Special Reports

The container industry is currently struggling with adjusting to growing bunker costs and negotiating bunker surcharges. S&P Global Platts examines how using index-linked contracts and blockchain can solve these issues.

LNG's ongoing commoditization - resulting in smaller, shorter, flexible contracts with less credit-worthy buyers - is severely challenging new liquefaction financings. Several solutions have been proposed to ease this financing slowdown. In this S&P Global Platts special report, LNG financing leaders discuss other potential FID facilitators, including greater equity investments, increased LNG price hedging, project sponsor guarantees, and a more proactive approach from export credit agencies.

The first half of 2018 had a number of surprises for the metallurgical coal market, with Chinese environmental policies, strong thermal coal markets and other factors leading to changes in the price relationships between coal quality segments and changes in the availability of specific brands. At the same time, overall spot liquidity has been lower than the previous year as global steelmakers opted to procure more coal via term contracts.

The US chemical industry is in the crosshairs of escalating trade tensions between the US and China that have spawned tariffs on hundreds of products from both countries. From steel and parts needed to build multibillion-dollar plants to numerous raw-material chemicals and plastics produced, tariffs have affected hundreds of billions of dollars in commerce between the world's two largest economies, and markets are responding accordingly.