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Cavalier Shipping insights on the current shipping finance market and recent events in the shipping space.

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China’s VLCC Market Insight
James Lightbourn James Lightbourn

China’s VLCC Market Insight

For those looking to bet on the tanker market, going long the TD3C FFAs presents an interesting opportunity to take the same stance as an informed market player like PetroChina–but at a discounted entry price.

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Charter Rates for Very Large Crude Carriers
James Lightbourn James Lightbourn

Charter Rates for Very Large Crude Carriers

In today’s broad bull market for shipping, most segments are at cyclically high levels, so it’s difficult to identify attractive entry points to invest. A needle in the haystack: VLCC charter rates.

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Infrastructure in Shipping
James Lightbourn James Lightbourn

Infrastructure in Shipping

Major infrastructure funds invested big dollars in shipping in recent years. But what qualifies as "infrastructure" within shipping? LNG assets, container leasing, and Jones Act assets.

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Vessel Sales and the Summer Slump
James Lightbourn James Lightbourn

Vessel Sales and the Summer Slump

Just as stock market liquidity dries up on Wall Street over the summer, with traders and hedge fund managers heading to the beach, sale and purchase activity of vessels dwindles as shipowners take some deserved time off.

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Shipping + Broader Investment Trends
James Lightbourn James Lightbourn

Shipping + Broader Investment Trends

When you think of mainstream investment categories, things like tech and real estate come to mind–not shipping. But decisions to allocate capital into shipping are often deeply intertwined with broader investment trends.

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Shipping vs. Hedge Funds: Net Asset Values
James Lightbourn James Lightbourn

Shipping vs. Hedge Funds: Net Asset Values

Publicly-listed ship owners often trade at a discount to their net asset value (“NAV”): the cash amount a company would net if it were to sell all of its assets and use the proceeds to pay off all of its liabilities.

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Shipping’s Quintessential Investing Strategy
James Lightbourn James Lightbourn

Shipping’s Quintessential Investing Strategy

Shipping’s quintessential investing strategy: buy at the trough and sell at the peak of a cycle. But what do you do if nothing is trading at or near a trough? This question vexes shipping-focused investors today.

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Connecticut/New York Shipping: Changing Financial Tides
James Lightbourn James Lightbourn

Connecticut/New York Shipping: Changing Financial Tides

The Connecticut/New York area’s competitive advantage on the world maritime stage does not stem from the tradition of fleets passed down from generation to generation, as you would find in Greece. The region's superpower is its proximity to some of the deepest pools of capital in the world—the "smart money". 

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Marine Money 2024 Highlight
James Lightbourn James Lightbourn

Marine Money 2024 Highlight

Marine Money hosts an incredible three-day event in NYC every summer. A highlight for me was seeing how sophisticated market participants can view the same landscape and arrive at completely different outlooks and corresponding capital allocation decisions.

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ADNOC Group Acquires Navig8 Group
James Lightbourn James Lightbourn

ADNOC Group Acquires Navig8 Group

Navig8 has achieved one of the largest cash sales of a tanker business (eclipsing even Songa Shipholding's sale to Camillo Eitzen for $1.3 billion in 2006) while ADNOC gains a best-in-class commercial management company with a proven leadership team.

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“Alternative” Ship Finance Landscape Growth
James Lightbourn James Lightbourn

“Alternative” Ship Finance Landscape Growth

The "alternative" ship finance landscape has matured considerably over the past five years. One example of the landscape's shifting dynamics: the change in the nature of the deals that are getting done.

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Temporary Pier in Gaza
James Lightbourn James Lightbourn

Temporary Pier in Gaza

On March 8, the US announced it would build a temporary pier in Gaza to assist in delivering humanitarian aid.

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Bullish Capesize Market
James Lightbourn James Lightbourn

Bullish Capesize Market

With booming sale-and-purchase activity and future rates trading well above the current spot rate, the bullish sentiment of the Capesize market is hard to ignore.

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Hanwha Acquires Austal
James Lightbourn James Lightbourn

Hanwha Acquires Austal

Hanwha Ocean's USD 662 million offer to acquire acquire Austal is a positive signal for US shipyard valuations and interest in the sector.

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Building vs. Purchasing Jones Act Suezmax Tanker
James Lightbourn James Lightbourn

Building vs. Purchasing Jones Act Suezmax Tanker

Jones Act tanker vessels aren’t sold often—especially on a charter-free basis—so it’s worth looking at the numbers behind Overseas Shipholding Group's recent purchase and planned reactivation of the 2004-built + Jones Act qualified Suezmax tanker called the Alaskan Frontier.

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