The New Chokepoint Map: 9 Flashpoints Every Shipowner Watches Before Fixing a Voyage
Moving in to 2026 the “chokepoint map” is no longer a theory exercise. Before every long-haul fixture, owners and chartering desks are weighing very real trade-offs between Red Sea transits, Cape detours, war-risk premiums,...
IMO’s Updated Cyber Guidelines: 10 Practical Changes Shipping Companies Can’t Ignore in 2026
Most shipping companies now “tick the box” on cyber in their SMS, but the IMO’s updated Guidelines on Maritime Cyber Risk Management quietly raised the bar. The new version makes it much clearer that...
AI is Unlikely to Kill These 22 Maritime Jobs – It May Make Them Wildly More Valuable by 2030
In every serious scenario for “AI in shipping,” the same conclusion keeps coming back: the tech changes how people work, but it doesn’t remove the need for human judgment in high-risk, high-value parts of...
The 25 Most Overlooked Cost Levers in Ship Operations (That Aren’t Fuel or Crew)
Most owners spend their time on day rates, bunker costs, and crew budgets, yet a lot of quiet money moves through operational decisions that rarely make it into board packs. The 25 levers below...
2026 Port Cost Benchmark Book: What a “Normal” PDA Looks Like by Vessel Type and Region
Port costs are one of the last big spend areas in shipping that still get approved with too little context. In 2026, with freight margins more sensitive to carbon, fuel spreads, and schedule pressure,...
The 2026 Green Premium: Who Pays and Who Gets Paid For Cleaner Ships – And Why
By 2026 the green premium in shipping has turned into a real cost line that someone has to absorb. On one side, large cargo and passenger ships trading with Europe are pulled into the...
10 Port Call Bottlenecks That Quietly Destroy TCE (And How Operators Fix Them)
When a ship misses its ideal berth window because a document was not ready or a surveyor did not get clear instructions, nobody sees a dramatic headline in the log. It just appears later...
Top KPIs your Fleet and Chartering Teams should be Showing you in 2026
C suites are no longer satisfied with generic “utilization is good” and “markets are volatile” updates. They want a short list of hard KPIs that show whether fleet and chartering teams are actually turning...
15 Real AI Use Cases Ship Operators Will Pay For In 2026
AI in shipping has quietly moved from slides and pilots to real line items in OPEX and capex: owners are now paying for specific tools that shave fuel, tighten EU ETS exposure, reduce off-hire,...
Dry Bulk After Geneva: How 2026 Trade Flows Could Shift for Coal, Iron Ore and Agri
Geneva Dry made one thing clear. Dry bulk is drifting into a transition phase where the three core pillars of demand will not move in lockstep. Coal looks set to give back volumes in...
8 Vessel Upgrades With the Fastest Payback in 2026
Shipping margins tighten fast when fuel and carbon costs move. If you’re ranking 2026 upgrades by “how quickly does this pay itself back,” start with changes that cut drag and restore propeller efficiency. The...
The New Maritime Insurance Stack: War-Risk, Cyber and Parametric Weather. What you need to know in Under 5 Minutes
Modern voyage risk is a stack, not a single policy. Detours, cyber events, and severe weather hit cashflow in different ways, so smart operators layer war-risk, cyber, and parametric covers to keep routes, systems,...
Where Detours Inflate Bunker Bills Right Now
Detours are no longer the exception. On several big trades the long way has become the plan, and every extra mile turns into real money. Longer passages mean more VLSFO burned, more charter days,...
10 Ways AI Is Quietly Changing Voyage Planning
AI has already slipped into voyage planning screens in ways that most crews and even some shore teams barely notice. Behind the scenes it is quietly steering routes, nudging speeds, reshuffling port calls and...
The Great Green Fuel Race in 2026: LNG, Methanol, Ammonia and the Nuclear Option
Shipping’s green fuel race in 2026 is not a clean sprint. LNG, methanol, ammonia and even nuclear are all lining up on the start line, but they are running very different races. Regulations are...
Bunker Playbook: Lock In or Ride the Spot in 2026
The bunker plan you choose in 2026 will move more money than any single retrofit. Rules tighten, alternative fuels spread, and spreads keep shifting by port. Start with the few signals that actually move...
Sails vs ALS on Ships: Which Wins for ROI?
Two groundbreaking technologies are reshaping ship budgets in 2026. Both with one simple goal, to save fuel. One spreads a cushion of bubbles under the hull to cut friction. The other captures wind with...
In-Water Hull Cleaning: 12 Proven Ways Shipowners Cut Fuel and Costs
Fuel drag from slime is quiet but expensive. The fastest win you can buy without a yard stay is in-water cleaning that captures the waste so you can use it in more ports. Done...
Ship Management Software: 15 Features Owners Actually Use
If your ship management software is not paying for itself every year, the leak is in setup, not the tool. This guide strips the fluff and shows where the money actually moves: avoiding even...
AIS Spoofing: 10 Bridge Red Flags
AIS is gold when it is honest, but spoofed or broken signals can mislead a watch team and turn a routine watch into a near miss. Use these bridge-level red flags to spot bad...
Biofouling ROI Showdown: Foul-Release (Silicone) vs SPC Antifouling vs In-Water Hull Cleaning + Prop Polish
Fuel is your biggest controllable cost at sea. Hull roughness and slime add drag that burns cash every hour. The question is not “paint or clean,” it is “which path gives the most clean...
Generator Gold: Slash Hotel Load Without Complaints
Cutting “hotel load” starts with the air you move and the temperatures you hold. Small, crew-friendly tweaks to HVAC, nudging setpoints, slowing fans when spaces are empty, and using heat pumps or waste heat,...
Laytime & Demurrage: 7 Traps That Turn Profit Negative
When laytime and demurrage go wrong, it is rarely because of one big decision. It is usually seven small process mistakes that quietly stop the clock. The first and biggest is an invalid Notice...
Slow-Steaming Sweet Spot: Finding the RPM That Saves the Most
Slowing down saves fuel, but the cheapest speed isn’t obvious. It shifts with hire/day, fuel price, hull and prop condition, weather, and safe engine-load limits. The tool below scans your speed range, enforces a...
The Slime Line: Weekly Inspections That Quickly Catch Early Growth
A clean hull starts with a weekly routine that crews will actually follow. Catching slime early protects speed, cuts fuel burn, and reduces the need for aggressive cleaning later. The trick is to make...
Cape vs Canal 2025-2026: Route Choice Calculator You Can Do On A Napkin
When Red Sea risk or Canal queues move the goalposts, owners need a fast way to test Cape versus Canal. This mini-calculator keeps it simple: distance, speed, fuel, tolls, and premiums. You get days,...
Panama Canal Is Easing, But Slots Still Rule: How To Win Your Transit
Canal conditions are better than last year, but slots still decide your schedule. In early October the Panama Canal Authority extended service hours and moved the daily cut-off for Reservation Period 3 to 15:00...
FuelEU 2025: The “€2,400/Ton” Penalty Trap and 7 Ways Shipowners Could Dodge It
FuelEU Maritime starts putting real money on the line in 2025. The penalty math can snowball fast, especially if you’ve got energy-intensive routes, thin margins, or uncertain alternative-fuel access. Below are potential strategies shipowners...
Who’s Actually Lending to Shipowners Right Now? A Global Heatmap
Capital hasn’t vanished, it’s just choosier. On any given Tuesday you can still get senior debt, SLB, or retrofit-linked lines, but the where and who shifted: European banks are quietly back, ECAs are underwriting...
Seven Practical Routing Moves Under the New U.S & China Port Fees
Carriers are redrawing playbooks in real time. New port fees on both sides mean who pays can hinge on a ship’s ownership or flag, not just the cargo onboard. This guide turns that complexity...