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Splash Extra is madly in love with awards and the ceremonies that follow, not anything like our founding fathers who seem so disgusted by them. Any excuse for getting people together in a festive mood should be embraced, especially as the year 2020, which turned out to be an annus horribilis haunted by the Covid-19 pandemic, is about to end. In the words of The Freaky Wave: “And the best award for the best award ceremony that makes the best award for the best shipping award ceremony goes to…” We have lift off. The award for highest-profile own goal goes to: the Laurel and Hardy of the shipping industry aka Lauro and Bugbee of Scorpio Bulkers. Incorporated in 2013, crashing out of the market less than eight years later. Playing their parts in making the industry worse off, when overbuilding as it was recovering, the pair now leave the sinking company – only to re-decorate its windows. On the face of it, it seems that they have simply run out of ignorant investors to fool. But as they head into the offshore windmill sector they have surely found new fools to deceive, as the duo raise the stakes. Up next, the award for longest overdue phase-out of unsafe VLOCs goes to: Vale, Polaris Shipping and Sinokor. For a job that still needs to be concluded, but hey – do not forget that US president Obama received the Nobel Prize in anticipation of widespread efforts to bring peace to the world. Converted VLOCs have been a permanent fixture at shipping’s purgatory aka Labuan Splash Extra sincerely hopes that the combined efforts of long-standing Brazil-South Korean business relations will get VLOC-EXIT done – if possible before the UK prime minister gets Brexit done, as the latter seems to be taking forever. Paying a final tribute to the job done by the many converted monstrosities, the appropriately named Sinoglory has just left Zhanjiang port. Splash Extra has been informed that Sinoglory will be sailing for Labuan Bay in Malaysia where a high-profile after party is set to take place. Already waiting at this trendy lay-up site are the Sinocarrier (built in 1992), Sinotrader (1993), Stellar Magic (1994), Stellar Neptune (1993) and Stellar Pioneer (1994). Host at the after party will be none other than ageing rock star Berge Stahl (1986), for many years the world’s largest bulker – dethroned in 2011 with the arrival of the first valemax units. Since July this year, it has been a permanent fixture at shipping’s purgatory aka Labuan. VLOCs have taken up the lion’s share of demolition activity in the Indian sub-continent this year with many heading from Labuan to meet their maker on the beach. And finally, for the third Shipping Academy Award in the dry bulk category, it's the award for the most neglected American soybean exporters which this year goes to those farmers and exporters who have watched in disbelief as the likes of Hapag-Lloyd and other transpacific operating liner companies announce that they would not take more bookings of agriculture exports. Splash Extra rhetorically asks: “Is this something that we should care about at all? Aren’t all soybeans and other agribulks exported in dry bulk ships?”. No, 18.3% (2.6m tonnes) of all soybean exports out of US west coast ports in 2019 were containerised. In fact, the top three exports in volumes terms were agribulks. In close second place came wheat, with corn beating waste and scrap paper into third place.

‘Tis the season for awards

Our analyst is missing the glamour and glitz of shipping award ceremonies during Covid. Here’s his take on who deserves a gong in dry bulk. Step forward, shipping’s very own Laurel and Hardy

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