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Shipping $ Series: SITC shareholders in line for bumper payout

Hong Kong-headquartered intra-Asia carrier SITC has seen its share price hit record highs in recent days after its board last week voted to approve a special dividend, returning some HK$5.4bn (US$688m) to shareholders. "The board is pleased to announce that it has resolved the declaration and payment of the special dividend of HK$1 (equivalent to US$0.13) per ordinary share of the company to be payable to the shareholders whose names appear on the company's register of members at the close of business on 11 December 2026," it said in a Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKSE) filing on Friday. According to the CapitalIQ platform, 49.1% of SITC's stock is freely floated on the HKSE, amounting to 2.71bn shares, with the remaining 51.9% held by a British Virgin Islands company. Its share price closed on Monday at HK$47.9, just shy of the record HK$52 seen on 13 October, shortly after the special dividend was first proposed. It is further sign that investors in shipping stocks are having bumper year, in what Loadstar Premium's DeskOne has labelled the "Shipping $ Series", a moniker prompted by a similar "extraordinary special dividend" issued earlier this month by non-operating shipowner Danaos. The Greek shipowner, listed on the New York Stock Exchange, has also seen its stock price break all records in recent weeks, and notified the market it was issuing a $5 special dividend to shareholders in mid-October. Meanwhile, approval of SITC's special dividend followed the release of its unaudited operational performance for the first nine months of the year, which showed the intra-Asia carrier remarkably insulated from most of the geopolitical events battering large parts of the shipping industry. It reported carrying 2.91m teu during the period, a 5.9% increase on the 2.75m teu it carried in the first nine months of 2025. Meanwhile, according to Container Trades Statistics (CTS) data from the first eight months of 2026, intra-Asia volume growth stood at 8.6%. Although this could be interpreted as SITC losing market share, given the continued strength of the intra-Asia trades it is unclear whether SITC could have taken advantage of that market growth, considering the rather limited capacity of its vessels. As Alphaliner explained in a September analysis, while SITC is the sixth-largest intra-Asia carrier in terms of fleet capacity, the five larger carriers are all mainline operators that deploy considerably larger ships in the trade than the specialised regional carriers. Alphaliner data shows the average size of a deepsea carrier's intra-Asia vessel at 2,699 teu, "more than double the 1,338 teu average for regional carriers". SITC's average ship size is 1,444 teu. Alphaliner added: "SITC, the leading regional carrier in intra-Asia, makes the point vividly: it runs 109 ships, but its considerably smaller average vessel size leaves its total capacity at 157,000 teu, well behind Maersk and Cosco, putting SITC in sixth spot. "This is in line with SITC's focus on direct services to smaller and niche ports in Asia, rather than competing on scale. SITC is the only carrier on the list besides Maersk (108 ships) and Cosco (122 ships) that operates a fleet of more than 100 vessels in the region," Alphaliner wrote. However, its nine-month earnings appeared to be above market average, with its average freight rate (excluding slot exchange fee income) sitting at $825.90 per teu, "representing an increase of approximately 9.4% from $754.90 per teu for the corresponding period in 2025". CTS's intra-Asia price index for the first eight months shows overall growth of 5.3%, with declines in the first three months completely reversed in the following half year. SITC group revenue for the first nine months was up 14.2%, to $2,808.1m, it said in the HKSE filing.

Four pallets, 500 sneakers, DSV the forwarder - here's what happened

Last month, I sent an email to a selected bunch of investors and analysts. I had a question or two, for background only - in case they could share insight. Based on the feedback I got, I said, it doesn't look like DSV has figured out its AI roadmap yet; they may even keep CargoWise in parts of their operations for longer, etc etc, and so... how realistic, really - I wondered out loud - is their 2030 Dkr6bn (nearly $900m!) ...

Vessel operators need to prepare for compliance as UK ETS looms

Shipping operators face a new compliance burden under the UK Emissions Trading Scheme (UK ETS) - a £100 ($133) penalty for every missing allowance, adding financial pressure to a regime that will bring offshore vessels into scope from January. The requirements were outlined in a webinar hosted by Normec, which detailed the monitoring, reporting and allowance-surrender obligations facing vessel operators under the scheme. Operators of ships above 5,000 gross tonnes must monitor emissions of carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide, submit verified annual emissions reports, and surrender allowances to cover their liabilities. A key early hurdle is obtaining regulatory approval for an emissions-monitoring plan. Operators must apply within 42 days of their first maritime activity or port call in the UK, according to the webinar. Without an approved plan, operators risk complications with the verification process, with site visits and risk assessments among the requirements that must be addressed ahead of key deadlines. The first reporting period covers H2 26, before full calendar-year reporting begins in 2027. Annual emissions reports must be verified by 31 March 2027, while allowances covering the relevant reporting periods must be surrendered by 30 April 2028. Normec noted that the penalty for failing to surrender sufficient allowances was £100 per allowance, in addition to the outstanding obligation to surrender them. The scheme covers emissions generated while ships are at berth, as well as those produced during voyages, putting port activities firmly within operators' reporting calculations. Voyages between UK ports are covered in full, while different rules apply to international voyages, and services between Great Britain and Northern Ireland. For international voyages arriving at UK gateways, emissions from inbound port activities must be accounted for, even where the voyage itself is excluded from the scheme, according to the presentation. Offshore vessels are expected to join the regime in 1 January without a phase-in period, adding another segment of the maritime industry into the compliance framework. And the scheme's scope could widen further, with a proposal to include 50% of emissions from international voyages, although no outcome had been announced following a consultation at the time of the presentation. A registered shipowner is the default maritime operator responsible for compliance. An international safety management (ISM) company can assume that responsibility only if specified conditions are met, including a formal delegation. Delegations must be recorded for each ship, cannot be backdated, and changes in responsibility must be communicated through the reporting platform within 14 days. Operators must also keep fleet records current, and update monitoring plans when ships enter or leave their fleets. The webinar noted that, unlike the EU maritime emissions monitoring, reporting, and verification system, the UK scheme requires monitoring plans to be approved by the regulator rather than the verifier, creating an additional step for operators preparing for implementation.