USDA said. Both south and northbound movement is expected to see a heavier pace in October.
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Vertex Energy files for bankruptcy, seeks sale
Vertex Energy files for bankruptcy, seeks sale
Houston, 25 September (Argus) — Specialty refiner Vertex Energy has filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy in a US court following a failed foray into renewable fuels production at its 88,000 b/d Mobile, Alabama, refinery. Vertex has entered into a restructuring support agreement with its lenders and secured $80mn of new funding to finance its day-to-day business operations, the company said late Tuesday. The refiner is also considering a "more value-maximizing sale transaction" and expects to confirm its chapter 11 bankruptcy plan by the end of the year, according to the 24 September press release. Vertex announced in May this year that it would "pause" renewable diesel production at its Alabama refinery and return the unit to producing fossil fuel products. The company later said it would use a third quarter turnaround to return the Alabama plant's converted hydrocracking unit to processing fossil fuel feedstocks and be back online in the fourth quarter. Vertex also operates a re-refinery near New Orleans, Louisiana, that produces low-sulfur vacuum gas oil (VGO) and multiple used motor oil (UMO) processing plants and collection facilities along the Gulf coast. Refiners have faced mixed fortunes in recent years with their investments in renewable fuels after a glut of new supply flooded markets and depressed renewable credit prices. US independent refiner Delek announced in August that it is temporarily idling three biodiesel plants in Texas, Arkansas and Mississippi as it explores alternative uses for the sites. Chevron said earlier this year it was indefinitely closing two biodiesel plants in Wisconsin and Iowa due to market conditions. By Nathan Risser Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2024. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
Vietnam’s Vinacomin to boost coal imports
Vietnam’s Vinacomin to boost coal imports
Singapore, 25 September (Argus) — Vietnamese coal producer Vietnam National Coal and Mineral Industries (Vinacomin) plans to more than double its thermal coal imports over the next six years to meet an anticipated growth in demand. The state-owned company, which meets most of Vietnam's coal requirements, aims to lift imports to 12.6mn t this year and to 14.5mn t in 2025, and increase its receipts of seaborne thermal coal to 22mn t in 2030, a senior official from the firm told Argus on 25 September. It imported 9.2mn t of coal in 2023. The move to raise imports comes as Vinacomin wants to raise its blended coal supplies to utilities, because it is the key supplier to local coal-fired power plants. Vinacomin typically blends its domestic coal with imported thermal coal to meet utility requirements as anthracite accounts for most of the locally produced coal, and is not preferred by plants for direct use given its low volatile matter content. Vinacomin is also a key supplier of coal to industries such as steel and cement. The coal import plans support Vietnam's overall coal import outlook at a time when the country's seaborne coal receipts are set to reach an all-time high in 2024. Vietnam has imported 45.86mn t of all types of coal in the first eight months of the year, up by about 33pc from a year earlier, according to its customs data . The country could end up importing close to 69mn t of coal this year at the current average rate of 5.73mn t/month, according to Argus calculations, marking Vietnam's highest annual imports since the 55mn t of coal it received in 2020. The imports could reach about 73mn t by 2030 and rise further to peak at around 85mn t in 2035 , according to the government's latest national energy master plan released last year. Vinacomin's strategy to grow imports also comes as Vietnam's domestic coal output has remained rangebound and sluggish. Vinacomin has set a target to produce 37.4mn t this year, up from 36.8mn t it produced last year. Domestic coal output growth faces challenges as there is no near-term plan to explore the Red River delta, which accounts for nearly 86pc of Vietnam's total coal reserves of 48.9bn t. Coal mining in the belt could be ecologically sensitive as the bulk of the land is used for agriculture, while coal projects in the region could also be economically unviable. Vinacomin in 2024 is seeking imported coal with calorific value of NAR 4,800-5800 kcal/kg coal of low and mid-volatile matter coal, with typical sulphur content of 0.6pc to aid its blending efforts, the official said. Vinacomin buys the bulk of the coal via tenders and it refers to international coal indices including Argus' ICI index for Indonesian coal as well as the API index for non-Indonesian coal. By Saurabh Chaturvedi Vinacomin's thermal coal import plan (mn t) Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2024. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
Container lines to impose US strike surcharges
Container lines to impose US strike surcharges
New York, 24 September (Argus) — Container ship owners Maersk, CMA CGM and Hapag-Lloyd warned their clients that if a looming port strike takes place, they would implement port disruption surcharges for container cargo moving to and from the US east and Gulf coast terminals. If a International Longshoremen's Association (ILA) strike takes place, CMA CGM's surcharge will go into effect on 11 October. The company will charge $1,500 per twenty-foot container unit (TEU) and $3,000 per forty-foot container unit for cargo moving from Latin America and the Caribbean to the US east and Gulf coasts. CMA CGM's surcharge for exports from the US east and Gulf coasts to Latin America and the Caribbean will be $800 per TEU and $1,000 per forty-foot container unit. Hapag-Lloyd's surcharge of $1,000 per TEU will apply from 18 October to all imports to the US east and Gulf coast. Maersk will implement its surcharge on 21 October. It will include $1,500 per TEU, $3,000 per forty-foot container unit and $3,780 per forty-five-foot container unit for cargo moving in and out of US east and Gulf coasts. Its surcharges are subject to regulatory approval for containers departing from China. The company is prioritizing import container movements before disruptions take place and asking its customers to expedite documentation and customs clearance to retrieve cargo promptly. It warns that strike disruptions will affect terminal operators' ability to monitor refrigerated containers and encourages its customers to plan accordingly to avoid the risk of loss to temperature-controlled cargo. The surcharges would cover higher operational costs that will be incurred due to service disruptions, the companies say. They are exploring alternative routing options. A possible strike could cause some of the container ship cargo to be re-routed to US west coast ports, Canada and Mexico, and then transported on rail or truck to the US Gulf and east coasts. The contract between the ILA and the United States Maritime Alliance (USMX) is set to expire on 30 September. The current six-year agreement covers approximately 25,000 port workers employed in container and roll-on/roll-off operations at ports from Maine to Texas. The USMX reiterated its willingness to reenter discussions with the ILA on a new master contract. By Stefka Wechsler Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2024. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
Vancouver Aframax rates climb to 2-month highs
Vancouver Aframax rates climb to 2-month highs
Houston, 23 September (Argus) — Aframax rates for Canadian crude oil exports from Vancouver rose to two-month highs last week after more direct shipments to Asia-Pacific and four fuel-oil cargoes exported from California cleared out tonnage. The Vancouver-US west coast Aframax rate rose on 20 September to Worldscale (WS) 155, or $2.03/bl for Cold Lake crude, the highest since 18 July, according to Argus data, after Shell provisionally booked a vessel at that level for a shipment to the Pacific Area Lightering zone (PAL) loading in early October. Similarly, the Aframax rate for a direct shipment from Vancouver to China on 20 September was $3mn lumpsum, or $5.49/bl for Cold Lake, the highest since 25 July, according to Argus data. Since 20 August, 10 Aframaxes have hauled crude from Vancouver to destinations in Asia-Pacific, including China, Japan, South Korea and Brunei, with one more such export possible by the end of September, ship tracking data from Vortexa show, compared with just nine in May-July. The rise in direct Vancouver-Asia shipments has coincided with four rare fuel oil cargoes exported on Aframaxes from Chevron's 245,000 b/d Richmond, California, refinery to destinations across the Pacific. Those exports came after a possible unplanned shutdown at one of the refinery's secondary units, traders said. One of those Aframaxes, the Shell-operated Pacific Ruby , carried Vancouver crude to the US west coast three times since the Trans Mountain Expansion (TMX) came online in May. Aframaxes in the "dirty" tanker fleet can load crude oil or fuel oil cargoes. Direct transpacific shipments remove vessels from the west coast North America market for about 45 days. Muted activity at PAL With more crude going directly to east Asia, no ship-to-ship transfers of Vancouver oil onto very large crude carriers (VLCCs) have occurred since 25 August, Vortexa data show, likely due to a rise in VLCC rates. The rate for a VLCC voyage from the US west coast to China was $3.35mn lumpsum on 20 September, a rate last reached on 20 August and prior to that in May. All-in, the cost to reverse lighter three 550,000 bl shipments of Cold Lake crude from Vancouver onto a VLCC at PAL, then ship to China, was $8.38mn, or $5.11/bl, on 20 September, including $150,000 ship-to-ship transfer costs at PAL, 15 days of VLCC demurrage and three days of Aframax demurrage for each reverse lightering. By Tray Swanson Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2024. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
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