Daily Briefing: Oil tankers crowd Singapore's coastline; Home-based businesses limited to online operations

And logistics startup Moovaz bags $9.93m in Series A round.

From Bloomberg:

A narrow waterway off Singapore has become even more congested as oil-laden tankers wait out a slump in global fuel consumption that’s crimped demand and boosted the use of ships to store cargoes.

About 60 clean fuel tankers are currently anchored along the busy strait, up from the usual 30-40 ships, according to Rahul Kapoor, head of commodity analytics and research at IHS Markit. Some vessels are being used to hoard fuel at sea as onshore tanks fill up. Others are probably parked, waiting to be redirected to any willing buyer across Asia and the world as the coronavirus pummels economies worldwide.

Ships filled with oil products including gasoline and jet fuel are moving from major refinery hubs such as South Korea and China due to a crash in domestic demand and swelling stockpiles.

Read more here.

From CNA:

Home-based businesses, including those in the food and beverage line, must meet certain criteria in order to continue operating during the “circuit breaker” period or face a $1,000 fine.

These requirements include operating only online without requiring business owners or staff to leave their homes, and not requiring customers or third-party delivery services at the premises to collect or deliver goods.

This was stated in a joint reply by four government agencies—the Trade and Industry Ministry, Environment and Water Resources Ministry, Housing Board and Urban Redevelopment Authority.

“During the circuit breaker period, home-based businesses in public and private housing can operate only if all the criteria in the Ministry of Health’s guidelines and the latest provision under the COVID-19 (Temporary Measures) Act 2020 are met,” they said.

The agencies noted that the multi-ministry taskforce had pointed to the need to further reduce transmission of the coronavirus by minimising human interaction, when the extension of the circuit breaker period was announced on 21 April.

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From DealStreetAsia:

Singapore-based logistics startup Moovaz has officially announced that Quest Ventures led its $9.93m ($7m) Series A round that was announced earlier with Supply Chain Angels, SGInnovate, other strategic investors as well as earlier convertibles.

According to an announcement, Quest Ventures’s latest fund, which is participating in the Moovaz investment, is backed by institutional investors, including the sovereign wealth funds of Singapore and Kazakhstan.

Founded in 2017 by Lee Junxian and Jerry Chua, Moovaz specialises in relocation, logistics, freight and also warehousing solutions. Using smart technology and through its global network of over 2,000 certified partners, Moovaz intends to offer transparency and open access to global mobility services worldwide.

Last month, the logistics startup said that it secured an undisclosed sum in a Series A funding round from Supply Chain Angels (SCAngels), the corporate venture arm of YCH Group.

Read more here.