Drewry WCI Holds Flat as U.S. Lanes Rise and Europe Slides
Drewry’s latest World Container Index update showed the composite rate holding steady at $4,465 per 40ft container on September 3, with higher Transpacific prices offset by lower Asia-Europe rates. Shanghai to Los Angeles increased...
Maritime Conflict Update: Hormuz Traffic Falls as Red Sea and Black Sea Risks Widen
The September 4 maritime conflict board looks less like one crisis and more like a chain reaction across the world’s pressure corridors. Hormuz remains the biggest energy risk, with tanker traffic well below normal...
Ship Recycling Prices Rise as Vessel Supply Dries Up: Global Market Update, September 2026
Global ship recycling entered September with an unusual imbalance: yards want ships, but owners are still reluctant to sell them. Pakistan currently leads the standardized cash-buyer market at about $520/LDT for dry tonnage, $540/LDT...
COSCO Rejects U.S. Spy-Ship Claims as “Totally Unforeutunded” as Security Scrutiny Deepens Around Chinese Merchant Fleet
COSCO SHIPPING has issued an unusually forceful denial of U.S. allegations that some of its commercial vessels carry concealed signals-intelligence equipment capable of intercepting military communications. The accusations first surfaced September 1, when two...
Ray Car Carriers’ $1B China PCTC Order Signals a New Phase in Car-Carrier Shipbuilding
Ray Car Carriers’ move into China for a $1 billion-plus batch of LNG dual-fuel car carriers looks like more than another large order in a hot sector. It points to a market where vehicle-export...
UK Proposes New Legal Navigation Duties for Masters and Owners as 2027 SOLAS Rewrite Expands Liability
The UK Maritime and Coastguard Agency has opened a four-week consultation on a major rewrite of its merchant-shipping navigation rules that would put several SOLAS Chapter V requirements more directly into domestic law and...
Black Sea Ships Add Nets and Water Tanks as Drone War Reaches Merchant Decks
Commercial ships moving through the Bosphorus from the Black Sea are now being seen with improvised anti-drone protection fitted to hulls, stern areas and superstructures. The measures include nets, tires and water-filled containers, with...
Saudi Crude Exports Collapse 59% to Nine-Year Low as Tanker Threats Hit Both Export Routes
Saudi Arabia’s observed crude exports fell to roughly 3.0 million barrels per day in August, the lowest level in tanker-tracking records going back to early 2017 and less than half the roughly 7.3 million...
World’s First Ethanol-Powered VLOC Moves Closer to Reality as Everllence Clears G80 Engine Test
Everllence has successfully tested and verified the G80 ME-LGIMe ethanol-capable two-stroke engine intended for the third vessel in Shandong Shipping’s ten-ship Guaibamax program for Vale. The engine completed R&D testing at HD Hyundai Heavy...
U.S. Navy Weighs Japanese, Korean and Turkish Frigates as Door Opens to Foreign-Built Warships
The White House and U.S. Navy are evaluating frigate designs from Japan, South Korea and Türkiye as part of a new international surface-combatant acquisition effort, according to reporting published September 1. Designs under consideration...
Hormuz Reopens in Bursts as Tanker Attacks Keep the Trade Lane on Edge
The last 48 hours turned the Strait of Hormuz into a mixed signal for shipping and energy markets. Some oil is still moving, and U.S. officials pointed to a strong Monday flow through the...
Sweden’s $5B French Frigate Deal Reshapes Baltic Naval Procurement
Sweden has moved its next-generation surface fleet from selection to contract, signing with Naval Group for four French-built air-defence frigates that will form the new Luleå class. The program gives the Swedish Navy a...
Tidewater’s $500 Million Brazil Deal Turns OSV Scale Into the Main Prize
Tidewater has completed its $500 million acquisition of Wilson Sons Ultratug Offshore, closing a deal that adds 22 platform supply vessels and significantly expands the company’s position in Brazil. The acquired business includes Wilson,...
NYK Takes 50% of Avenir LNG as Bunkering Scale Becomes the Next Fuel Battleground
NYK’s purchase of half of Avenir LNG moves LNG bunkering deeper into the hands of large strategic shipowners at a time when dual-fuel orders, bio-LNG interest and fuel-security concerns are reshaping marine-fuel planning. The...
Russia Puts $116B Price Tag on Arctic Shipping Push as Cargo Target Jumps Toward 150M Tonnes
Russia estimates that building the Trans-Arctic Transport Corridor into a large-scale commercial transport system will require about RUB10 trillion, roughly $116 billion, through 2035. Rosatom chief executive Alexey Likhachev said the financial model calls...
Two Saudi-Loaded Supertankers Hit Near Hormuz as Visible Commodity Traffic Falls to Just Five
Two VLCCs carrying a combined 4 million barrels of Saudi crude were struck by unidentified projectiles within minutes of each other while sailing outbound through the Strait of Hormuz late Monday, sharply escalating an...
COSCO’s $3 Billion Boxship Order Turns Fleet Renewal Into a Capacity Race
COSCO Shipping Holdings has committed nearly $3 billion to another round of containership newbuildings, ordering 18 vessels from Chinese shipyards under the CSSC group. The package includes 12 LNG dual-fuel 22,000 TEU class ships...
Panama Canal Loosens Booking Rules as $5.3M Auction Bid Exposes Slot Squeeze
The Panama Canal has temporarily rewritten key parts of its Neopanamax reservation system as reduced water availability tightens transit capacity and competition for guaranteed passages intensifies. Effective August 30 for transit booking dates beginning...
Hormuz Tanker Traffic Collapses Again as U.S.-Iran Strikes Put Shipping Back in the Line of Fire
Hormuz shipping is back in the firing line after a new round of U.S.-Iran attacks shattered the latest attempt to stabilize one of the world’s most important energy corridors. U.S. forces struck Iranian launchers...
Austal Starts Third Heritage-Class OPC as $3.3B Coast Guard Program Accelerates in Mobile
Austal USA has started construction of its third Heritage-class Offshore Patrol Cutter, the future USCGC Ingham, at its Mobile, Alabama, shipyard, putting three of the Coast Guard’s next-generation offshore workhorses into production at the...