Europe top stories: weekly summary

LONDON (ICIS)–Here are some of the top stories from ICIS Europe for the week ended 1 April.

Suez has lingering impact on Europe while Maersk suspends bookings
Europe is suffering a lingering impact from the Suez Canal closure, with delays in deliveries of up to two weeks, while Maersk, the world’s largest shipping company has suspended short term bookings.

Europe benzene spot prices hit highest in over six years after Suez jam
Europe benzene spot prices hit their highest levels in more than six years this week after an uptick in business ahead of the April contract price settlement, and following a string of supply disruptions and high demand.

Orsted plans to develop renewable hydrogen plant in NW Europe
Denmark’s Orsted on Wednesday unveiled plans to develop one of the world’s largest renewable hydrogen plants to be linked to industrial demand in the Netherlands and Belgium.

Suez closure piles extra supply pressure on Europe chemicals
A Suez Canal-related force majeure by a European polyethylene terephthalate (PET) producer highlights the additional supply pressure chemical value chains are under following the six-day blockage of the route.

Cargo ship shifted from Suez Canal blockage but supply bottlenecks expected
The giant container ship lodged in the Suez Canal for almost a week has been cleared, according to maritime services company Leth Agencies.