China Starts Penalizing Starlink Use in Its Waters
Chinese maritime authorities have begun issuing penalties after finding vessels using unapproved LEO satcom (widely reported as Starlink) inside Chinese jurisdictional waters, with the Ningbo case framed as a first-of-its-kind enforcement action and clubs/correspondents...
Iran Unrest Reprices Gulf Risk
On January 13, 2026, crude jumped more than 2% as markets priced a higher chance of Iranian export disruption after President Trump escalated rhetoric around Iran’s protests (including a 25% tariff threat on countries...
Black Sea War-Risk Repriced
Reported naval-drone strikes on two sanctioned tankers heading to Novorossiysk were followed by firmer war-risk insurance quotes for Black Sea voyages, with underwriters widening the risk range and speeding up review cycles for exposed...
Red Sea routing: “test transits” are creeping back in
“Test transits” are a cautious, limited return of some liner services and individual voyages through the Red Sea/Suez routing after a long avoidance period, driven by improving (but still uncertain) security and insurance conditions—without...
Sanctions Enforcement at Sea Escalation
Sanctions enforcement at sea is tightening again: more vessels linked to sanctioned trade are being identified, flagged, re-flagged, or physically intercepted, and the knock-on effects are showing up in insurance, port access, banking, and...
Arctic LNG Winter Shadow Logistics
Russia’s sanctioned Arctic LNG export chain is showing it can keep moving cargoes in winter by pairing an ice-capable LNG carrier with Murmansk-area floating storage and ship-to-ship transfers, even while conventional carriers avoid the...
Baltic Sea Cable Friction
The Baltic Sea is still seeing “live” friction around subsea power and telecom links, with fresh damage events and enforcement actions keeping regional security posture elevated and adding operational uncertainty for ships transiting or...
U.S. Escalation at Sea
This signal is a visible step-up in U.S. at-sea enforcement against sanctioned tanker activity, highlighted by the interdiction and seizure of the Venezuela-linked tanker Marinera (formerly Bella-1) in the North Atlantic under a U.S....
Drewry Rate Tape Jump
On 08 Jan 2026, Drewry’s World Container Index (WCI) rose 16% week-on-week to $2,557 per 40ft. In the same weekly update, Drewry flagged sharp increases on key headhaul lanes (including Shanghai–Los Angeles and Shanghai–New...
Arctic Container Trial Push
South Korea’s oceans ministry has outlined a government-backed pilot plan to run a container voyage from Busan to Rotterdam via Russia’s Northern Sea Route (NSR), positioned as a feasibility test and data-gathering step for...
Suez Still Avoided
This signal tracks continued avoidance of the Suez/Red Sea corridor in commercial routing, showing up as persistently depressed transits and “Cape default” network behavior rather than a quick return to pre-disruption patterns. Indicator What...
Deepwater Port Approval Shift
This signal tracks a noticeable change in how quickly U.S. deepwater port projects are moving from “under review” into concrete approval milestones (licenses, records of decision, and key permits) that unlock the next stage...
Arctic LNG ice-class bottleneck
Arctic LNG flows are increasingly gated by a small pool of ice-class LNG carriers and the logistics workarounds built around them. When that pool tightens (winter operations, repairs, sanctions friction), cargo timing slips, transshipment...