https://maritimeshipping.org Maritime Shipping en https://maritimeshipping.org/matson-makua-christened-1-billion-us-built-containership-program/ Matson has christened Makua, the first of three new containerships in a fleet investment program valued at approximately $1 billion. The ceremony took place at Hanwha Philly Shipyard on October 10, with the announcement issued on October 12. Makua is scheduled for delivery in the first quarter of 2027, followed by two sister ships. The Aloha Class design has capacity of approximately 3,600 TEU, and the program supports replacement and expansion within Matson’s Hawaii and China–Long Beach… shipbuilding container shipping US policy Tue, 13 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://maritimeshipping.org/matson-makua-christened-1-billion-us-built-containership-program/ https://maritimeshipping.org/washington-shipping-calendar-port-fees-ships-act-icebreakers/ If you charter ships, book container space or own tonnage built in China, the date to circle this autumn isn't in Shanghai or Rotterdam. It's in a Federal Register notice. The USTR fees on Chinese-built and Chinese-operated ships are suspended only until 11:59 pm on 9 November, and nothing published so far moves that date. US policy shipbuilding trade policy China Sun, 11 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://maritimeshipping.org/washington-shipping-calendar-port-fees-ships-act-icebreakers/ https://maritimeshipping.org/maersk-line-golden-gate-2019-retired-brands/ The photo was taken in October 2019 from the Marin side of the Golden Gate. A mid-size Maersk boxship is moving through the strait, Baker Beach and the houses of Sea Cliff and the Outer Richmond stacked up behind it. Oakland is a short run ahead. Nothing about the scene is unusual. Ships like this pass under the bridge every day. Maersk Hapag-Lloyd container shipping Sat, 10 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://maritimeshipping.org/maersk-line-golden-gate-2019-retired-brands/ https://maritimeshipping.org/rovuma-lng-subsea-slb-onesubsea-hormuz/ SLB said on Tuesday that its OneSubsea joint venture has won the subsea production contract for the first phase of Rovuma LNG, the 18.6 million tonne a year export project ExxonMobil leads in northern Mozambique. Phase one links 18 subsea wells in Area 4, through pipelines and manifolds, to a liquefaction plant onshore in Cabo Delgado province. OneSubsea (owned by SLB, Aker Solutions and Subsea7) supplies the subsea trees, manifolds, umbilicals and control systems. It will engineer and build… LNG Strait of Hormuz Qatar chokepoints Wed, 30 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://maritimeshipping.org/rovuma-lng-subsea-slb-onesubsea-hormuz/ https://maritimeshipping.org/asia-europe-container-rates-fall-suez-traffic-returns/ Container spot rates on the two big east-west trades are moving in opposite directions, and the Suez Canal explains most of it. Drewry's World Container Index slipped 1% this week to $4,468 per 40-foot container. The drop came from Asia-Europe, where Shanghai to Genoa fell 5% to $3,835 and Shanghai to Rotterdam lost 4% to $3,485. On the transpacific, Shanghai to Los Angeles rose 2% to $7,838 while Shanghai to New York held at $10,373. container shipping freight rates Suez Canal Drewry WCI orderbook Sat, 26 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://maritimeshipping.org/asia-europe-container-rates-fall-suez-traffic-returns/ https://maritimeshipping.org/panama-third-ship-registry-rankings-tonnage-loss/ Panama has fallen to third place among the world's ship registries. Figures dated September 1 put the Marshall Islands at 212.7 million gross tonnes and Panama at 196 million, with Liberia far ahead at 317.4 million. Panama's registered tonnage has shrunk 15% since the end of 2025, when it stood at 230.5 million. Liberia and the Marshall Islands have each grown 8.7% over the same stretch. flag registries shipping regulation ship finance Sat, 26 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://maritimeshipping.org/panama-third-ship-registry-rankings-tonnage-loss/ https://maritimeshipping.org/qatar-lng-sailings-hormuz-two-month-high/ At least four laden LNG carriers left the Persian Gulf through the Strait of Hormuz in the week to September 24, and at least two more sailed in. That's the most sustained run of Qatari LNG traffic since early July, when the country largely stopped exporting through the strait after one of its carriers was attacked. One of the cargoes reached India's west coast on Thursday. LNG Qatar Strait of Hormuz energy markets Sat, 26 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://maritimeshipping.org/qatar-lng-sailings-hormuz-two-month-high/ https://maritimeshipping.org/trafigura-volare-vlcc-listing-tanker-orderbook/ Volare Shipping, the company Trafigura set up to own its growing VLCC fleet, has raised about $500 million in an oversubscribed private placement ahead of a listing on Euronext Growth Oslo. Trading is expected to start around October 5 under the ticker VLCC. The placement sold 30.7 million new shares at NOK154 each and values the Singapore-incorporated company at about NOK11.5 billion, or $1.2 billion. If the over-allotment option is taken up in full, Trafigura keeps about 53% and placement… tankers VLCC ship finance orderbook Sat, 26 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://maritimeshipping.org/trafigura-volare-vlcc-listing-tanker-orderbook/ https://maritimeshipping.org/trump-imo-net-zero-framework-china-green-corridor-alliance/ President Donald Trump used his address to the UN General Assembly on Tuesday to attack the International Maritime Organization's Net-Zero Framework, describing it as a secret attempt to set up the first global carbon tax. He said it would raise international shipping costs by 10% to 20%, maybe more, and promised there would be "no global taxes" while he is president. IMO decarbonization shipping regulation China US policy Sat, 26 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://maritimeshipping.org/trump-imo-net-zero-framework-china-green-corridor-alliance/ https://maritimeshipping.org/vlcc-earnings-record-saudi-crude-sts-transfers-oman/ Saudi Arabia is sending crude back through the Strait of Hormuz faster than the workaround can absorb it. The ship-to-ship transfer operations in the Gulf of Oman, where shuttle tankers hand their cargoes to long-haul supertankers outside the strait, are running at capacity. On Monday the daily earnings of a VLCC hauling Middle East crude to China hit a record $1.27 million. tankers VLCC Strait of Hormuz freight rates Oman Sat, 26 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://maritimeshipping.org/vlcc-earnings-record-saudi-crude-sts-transfers-oman/ https://maritimeshipping.org/drewry-world-container-index-september-24-2026/ Drewry's World Container Index slipped 1 percent this week to $4,468 per 40-foot container. The headline move is small. The split underneath it is the story. Asia-Europe rates are falling. Transpacific rates are still near the highest levels since the pandemic. freight rates Drewry WCI container shipping Suez Canal Fri, 25 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://maritimeshipping.org/drewry-world-container-index-september-24-2026/ https://maritimeshipping.org/qatar-lng-carriers-hormuz-september-2026/ At least four LNG carriers went through the Strait of Hormuz in the past week, two heading out loaded and two coming in empty. One of the loaded ships is bound for India's west coast. Four ships in a week would have been an ordinary morning before the war. Right now it's the highest count in more than two months. LNG Qatar Strait of Hormuz freight rates Thu, 24 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://maritimeshipping.org/qatar-lng-carriers-hormuz-september-2026/ https://maritimeshipping.org/strait-of-hormuz-closure-day-208/ The Strait of Hormuz has been shut to normal commercial shipping since February 28, when the US and Israel struck Iran and the IRGC started warning ships off on VHF. As of this week that's 208 days. Nothing in the maritime market this year makes sense without that number. Strait of Hormuz Iran tankers war risk insurance chokepoints Thu, 24 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://maritimeshipping.org/strait-of-hormuz-closure-day-208/ https://maritimeshipping.org/us-china-port-fee-truce-november-2026-deadline/ Seven weeks from now, the one-year truce on port fees between the United States and China runs out. Unless Washington and Beijing extend it, the US fees on Chinese-owned and Chinese-built ships come back on November 9, and China's matching fees on US-linked ships come back with them. With the Gulf war taking up most of the attention in shipping, this deadline has been getting less of it than it deserves. trade policy US policy China shipbuilding Tue, 22 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://maritimeshipping.org/us-china-port-fee-truce-november-2026-deadline/ https://maritimeshipping.org/northern-sea-route-2026-china-korea-arctic-container-service/ The Arctic has its first scheduled weekly container service between China and Europe. Chinese carrier Sealegend Shipping is running what it calls the Arctic Express 2026, with eight sailings between August 12 and October 27 using seven ships. Cargo gathers at Ningbo-Zhoushan, fed from Dalian, Qingdao, Shanghai, Taicang, Fuzhou and Nansha. It discharges at Felixstowe, Rotterdam, Wilhelmshaven and Gdynia. Transit time to Hamburg is quoted at 20 to 22 days. Arctic shipping container shipping China South Korea Russia Fri, 18 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://maritimeshipping.org/northern-sea-route-2026-china-korea-arctic-container-service/ https://maritimeshipping.org/container-lines-return-to-suez-canal-2026/ On September 16 the OOCL Portugal made COSCO Shipping Lines' first southbound Suez transit of this return. That same day 39 ships carrying 2.3 million net tons went through the canal. For a waterway that container lines had largely given up on since early 2024, those are real numbers. Suez Canal Red Sea container shipping Maersk Hapag-Lloyd Houthis Thu, 17 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://maritimeshipping.org/container-lines-return-to-suez-canal-2026/ https://maritimeshipping.org/vlcc-orders-record-2026-hormuz/ Tanker owners have ordered more very large crude carriers this year than at any point in more than a decade, and the count keeps climbing. Estimates vary by broker. One puts 2026 VLCC orders at 217 by early September, against 93 for all of 2025. Another counts 164 by mid-September, up from 83. Clarksons had 150 in the first half alone. Whatever count you use, the pace has more than doubled. VLCC tankers shipbuilding orderbook Strait of Hormuz Tue, 15 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://maritimeshipping.org/vlcc-orders-record-2026-hormuz/ https://maritimeshipping.org/houthis-seize-mocha-perim-island-bab-el-mandeb/ For two and a half years the Houthi threat to Red Sea shipping came from drones, missiles and small boats launched from the Yemeni coast north of the strait. This week the Houthis took the strait itself. Houthis Red Sea chokepoints maritime security Suez Canal Sat, 12 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://maritimeshipping.org/houthis-seize-mocha-perim-island-bab-el-mandeb/ https://maritimeshipping.org/us-iran-tanker-war-september-2026/ The fighting around Hormuz has turned into something the tanker trade has seen before. A tanker war. Over the weekend of September 5 and 6, the United States struck three Iranian oil tankers: one near Kharg Island, Iran's main crude terminal, one near Jask on the Gulf of Oman coast, and one out in the Gulf of Oman itself. Iran says it hit three tankers in the strait and three US-linked ships in return. It also fired ballistic missiles at a US aircraft carrier and a destroyer. Both reportedly… Iran tankers maritime security energy markets Strait of Hormuz Tue, 08 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://maritimeshipping.org/us-iran-tanker-war-september-2026/ https://maritimeshipping.org/imo-net-zero-framework-talks-september-2026/ Another round of talks in London, another week without agreement. The IMO's working group on greenhouse gas emissions met from September 1 to 4 to work through the Net-Zero Framework, the plan meant to put a global price on shipping emissions. About 1,200 delegates took part. People in the room described the discussion as productive and less political than earlier rounds. The key decisions were still deferred. IMO decarbonization shipping regulation bunker fuel Sat, 05 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://maritimeshipping.org/imo-net-zero-framework-talks-september-2026/ https://maritimeshipping.org/german-dutch-port-strikes-september-2026/ North Europe's biggest container gateways are losing working hours on both sides of the Dutch-German border this week. German dockworkers began a 48-hour warning strike on the late shift of September 2. Today, September 4, Dutch port workers stop ship handling in Rotterdam, Amsterdam and Zeeland from 11:15 to 19:00. For a few hours today, Hamburg, Bremerhaven and Rotterdam are all disrupted at once. maritime labor ports Europe container shipping Fri, 04 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://maritimeshipping.org/german-dutch-port-strikes-september-2026/ https://maritimeshipping.org/panama-canal-el-nino-slot-cuts-draft-limits-2026/ The Panama Canal is rationing water again. Starting today, September 3, the Neopanamax locks offer nine booking slots a day, and the older Panamax locks 25, dropping to 23 from September 15. Maximum draft in the new locks came down to 48 feet (14.63 meters) on September 2, and it falls to 47.5 feet (14.48 meters) on October 1. Panama Canal container shipping chokepoints transit tolls Thu, 03 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://maritimeshipping.org/panama-canal-el-nino-slot-cuts-draft-limits-2026/ https://maritimeshipping.org/hormuz-closure-fertilizer-sulfur-shipping-trade-2026/ Oil and LNG get the headlines, but the Gulf also ships a large share of the world's fertilizer and the raw materials used to make it. About a third of global seaborne fertilizer trade passes through the Strait of Hormuz. Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Oman and Iran are big exporters of urea and ammonia, made from cheap local gas. The region is also one of the biggest sources of sulfur, a by-product of oil and gas processing that phosphate fertilizer plants need. dry bulk Strait of Hormuz Sun, 30 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://maritimeshipping.org/hormuz-closure-fertilizer-sulfur-shipping-trade-2026/ https://maritimeshipping.org/iran-oman-temporary-hormuz-shipping-route/ Iran and Oman have agreed on a temporary shipping corridor through the Strait of Hormuz. Iran's deputy foreign minister, Kazem Gharibabadi, announced it on August 26. The corridor is seven miles wide. It starts in Iranian territorial waters, and part of the exit route also runs through Iranian waters. Iran will watch ships before they enter and they'll need Iranian permission to pass. Strait of Hormuz Iran Oman chokepoints Thu, 27 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://maritimeshipping.org/iran-oman-temporary-hormuz-shipping-route/ https://maritimeshipping.org/maersk-hapag-lloyd-q2-2026-results-hormuz-costs/ The two Gemini Cooperation partners reported second-quarter results a day apart, and both raised their full-year guidance. That's where the similarity ends. Maersk had a very good quarter. Hapag-Lloyd had a decent one after a bad first quarter, and paid a much bigger share of its revenue for the Middle East war. Maersk Hapag-Lloyd carrier results container shipping bunker fuel Strait of Hormuz Fri, 14 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://maritimeshipping.org/maersk-hapag-lloyd-q2-2026-results-hormuz-costs/ https://maritimeshipping.org/seafarers-stranded-persian-gulf-hormuz-2026/ More than four months into the Gulf war, about 8,000 seafarers from outside the region are still stuck on ships inside the Persian Gulf. At the peak there were far more. In April the IMO put the number at around 20,000 mariners on 2,000 ships. Roughly 11,000 were trapped at the point when rescue planning got serious. By June, 136 ships had been evacuated and about 2,900 sailors brought out. maritime labor Strait of Hormuz IMO Wed, 08 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://maritimeshipping.org/seafarers-stranded-persian-gulf-hormuz-2026/ https://maritimeshipping.org/europe-shadow-fleet-tanker-seizures-russia-armed-tankers/ While the world watches Hormuz, a second fight over tankers has been escalating in European waters. European navies have now seized nine suspected Russian shadow fleet tankers. Russia has answered by putting weapons on at least one of its merchant ships. shadow fleet Russia sanctions tankers maritime security Europe Fri, 03 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://maritimeshipping.org/europe-shadow-fleet-tanker-seizures-russia-armed-tankers/ https://maritimeshipping.org/korea-masga-150-billion-us-shipbuilding-hanwha-philly/ South Korea has put a number on its bet on American shipbuilding. Under a $350 billion Korea-US investment framework, $150 billion is set aside for shipbuilding cooperation, under the name MASGA, short for Make American Shipbuilding Great Again. Korea's trade minister and US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick signed the memorandum in May. shipbuilding US policy South Korea Wed, 10 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://maritimeshipping.org/korea-masga-150-billion-us-shipbuilding-hanwha-philly/ https://maritimeshipping.org/iran-persian-gulf-strait-authority-hormuz-tolls/ Iran now has an agency for Hormuz. The Persian Gulf Strait Authority, set up in early May, says it authorizes and regulates transit through the strait. In practice it runs a permit-and-toll system for ships that want to pass. It's the clearest sign yet that Tehran wants to turn wartime control of the strait into something permanent. Strait of Hormuz Iran sanctions transit tolls maritime law Wed, 20 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://maritimeshipping.org/iran-persian-gulf-strait-authority-hormuz-tolls/ https://maritimeshipping.org/container-ship-orderbook-record-13-million-teu/ The container ship orderbook has reached 13 million TEU, the largest ever. That's 38.3 percent of the existing fleet, the highest ratio since the 2008 financial crisis. Put another way, the ships on order would hold more than the combined fleets of Maersk, CMA CGM and COSCO, three of the four biggest carriers in the world. container shipping orderbook shipbuilding freight rates Fri, 08 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://maritimeshipping.org/container-ship-orderbook-record-13-million-teu/