Richard Watts discussing the MV OOCL Hong Kong - the largest Container Vessel so far.

Container vessels started off in 1968 with the MV Encounter Bay (1'530 TEU). Sizes rapidly grew with the 10'000 TEU mark being passed in 2005 and 20'000 TEU mark being passed in 2017. Who knows where it will end.

Large Container Vessels offer significant Economies of Scale but do create other problems such as congestion and a limit on the available berths.

In this video we take a look at the largest so far, at 21'413 TEU, the vessel can carry 1 million refrigerators or approximately 1 billion bananas.

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Richard Watts discussing Coffee

Current market, methods of transportation and risks involved.

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Richard Watts discussing Copper

Current market, methods of transportation and risks involved.

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Richard Watts discussing Containers

Manufactured and fragile goods were once the headache of the shipping world. Time consuming, easily damaged and involving a lot of labour.

Along came containers and revolutionised the industry. Multi-modal and affording immense economies of scale, containers are everywhere and likely to be used more in the future.

This video looks at the various types of containers, their production and the main Container Lines.

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MV Yara Birkeland - First Zero Emission - Autonomous Container Carrier

Technology on the march. A huge step forward for shipping, technology is changing many aspects of our personal and work lives. The challenge is to benefit from the positive aspects and minimise the negative.

Richard Watts discussing The Panama Canal and the recent expansion project.

Linking the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific Ocean, this vital waterway underpins a tremendous trade from China to Eastern USA.

This video looks at the origins, the limitations and the recent expansion project.

Previously limited to 80'000mt DWT vessels, we can now see vessels of 120'000 mt DWT thanks to the expanded lochs.

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How They Removed 1,400 Cars And A Sunk Ship From The Bottom Of The Sea.

On 5 December 2012, the car carrier Baltic Ace sank with more than 1,400 cars on board after a collision with a container ship near the entrance of the main shipping lane leading to Rotterdam port. Rijkswaterstaat contracted Boskalis and its partner Mammoet Salvage for the wreck removal operation.

Richard Watts discussing Letters of Credit

An incredibly important aspect of International Commodity Trading, allowing companies from different geographical regions and legal systems to trade secure in the knowledge that they will be paid.

This video looks into the step by step process of opening, negotiating and getting paid under a Letter of Credit

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Richard Watts discussing Soybean

Current market, methods of transportation and risks involved.

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Richard Watts discussing Corn

Current market, methods of transportation and risks involved.

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Republic of the Marshall Islands Becomes No. 1 Flag for World’s Tanker Fleet

The Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI) Registry hit a significant milestone by attaining the status as the world’s largest tanker fleet. This status was achieved over the summer with additional tonnage joining the RMI Registry from markets in Greece, the United States (US), and Asia. The RMI flagged tanker fleet stands at 44.6 million gross tons (GT) or about 82.8 million DWT.

This is a question that is often asked.

A figure often quoted is "about 10'000 containers lost per year".

Richard Watts discussing Rice

Current market, methods of transportation and risks involved.

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Richard Watts discussing Coal

Current market, methods of transportation and risks involved.

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Richard Watts discussing Iron Ore

Current market, methods of transportation and risks involved.

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Richard Watts discussing Cement

Current market, methods of transportation and risks involved.

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Richard Watts discussing Vanilla

Current market, methods of transportation and risks involved.

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Richard Watts discussing Oil

Current market, methods of transportation and risks involved.

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Richard Watts discussing INCOTERMS

Too often misunderstood or misused. Essential to fully understand this fundamental building block of Commodity Trading.

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