Special Reports

The fourth quarter of the year is often cited as a traditionally strong period for spot freight markets, with good reason. But from floating storage to experimental fuels, the global shipping markets are instead looking for new opportunities under drastically changed economic conditions. In our new special report, S&P Global Platts Shipping looks at what’s in store for Q4 2020 and beyond.

The global corn market, once dominated by the US, has been transformed in the past five years by a close to 50% surge in exports from Brazil, the EU, Argentina and Ukraine. The rising prominence of new entrants into the export market has spurred the need for a new global arbitrage price matrix, which S&P Global Platts launched in September 2020.

The COVID-19 pandemic is one of the most severe economic and energy shocks in modern history. On top of the massive disruptions to business, mobility, and everyday life, there clearly will be longer-lasting implications for the energy transition away from fossil fuels. While the shocks from the pandemic are reducing fossil fuel consumption and emissions, they won't be enough to put the world on a path to meet 2 degree global warming target, nor bring forward peak oil demand, nor drive coal consumption to near zero.

While pressure mounts on the EU to reduce its reliance on Russian gas supplies, Brussels' most ambitious supply diversification project, the Southern Gas Corridor, is nearing completion with the launch of its final stretch, the TAP pipeline, close at hand. Initially delivering 10 Bcm per year of Azeri gas annually to Italy, Greece and Bulgaria, the volumes involved may seem small. But TAP will still have an impact on the receiving markets. This report analyzes the changes that Italy and Central and Eastern Europe will see in the short and the long term.

With the seaborne sector responsible for 90% of global trade, a tentative recovery from the pandemic has brought changing fortunes for seafarers. Tanker markets have seen freight rates plunge after an end to the recent floating storage boom, while rates in the container markets have stayed firm thanks to capacity management. Dry bulk is now turning a corner and the LNG sector is looking for a lifeline. This report looks to dive into what these changing patterns mean for each industry.