London : Shipowner and charterer Noble Group, Asia’s largest commodities company, was already expressing alarm when head of chartering R. Raghunath met with Seatrade Global recently.

Oslo: John Fredriksen’s Frontline 2012 scraped its way to a $0.7m profit in the fourth quarter, bringing its full year profit to $8.1m, as it nearly doubles its newbuilding programme.

Seoul: South Korea-based Sungdong Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering landed a contract to build a total of 10 capesize dry bulk carriers including three options.

Hamburg: Heavy lift specialist Rickmers-Linie is launching a westbound round the world service connecting Asia, South America and North America.

Shanghai: China Cosco Holdings Co. (China Cosco) may sell assets worth as much as RMB27bn ($4.3bn) to its parent, Bloomberg reports.

Copenhagen: Restructuring and impairment costs on top of low freights have dragged Torm to a pre-tax loss of $579m.

Asia's largest commodities company Noble Group will shortly take delivery of the last of a series of six post-panamax bulker newbuildings, but confirms its strategy is to remain "asset light" in current market conditions.

Athens: Leading Greek shipping advocate and European Union rapporteur, Anna Bredima, has called for more pressure to be put on the European Union and legislative authorities in general in a bid to raise the public awareness of maritime piracy.

Dubai: FIS, freight and commodity swaps brokerage, has opened an office in Dubai, UAE in response to the growing market for freight and commodities and its proximity to Asian markets.

Bangkok: Thoresen Thai Agencies (TTA) has raised a considerable THB3.96bn ($133.15m) through a rights issue to fund its plans for dry bulk and offshore drilling fleet renewal.