The polar regions are now being regularly presented as parts of the world that, because of climate change and the retreat of Arctic ice, are becoming an exciting opportunity for shipping. Last season’s record number of transits of what we still call the “North-East Passage” is said to be a pointer to greater use of this short cut between Europe and the East. New oil, gas and mineral finds, along with the tourist potential for the cruise trades, suggest that there are real opportunities for shipping companies capable of exploiting them.

Bergen Group Shipbuilding specialises in sophisticated purpose-built offshore vessels (ROV, OCV , DSV, PSV) and unique RoPax vessels for the international market. Its order backlog as of the end of June 2011 was NOK5.2 billion, compared with NOK4.7 billion as the same time a year earlier.

Shippers should not lose sleep over the recent, short-lived jump in spot rates, but ought instead focus on ways to mitigate the risk of another sudden capacity crunch later in the year, urges Drewry Maritime Research.

Vietnam already boasts a thriving merchant ship construction sector, and has also built some coastal paramilitary craft in recent years. Now, the country is rapidly emerging as a warship builder of significance.

It’s the end of the world as we know it. Or maybe not. In fact probably the thing that we can say with most certainty is that we don’t know exactly what will happen in 2012. At least some of this conundrum stems from the fact that shipping people are by their nature optimistic. And at least as much flows from the realisation that although the sky threatened to fall in several times last year, we survived by the skin of our teeth.