Shipping Emissions Reductions: Current Rules and 18 Proven Levers Owners Actually Use

Shipping emissions reduction is no longer a future talking point, it is a current operating variable that shows up in audits, voyage economics, and charter conversations. The rulebook is also split: IMO sets the...
Top 12 Oil Market Signals Shipowners Should Track This Quarter

Oil headlines change by the hour, but ships move on the slower, structural signals underneath them. If you want to stay ahead of rate swings, ballast surprises, bunker shocks, and awkward cargo timing, these...
2026 Maritime Cybersecurity Regulations: A Simplified Breakdown

Cyber rules in shipping feel messy because they come from three different places at once: IMO audit expectations, class and newbuild requirements, and shore-side laws that kick in through ports, terminals, and counterparties. This...
Revolutionizing Hull Cleaning: 20 Technologies That Could Save Millions

Hull cleaning is turning into a real operating lever instead of a drydock-only chore. The practical shift is that more fleets are moving toward proactive, repeatable maintenance cleaning (often with capture) plus smarter “cleaning...
Suez Return Playbook 2026: Who Re-enters, Who Stays Cape, and the Capacity Math

The Suez return is starting to look less like a single “all clear” moment and more like a service-by-service test: one confirmed structural re-entry, a few selective bets, and several carriers keeping Cape routing...
15 Ways AI is Quietly Taking Over the Shipping Industry

AI in shipping rarely shows up as a single “robot ship moment.” It shows up as quieter improvements to decisions that happen thousands of times a day: what the bridge notices, when maintenance is...
Shipping Alliances 2025-2026: Key Changes and a Deep Dive into the Global Players

Shipping alliances are supposed to be “plumbing,” but 2025–2026 turned into a full re-plumb: 2M ended, Maersk paired with Hapag-Lloyd under Gemini, the former THE Alliance partners regrouped as the Premier Alliance, and Ocean...
Top 30 Maritime Piracy Incidents in 2025

2025 didn’t look like a clean “one-region problem” for piracy. The year’s most serious cases spread from guns-and-hostages boardings in the Singapore Strait, to crew-take kidnappings in West Africa, to a Somalia-area resurgence with...
Big 5 Breakdown: Size, Fuel Burn, and Carrying Capacity

Modern liner networks aren’t built around “a ship,” they’re built around five physical constraints that drive everything else: how big you can fit through canals and ports, how much you can carry in TEU...
Maritime Compliance Penalties Ranked: Fines, Detention, and Off-Hire Exposure

Compliance rarely blows up because someone forgot a checklist. It blows up when a rule turns into a cash event: a port hold that eats days, a forced corrective action you can’t postpone, a...
Chartering Tankers: Costs, Risks, and Profits

Chartering tankers in 2026 is less about “getting a rate” and more about managing a moving cost stack: hire, bunkers, canal/port friction, insurance and war-risk adders, and (if you touch Europe) carbon-linked costs that...
Top 8 Ways EU ETS Changes Voyage Economics in 2026

EU ETS gets more “real-money” in 2026: operators are settling a larger surrender obligation (70% of 2025 verified emissions) on a hard deadline, while the scope expands to additional greenhouse gases and the rules...
The Pros and Cons of Automated Mooring Systems

Automated mooring systems are moving from “nice-to-have tech” to a real operational lever because they touch three pain points at once: safety at the ship shore interface, berth productivity, and the ability to keep...
35 Major Shipping Incidents in 2025

2025 did not have one single “headline disaster.” It had a steady drumbeat of shocks that hit every part of the system: port explosions, ferry tragedies, container ship fires, tanker blasts, piracy kidnappings, and...
Top 30 Ship Financing Banks Worldwide

In the intricate world of global maritime trade, ship financing stands as a cornerstone, supporting the ambitions of shipowners and facilitating the world’s flow of goods. Banking institutions play a pivotal role, offering the...
Marine Cranes: Ultimate Guide (2026)

Marine cranes are one of those topics where the labels sound simple, but the buying decision is anything but. “Deck crane” can mean a light utility unit for stores, or a serious cargo-handling capability...
Port Turnaround Time: 8 ways to improve speed and success

Ports don’t usually lose time in one big dramatic failure. They lose it in dozens of small handoff gaps: berth plans that change late, pilots and tugs that get sequenced on stale ETAs, paperwork...
Ship Financing Made Simple in 2026

Ship financing does not have to feel like a black box. Most deals, whether it’s a single ship purchase or a fleet refinance, boil down to a handful of funding options that repeat across...
ALS Guide: How Air Lubrication Systems Can Transform your Fleet

Air lubrication systems have been discussed in shipping for more than a decade, but interest has accelerated as fuel costs, carbon intensity targets, and retrofit economics collide. Owners today are less interested in theory...
2026 Maritime Calendar

The Ship Universe Maritime Calendar highlights upcoming maritime events such as meetings, webinars, training sessions, and in-person gatherings across shipping and related sectors. It’s designed to give a quick view of what’s active and...
Alternative Fuel Race in 2026: Growth and Reality Checks for Methanol, Hyrdrogen, Ammonia, Biofuels, LNG and RFNBO

In 2026, “alternative fuel strategy” stops being a slide deck and starts being an operations test. The hard part is not picking a fuel. It’s getting consistent supply on your lanes, keeping engines and...
Compare the Top Ship Tracking Platforms: Real-Time Solutions for Every Fleet

When people say they “need ship tracking,” they usually mean very different things: a quick public map for situational awareness, a reliable satellite-AIS feed for open ocean coverage, an API your ops team can...
Top 12 Maritime Protection and Indemnity (P&I) Clubs

In the high-stakes world of maritime shipping, where unpredictable seas and complex global regulations collide, having the right insurance coverage is essential for shipowners and operators. Protection and Indemnity (P&I) insurance stands as a...
Deadweight Economics: What It Really Costs to Scrap a Ship in 2026

Scrap value is the part of shipping nobody budgets for in public, but everyone cares about in private. Heading into 2026, “what you get paid” to recycle a ship is being pulled in two...
Panama Canal Transit Fees Explained: 2026 Edition

Panama Canal “fees” are really a stack of costs that hit you in different ways: the toll itself, the slot you need to make the schedule work, and the penalties that show up when...
10 Key Ways Sanctions and Drone Strikes Are Reshaping Tanker Risk

Shadow fleet risk is no longer just about regulators and paperwork. Drone campaigns in the Black Sea and missile attacks in the Red Sea have turned previously “cheap but opaque” tanker trades into front-line...
Gemini Cooperation Explained: What the New Container Network Means for Reliability and Ports

For years, shippers and ports have planned around unpredictable container schedules. Gemini (Maersk + Hapag-Lloyd) is one of the biggest attempts to change that, not by adding more strings, but by redesigning how cargo...
Top 10 U.S. Policy Missteps that Shook Global Shipping in 2025

When shipowners talk about “policy risk” they usually mean sanctions or a warzone closing for a few weeks. In 2025 the United States added a new kind of risk to the mix with USTR...
EU ETS Voyage Cost Lab: What Each Route Really Costs You in 2026

When shipowners talk about EU ETS costs, the conversation often stops at “X tonnes times carbon price.” In reality, the bill changes sharply by route, charterparty, and how much of a voyage is inside...
From Carbon to Chokepoints. Here are 17 Hidden Costs Shipowners are Mispricing in 2026 Budgets

Most 2026 fleet budgets are built around fuel curves, TCE targets and OPEX lines that feel familiar, while the real risk sits in a new layer of carbon costs, chokepoint detours and compliance traps...