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Mint
5 days ago
- Business
- Mint
Oil Freight Rates Jump in Mideast as Iran Conflict Fans Risk
(Bloomberg) -- Oil-shipping rates for Middle Eastern routes have spiked after some tanker owners and managers paused offering vessels as they assess risks from Israel's conflict with Iran, fueling concerns over flows from the region. Key rates for supertankers voyaging from the Middle East to East Asia rose almost 60% in less than a week, according to shipbrokers and charterers, as exporters who had been trying to book ships were met with few offers. They asked not to be identified as they're not authorized to speak publicly. Meanwhile, some owners with tankers that had been provisionally chartered as of Friday, pending confirmation of the booking, chose not to extend the agreements into the weekend, one of them said. The global oil market has been transfixed by the conflict in the Middle East, with Israeli strikes on Iranian energy and nuclear infrastructure roiling prices. While the likelihood of significant supply disruptions may be remote at this stage, the stability of shipping in and around the Middle East will be closely watched. The region is home to about a third of the world's production, and major exporters such as Saudi Arabia have limited scope to divert exports if needed. As hostilities have intensified, tanker owners are monitoring conditions for navigation through the Strait of Hormuz, the vital waterway that links the Persian Gulf to the Indian Ocean. Though ship diversions haven't yet been spotted, owners are holding back on fixing new voyages in the Gulf, setting the stage for higher freight rates and the possibility of disruptions. The benchmark rate for a supertanker capable of hauling 2 million barrels of crude from the Middle East to China — the TD3C route — jumped to 70 to 71 Worldscale points on Monday, up from about 44 last Thursday, before Israel struck Iran, according to shipbrokers. Worldscale points are a percentage of an underlying flat rate, which is set for each major route at the start of the year. On a per-day basis, chartering costs were near $46,000 on Monday, according to data from the Baltic Exchange. That's up by more than $12,000 from the prior session, the biggest gain since February last year. Forward-freight agreements — a derivative that allows buyers to lock in future rates — have increased as an indication of caution across the sector. FFAs for the TD3C route rose to around $14.50 a ton at one point on Monday, compared with about $11 before Israel's attacks on Iran. --With assistance from Alex Longley and John Deane. (Updates throughout with latest rates.) More stories like this are available on
Hindustan Times
12-06-2025
- Business
- Hindustan Times
President Donald Trump says he will set unilateral tariffs in two weeks
President Donald Trump said he intended to send letters to trading partners in the next one to two weeks setting unilateral tariff rates, ahead of a July 9 deadline to reimpose higher duties on dozens of economies. 'We're going to be sending letters out in about a week and a half, two weeks, to countries, telling them what the deal is,' Trump told reporters Wednesday at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington where he was attending a performance. 'At a certain point, we're just going to send letters out. And I think you understand that, saying this is the deal, you can take it or leave it,' he added. It's unclear if Trump will follow through with his pledge. The president has often set two-week deadlines for actions, only for them to come later or not at all. The president on May 16 said he would be setting tariff rates for US trading partners 'over the next two to three weeks.' Trump in April announced higher tariffs on dozens of trading partners only to pause them for 90 days as markets swooned and investors feared the levies would spark a global downturn. Yet despite the ongoing negotiations, the only trade framework the US has reached is with the UK, along with a tariff truce with China. But even the truce with China was threatened after Washington and Beijing accused each other or reneging on the terms, leading to marathon talks earlier this week in London on how to implement their agreement. Trump earlier Wednesday said the trade framework with China had been completed and would have Beijing supply rare earths and magnets, with the US allowing Chinese students to study at American colleges and universities. Asked Wednesday at the performance if he would extend the deadline for nations to cut deals with his administration before higher levies take effect, Trump said he would be open to it. 'But I don't think we're gonna have that necessity,' he added. Trump had initially suggested he would engage in talks with each partner but has moved away from that idea, prioritizing talks with some key economic partners and acknowledging that the administration lacks the capacity to negotiate dozens of individual deals. Trump's team is also working to secure bilateral deals with India, Japan, South Korea as well as the European Union. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said earlier Wednesday that the European Union is likely to be among the last deals that the US completed, expressing frustration with conducting talks with a 27-nation bloc. (Updates with additional Trump remarks, background throughout.) More stories like this are available on ©2025 Bloomberg L.P.
Mint
29-05-2025
- Science
- Mint
Swiss Glacier Collapse Engulfs Alpine Village in Rock and Ice
(Bloomberg) -- A Swiss glacier has collapsed, destroying most of the Alpine village of Blatten in a wave of rock and ice. Live footage on Wednesday shows 3 million cubic meters of rock and mud burying Blatten and the nearby Lonza river. That's potentially increasing threats should the flow of water be blocked, according to the cantonal government in Valais. 'The worst-case scenario has become a reality,' Raphaël Mayoraz, head of the natural dangers service for Valais, told reporters on Wednesday 'It's an extremely rare phenomenon.' About 300 people were evacuated from the village in the southern Loetschental valley 10 days ago as the risk of a rupture to the Birch glacier mounted. The army has been deployed to help with recovery efforts, with one person missing, according to Associated Press. Scientists have long warned that a warming planet is making such events more likely. The Alps have warmed about 2C since the pre-industrial period, with many glaciers losing half their mass since 1900. Three years ago, 11 people were killed after a glacial ice shelf collapsed in the Dolomites in Italy following record-high temperatures. Swiss researchers have explicitly sounded the alarm over the rate of thaw, which appears to be accelerating. The world is currently on track to overshoot the critical warming threshold of 1.5C, with some estimates pointing to an average temperature rise of twice that by the end of the century. Exceeding 1.5C of warming will have irreversible consequences for glacier mass, scientists warned in a recent study, underscoring the need to slash greenhouse has emissions. More stories like this are available on
Mint
26-05-2025
- Business
- Mint
NATO Chief Rutte Says Members Moving Toward 5% Spending Target
(Bloomberg) -- NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte confirmed the alliance will seek to adopt a new defense spending target of 5% of GDP at a June summit, meeting a demand by US President Donald Trump that had originally seemed unrealistic. 'I assume that in The Hague we will agree on a higher defense spending target of in total 5%,' Rutte said during a televised question and answer session at the NATO parliamentary assembly in the US. Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof had mentioned this number as having been proposed by the secretary general, and Bloomberg reported the positive momentum toward reaching it. This was the first public endorsement for the target by Rutte. The proposal includes a 3.5% target for hard defense spending and an extra 1.5% for defense-related outlays such as infrastructure for military mobility. Rutte didn't not confirm the specifics but said the target for hard defense spending would be 'considerably north of 3%' with an extra target for related spending. Trump first demanded allies spend 5% earlier this year after threatening to pull out of the alliance or to only protect the allies that spent enough on defense. The figure was widely regarded as unrealistic when he first mentioned it, but European allies and Canada have come around to the understanding that their spending had to drastically increase. Only 23 out of 32 allies reached the current spending target of 2%, according to NATO's annual report published in April. But all of them are expected to meet it by the summer, Bloomberg reported. --With assistance from Katharina Rosskopf. More stories like this are available on
Mint
21-05-2025
- Politics
- Mint
Hegseth Starts Fresh Probe Into ‘Disastrous' Afghanistan Pullout
(Bloomberg) -- Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced a new probe into the 2021 Afghanistan withdrawal, vowing accountability for what he called the Biden administration's 'disastrous and embarrassing' handling of the events that led to the deaths of 13 US troops. 'We have an obligation to the American people and to the warfighters who fought in Afghanistan to get the truth - and we will,' Hegseth said in a statement. In a separate memorandum, he said the probe would 'ensure ACCOUNTABILITY to the American people.' The probe will be led by Hegseth's senior adviser Sean Parnell, who served in Afghanistan, along with Stuart Scheller, a Marine lieutenant general who was court-martialed and left the service in 2021 after posting videos that criticized senior officials over the withdrawal. The new review will add to several completed investigations into the withdrawal and the events that led up to it. Last year, Republican lawmakers led by Representative Michael McCaul of Texas wrapped up a two—year review that accused former President Joe Biden's administration of lying to Americans and sacrificing the safety of US soldiers during the pullout. One of the investigators responsible for the McCaul probe's findings, journalist and author Jerry Dunleavy, will also join Parnell's new investigation. Hegseth said the group would re-examine previous investigations into the suicide bombing at Abbey Gate in Kabul that killed the Americans and 170 Afghan civilians. Democrats said the McCaul report omitted key findings and branded it a partisan smear. While accepting some blame for the pullout, Biden administration officials sought to lay most blame on actions Trump took during his first term, including a move to slash the number of US troops and sign a deal with the Taliban while cutting out the Afghan government. More stories like this are available on
