News Brief:

Shipbuilding News:

* Scorpio axes Kamsarmax newbuild

* Namura builds speculative VLCC

* Half the newbuild BCs delayed or axed

* No BC market recovery "before 2019"

* S.Korea: Only nine ships ordered in Q1, hinting at more poor sales this year

Shipping News:

* Cargo ships sink in value as fleets liquidated

* VLCC tanker rates jump to multi-week highs on robust demand and declining outlook for ship availability

Steel News:

* "Rising thick plate price is signal of new orders"

Energy News:

* Crude prices drop as prospect of production freeze dims

Biz China:

* China's manufacturing activity rebounds to nine-month high

* Baltic Dry Index

BDI      471        ()

+21

()

BCI      424        +79

()

BPI      563       +28

BSI      479          ()

+3

BHSI    274         ()

+2

* TC Avg ($/day)

BCI  5T/C     3,512         ()BPI  4T/C     4,497         ()

+499

+222

BSI  6T/C     5,004           ()

+23

* Exchange Rate

USD / KRW   1,147.8

USD / RMB    6.4663

* Crude Future ($/barrel)

WTI       35.49

Brent     37.50

* Buker  (Singapore, $/ton)

 IF380      IFO180     MDO     MGO

173.00      185.00     320.00   330.00