The US shipping market is gradually pulling itself back onto its feet, but it is a very slow process and there is still a lot of space left to fill. Europe had a short work week, which impacted on trade. Asian exports are supposed to be reasonably busy, but coastal markets are slow. U.S. Gulf Ship owners are having a torrid time booking all the remaining space on their August loaders on the U.S. Gulf-to-Asia service. All too frequently they fix but fail cargoes, only for the cargo to come back t...

Industrial Finance Finland STR Ltd. purchased the Hamina, Finland, rerefinery formerly owned by bankrupt Finnish rerefiner L&T Recoil Oy, and plans to start production again this autumn, the bankruptcy estate announced Monday. The purchase price will not be disclosed, the estate administrators office told Lube Report. L&T Recoil Oy and its then joint venture partner EcoStream opened a 45 million (now U.S. $62.2 million) rerefinery in 2009. With 1,200 b/d (60,000 metric tons per year) o...

Quaker Chemical acquired specialty grease manufacturer ECLI Products LLC for $52 million and plans to continue growth in the specialty grease market through acquisitions. Aurora-Ill.-based ECLI specializes in greases for OEM first-fill customers across several industries, including automotive, industrial, aerospace/military, electronics office automation and natural resources. We continue to build our specialty grease business with this acquisition, and believe it also provides a significant opp...

Russian grease maker Intesmo, a joint venture between Lukoil and Russian Railways, is ready to launch its new grease plant early next month to supply the countrys vast railway sector and to compete with imports, Lukoil told Lube Report. Intesmo (Innovative Grease Technologies) is a 75-25 joint venture between Russias biggest lube maker Lukoil and Russian Railways (RZhD), countrys national railway monopoly. The 1 billion rubles (U.S. $28 million), 30,000 tons per year grease plant is located at t...

BPs lubricants business profits were down, and net revenues were up for Cosan Lubrificantes in the second quarter, compared to 2013s second quarter. BP In its second quarter earnings statement, London-based BP said that its lubricants business reported an underlying replacement cost profit before interest and tax of $315 million in the second quarter, down 15.3 percent from $372 million in 2013s second quarter. The total reached $622 million for the first half of 2014, down 13.2 percent from the...

DuBoisChemicals acquired Angler Industries for an undisclosed price – a deal it says will strengthen its industrial cleaning, surface treatment and metalworking fluids segments. DuBois, based in Sharonville, Ohio, said in a press release last week that purchasing Sterling, Conn.-based lubricants company Angler will increase its market share of metalworking fluids and specialty cleaning products in the Northeast, and also advance its foray into international markets. The acquisition will no...