Maritime Money Gets Stuck: 15 Payment and Banking Failure Points in Shipping
Payments in shipping rarely fail with a dramatic “no.” They fail quietly, in the middle of the chain, after you think the money is already on the way. A hire installment that “was sent,”...
Denmark detains Iran linked boxship Nora amid registration doubts
A detained container ship off northern Jutland is turning into a clean case study of how “paper risk” becomes operational risk. Denmark’s maritime authority held the vessel after the flag it declared could not...
Marine Thruster in 2026, What’s Working, What’s Not, and What to Verify
Marine thruster tech in 2026 is not about a single breakthrough, it is about owners getting more predictable uptime through smarter azimuth designs, more embedded condition monitoring, and service models that reduce downtime risk....
IMO Tallies 529 False-Flag Vessels as Fraudulent Registries Spread
The International Maritime Organization has recorded 529 vessels showing a “false flag” status in its GISIS ship and company particulars module, reflecting cases where a vessel claims a flag without authorization or uses fraudulent...
Argus Green Marine Fuels Europe Conference 2026 Review
Argus Green Marine Fuels Europe is a working conference for the people trying to make low and near-zero carbon marine fuels real in Europe: specs, certification, book-and-claim mechanics, supply chains, and how port and...
VLCC Spot Rates Jump Again: Big Daily Numbers Are Back, and Volatility Is Rising
This week’s fresh signal is the reappearance of very high VLCC spot earnings in reported fixtures and broker talk, including a widely cited deal around $166,000 per day, which is meaningfully above the already-firm...
New Zealand sanctions 100 Russia-linked vessels in largest package yet, tightening shadow-fleet friction
New Zealand has announced its largest Russia sanctions package to date, adding 100 vessels alongside new designations of 23 individuals and 13 entities. In the same update, New Zealand also lowered its crude oil...
Sanctions Risk Is Operational Now: 15 “Do Not Sail Yet” Tripwires
Sanctions risk is no longer a paperwork problem that only compliance sees. It is an operational problem that shows up in voyage orders, AIS behavior, documentation gaps, and counterparties that rush you to move...
Russia Plans 10 New Icebreakers and 46 Rescue Vessels to Push Northern Sea Route Growth to 2035
Russia has outlined another major buildout step for the Northern Sea Route through 2035, pairing additional icebreaker capacity with a much larger emergency response and salvage footprint. The plan is framed around enabling more...
Phillips 66 and Citgo Move Toward Direct Venezuelan Crude Purchase
Phillips 66 and Citgo are reported to be moving toward direct purchases of Venezuelan heavy crude from PDVSA, aiming to bypass intermediaries and capture more of the discount economics as US policy loosens the...
Ship Tracking AI: What’s real, what’s hype and where we are headed
Ship tracking is in a weird place in 2026, the core “where is the ship” problem is mostly solved when AIS is clean, but the commercial value is now in harder problems like proving...
LNG Freight Tone Softens Again as Newbuild Deliveries Keep the Market Heavy
This week’s fresh signal is the tone shift back toward caution even after brief Atlantic firmness. Recent spot market reporting shows Atlantic LNG carrier earnings ticking up on near term positioning, but the same...
Russian Energy Export Revenues Hit Lowest Level Since Ukraine Invasion
Russia’s fossil-fuel export earnings dropped to their lowest level since the start of the full-scale war in Ukraine, according to recent sanctions-tracking analysis, with weaker volumes and softer pricing combining into a smaller cash...
Seatrade Cruise Global 2026 Review
Seatrade Cruise Global is the annual “deal floor” for cruise where itineraries, port calls, onboard product, ship services, and destination strategy get negotiated in parallel. The 2026 edition in Miami Beach is built for...
War-Risk, K&R, and What Underwriters Now Ask First
In 2026, “war-risk insurance” is no longer a box you tick after the fixture. It is a live commercial variable that moves with routing, port calls, ownership links, cargo, and even how your bridge...
Shipbuilding in the AI Era: What is and isn’t working
Shipbuilding is finally getting AI value in the places that touch real constraints, welding throughput, schedule churn, material review bottlenecks, and the messy handoffs between design data and the shop floor. The pattern so...
Costamare Secures $940 Million in Forward Charter Backlog on 12 Containerships, Pushing 2026 to 2027 Coverage Higher
Costamare’s latest forward fixtures add a fresh duration and counterparty signal into the container charter market: 12 ships fixed forward, roughly $940 million of incremental contracted revenues, and a TEU-weighted duration around six years....
White House Maritime Action Plan Turns Port Fee Idea Into a Written Cost Stack for US Calls
This story has been circulating for months, but the key new development this week is that the US administration has now put the concept into a formal, published Maritime Action Plan document. The plan...
ZIM Workers Escalate Strike Over Hapag-Lloyd Takeover, Disrupting Israel Port Operations and Deal Confidence
ZIM’s labor action has escalated from a warning strike into a full work stoppage tied directly to the announced takeover plan, with unionized staff halting company operations and reporting disruptions linked to cargo handling...
Marine Log Tugs, Towboats and Barges 2026 Review
Mobile’s towing and barge market meets in one room. Marine Log’s Tugs, Towboats & Barges 2026 is built around practical operator decisions: compliance and cybersecurity posture, where automation is paying off, modernization tradeoffs, and...
VLCC and Suezmax Ordering Wave Builds Again as Owners Compete for 2028 to 2029 Slots
Recent market coverage and order counts point to an ordering wave that is broadening beyond single yard headlines. Large crude tankers are leading, with VLCC and Suezmax contracting rising sharply versus last year’s pace...
STAX Review: At-berth compliance, without shore power dependency
STAX is built for a very specific pain point in ports: the gap between “cleaner operations” goals and what vessels can realistically do at berth today. Instead of waiting on full shore power coverage...
Iran temporarily closes parts of the Strait of Hormuz for live fire drills, shipping transits disrupted for hours
Iran temporarily closed parts of the Strait of Hormuz for several hours on Tuesday, February 17, 2026, citing safety and security precautions during Revolutionary Guard live fire drills, according to Iranian media and multiple...
Straits and Chokepoints: 12 Compliance and Monitoring Moves That Are Spreading Beyond the Red Sea
Straits and chokepoints are no longer treated like a single Red Sea playbook. In early 2026, operators are seeing a broader pattern: more formal reporting expectations, more scrutiny on AIS and identity behavior, more...
2026 Collisions, Ship Fires, Groundings and Early Casualty Signals
So far in 2026, the accident picture is being shaped by a familiar mix: port contact damage during arrivals, machinery failures that trigger major towing and reef protection posture, engine-room fires that test containment...
2026 Container Freight Index Update: Latest WCI, FBX, SCFI, New ConTex and Charter Signals & Impact
Container pricing started 2026 with a familiar pattern: a pre Lunar New Year lift in early January, then a multi week cooling into mid February. The latest reads show Drewry WCI at $1,933 per...
AI in RoRo 2026: The Practical Pros and Cons for Operators
RoRo is one of the most “AI-ready” shipping segments because the operational pain points are visual and physical: vehicle condition evidence, stow and discharge sequencing, yard congestion, and vehicle-deck fire risk (especially as EV...
SNAME Maritime Convention 2026 Review
SNAME’s Maritime Convention 2026 is a technical, engineer-forward week where shipbuilding, design, and operations get discussed at working depth. If you want peer-reviewed papers, ship production and repair content, and operator-grade conversations on automation,...
Sanctions Enforcement Turns Hands On: Boarding Actions Now Part of the Operating Risk Stack
In the past week, US forces have carried out multiple “right of visit” style boardings of Venezuela linked, sanctioned tankers far from the Caribbean, including in the Indian Ocean, after extended tracking. The operational...
Maritime Sanctions 2026 Update: Shadow Fleet Vessel Listings, Service Bans, and Enforcement Actions
US, EU, and UK sanctions activity in early 2026 is tightening around shipping as the enforcement surface, with three themes showing up repeatedly: more named vessels tied to shadow trade, broader ideas to restrict...