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Last week, exercising an abundance of caution in light of the uncertainties created by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, the Board of Directors of Stolt-Nielsen Limited, voted to withdraw its previously announced recommendation of a final dividend for 2019 of $0.25 per common share.

With the future so uncertain, it is a welcome time to look back in time for perspective and context for what is happening today. While nothing in the past would have prepared us for today, we can take comfort that over the years the industry has survived and even made some money, although less than many feel it deserved.

As Teekay Offshore becomes the new Altera Infrastructure, Brookfield moves to lessen its exposure.

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As huge swathes of the world are now in lockdown and the COVID-19 statistics have become the first news everyone wants to hear, or not hear, in the morning, what a world we are living in. Countries are taking various measure, liquidity and "aid' of one kind or another will soon be flooded into economies so that when we normalize, whenever that is, there has not been too much permanent damage. Will we ever get back to what we not long ago thought of as normal is anothermatter?

As the pandemic progresses, activity on the transaction side slows as one would expect. While participants are hunkering down individually, businesses are doing likewise as owners focus on simply trading their vessels to meet their obligations and bankers stand ready for the call. We reached out to some friends to get a sense of what is happening in the deal world and received these two responses from our initial foray. Their brevity is indicative.

We hope you are well and healthy, and that this unusual and stressful circumstance provides an opportunity to spend more time with family and think about how you do business. If one thing has been clear in these past weeks and months, it is that shipping doesn't stop. It can't stop. And the nobility and importance of shipping will only grow as we move out of this crisis.

Back in October 2019, Okeanis ECO Tankers ("Okeanis") served notice to Ocean Yield ASA of its intention to exercise the options to repurchase the four VLCCs that earlier had been acquired by Ocean Yield in a sale-leaseback transaction.

In its latest Outlook for Global Shipping,Moody's, concluded that the coronavirus would have a negative impact on the global shipping industry and in response has downgraded its outlook to negative from stable, reflecting its expectations for the fundamental business conditions in the industry over the next 12 to 18 months.

Marrying an old-world industry, shipping, with modern age Fintech,Magma Maritime sees an opportunity in shipping's challenges to create a sustainable maritime industry.

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