ClearView: Russian diesel imports immaterial to U.S. price relief
Total loaded container imports, measured in 20-foot equivalent units, entering the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach rose 24% in September compared with the same month a year earlier — the busiest-ever month for the neighboring ports, The Wall Street Journal reported.
In a separate item in the same newsletter, ClearView Energy Partners analysts wrote in a note to clients: “Irrespective of whether U.S. importation of Russian diesel is legal, it may not be particularly material to U.S. price relief.”
The WSJ Logistics Report newsletter also carried reporting by the Journal’s Ben Dummett on Abu Dhabi-based Adnoc Logistics & Services’ talks to acquire a large minority or controlling stake in HEA Energy, a closely held Abu Dhabi-based energy marine-services company. According to people familiar with the situation, the discussions involve Adnoc L&S, a unit of Abu Dhabi National Oil Co., and the talks are advancing but could still fail to turn into a deal, the people said. The deal could value HEA at up to $3 billion. Adnoc L&S supports offshore drilling projects and operates more than 100 ships used to transport crude oil, LNG, and refined products globally. The company is flush with cash as the Iran war sent charter rates surging in its shipping business. A stake in closely held HEA would extend Adnoc L&S’s geographic reach in offshore oil and gas services, including into the North Sea and the United States.
In the same newsletter, the Journal’s Bob Tita and Costas Paris wrote about two large industrial projects illustrating President Trump’s push to revive old-line industries and the challenges of overcoming the hurdles that drove heavy industry out of the U.S. In Iowa, a company with an unproven record in the U.S. steel industry is developing what will be one of the largest and most expensive steel mills in the country. Trump praised Mesabi Metallics’ plan to invest $15 billion in the project. Building the mill will require Mesabi to find people with the technical and management know-how for a steel business it hasn’t been in before, though its parent company, India’s Essar Group, has built and operated steel mills in India.
In Philadelphia, the $5 billion Hanwha Philly shipyard, owned by South Korea’s Hanwha, needs more space for shipbuilding and faces challenges attracting more customers beyond its owner. Hanwha Philly aims to boost production to 20 ships a year from just two. The yard has doubled its workforce to 2,500 over the past two years. Its order book beyond a Hanwha order consists of three containerships for Hawaii-based Matson at $330 million each — twice the price of a mega vessel built in South Korea or China.