International accountant and shipping adviser Moore Stephens says the UK Budget 2013 contains generally good news for the shipping sector. Measures which will have an impact on the shipping industry include a reduction in the main rate of UK corporation tax from 23% for the year ended 31 March 2014 to 21% from April 2014. A further reduction to 20% from April 2015 has now been announced. There was also good news for shipping on the capital gains front. Last year the government announc...

China Shipping Development Co. (1138)’s venture will order six liquefied natural gas tankers worth about $1.2 billion by June to tap the nation’s rising demand for cleaner fuel, Chairman Li Shaode said. “We will expand LNG transportation business to make it become a new profit growth driver as soon as possible,” Li told reporters in Hong Kong today. “The deal means a 20-year shipping contract for us, which will bring us stable earnings”. The addition of the tankers comes as the world’s large...

The merged classification giant, in which DNV will have a majority stake, will trigger concerns among competitors, writes Adam Corbett in London.   Det Norske Veritas (DNV) of Norway’s merger with Germanischer Lloyd (GL) will create a new classification superpower that is set to dominate the marine-certification business.   The two have been linked as potential merger candidates ever since DNV stepped into the race to capture GL when the Hamburg-based class society was being purs...

PPL Shipyard is to build a second Pacific Class 400 jack-up rig for Perisai Petroleum Teknologi.   Scheduled for delivery in the second quarter of 2015, the rig is capable of operating in deeper waters of 400 feet and drilling high pressure and high temperature wells to depths of 30,000 feet. Douglas Tan, managing director in PPL Shipyard, noted: “Our proprietary ownership of this design offers us the flexibility to provide custom-design turnkey solutions to meet the unique require...