Chemical shipments faced minimal delays from Bosphorus fog

30 November 2009 16:58  [Source: ICIS news]

LONDON (ICIS news)--The severe fog in Turkey’s Bosphorus Strait caused minimal delays to chemical tanker shipments in the region, sources said on Monday.

“We lost a couple of days due to the fog at Bosphorus. Ships in the Black Sea continue to be affected but otherwise the weather in the Sea of Marmara is good,” said a Greek ship owner, who was transporting an unknown contract chemical cargo.

A Turkey-based trader confirmed the problems that ship owners and traders importing or exporting chemicals from the region faced.

“The fog has brought heavy traffic in the Bosphorus. However, players in the region are aware of the adverse weather conditions and are not using the ports,” the trader said.

Other ship owners noted that the weather had improved from 26 November, with one ship operator describing the weekend weather as “stable”.

“Last week we had appalling weather in the Black Sea…however, we are over the worst and the Mediterranean is calm,” the ship operator said. 

According to some shipping sources in the Black Sea, the poor weather did not have much of an impact on the chemical shipping trade due to the very poor market.

“The Black Sea and the Mediterranean for chemical shipments is dead. The only thing we move is [clean petroleum products] on a spot basis, with all chemicals done on a contract basis,” one owner said.

Another ship operator stated that he was trying to get away from the Black Sea due to the very low rates.

“Any offer I give is expensive because there is always a guy who will offer lower than me,” he said.

For more on petrochemicals visit ICIS chemical intelligence
Read Paul Hodges’ Chemicals and the Economy Blog
To discuss issues facing the chemical industry visit ICIS connect

By: Dan Horlock
44 20 8652 3214

For the latest chemical news, data and analysis that directly impacts your business sign up for a free trial to ICIS news - the breaking online news service for the global chemical industry.

Get the facts and analysis behind the headlines from our market leading weekly magazine: sign up to a free trial to ICIS Chemical Business.

Printer Friendly