Shipping News

Shippers' appetite for lower-carbon marine fuels weakened this year as the fate of a regulatory emissions framework from the International Maritime Organization (IMO) remained cloudy while some are using carbon credits, industry executives said.IMO member nations are set to meet by early November on the formal adoption of a net-zero framework to guide the industry towards zero carbon emissions by 2050, after last year's vote to delay the move.Demand for marine biofuel, a more readily available alternative fuel on which shippers have focused more…

Gulf markets ended lower on Thursday as the Houthis threatened more attacks on Saudi Arabia, putting the country's benchmark index on track for a sixth weekly loss.The Saudi index dropped 0.3%, pulled down by a 3.1% slide in ACWA Power Company and 0.4% fall in oil behemoth Saudi Aramco.On Wednesday, Yemen's Houthis pledged to keep attacking airports and oil facilities in the kingdom. The threat came a day after a Houthi strike caused extensive damage to Aramco's headquarters in Dhahran…

JPMorganChase has added two senior leaders to support shipbuilding and maritime efforts within its Security and Resiliency Initiative (SRI), the firm's $1.5 trillion, 10-year effort focused on strengthening industries critical to economic and national security. Chryssa Rask has joined the firm to lead SRI's shipbuilding efforts and support its broader work across supply chain and advanced manufacturing. Most recently, she was an investor with Cerberus Capital Management's Supply Chain Fund, where she focused on companies and technologies that strengthen supply-chain resilience and U.S.

After investigating reports of restrictive port practices by the Government of Spain, the Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) has determined that Spain has created unfavorable shipping conditions against U.S.-flagged vessels. As a result, the FMC is proposing remedies to counteract those unfavorable conditions, including charging fees for all Spanish-flagged vessels and restricting the import of certain Spanish goods.The FMC initiated an investigation in December 2024 to determine whether Spain is creating general or special conditions unfavorable to shipping in U.S.

Iran is deploying new tactics to target ships sailing through the Strait of Hormuz as it seeks to keep oil prices high and influence the US midterm elections, two senior Iranian officials told Reuters.Tehran has tried to exert control over the Strait of Hormuz since the US and Israel launched strikes against Iran on February 28. It has restricted passage through the waterway, which carried about a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas trade before the war, in an effort to gain leverage over Washington.Its threats and attacks have severely curtailed traffic through the strait…

Iran is still reviewing a US response to its proposal regarding the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz and will reply to Washington via intermediaries when the review is over, foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said on Monday.Baghaei also told a press conference that Iran continues to exchange messages via intermediaries, without elaborating. Qatar and Pakistan, among others, have acted as mediators in efforts to end the war that began with US and Israeli strikes on Iran on February 28.After a June interim ceasefire crumbled and on-off strikes resumed…

Windward publishes quarterly intelligence reports tracking developments across global shipping.From the Q3 report:Four navies struck merchant ships, including Iran, Russia, Ukraine, and the United States.Iranian attacks in the Middle East Gulf doubled to 45. Black Sea attacks quadrupled to about 86.The Houthis declared a blockade on Saudi-linked shipping, and Bab el-Mandeb traffic fell by a quarter.The Gulf recorded at least 12 conflict-related oil spillsFalsely flagged ships are up 39% since January.

Transit routes in the Strait of Hormuz deemed illegal by Iran will soon be closed, an adviser to the Revolutionary Guards' Commander told the semi-official Fars News Agency on Wednesday, referring to the southern pathway hugging Oman's coast.Mohammadreza Naqdi said these "few routes" had been created by blasting and damaging some of the rocky passages in the strategic waterway and were used by "small boats smuggling oil and transferring it to tankers", challenging the narrative that Gulf oil exports are regaining pre-war levels."The Strait of Hormuz is closed…

Twelve crew members were injured after an unknown projectile struck Panama-flagged oil tanker On Peace while it was passing through the Strait of Hormuz, India's foreign ministry said on Tuesday.A tanker was attacked on Monday causing a fire in its engine room, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations agency reported without naming the vessel."With the assistance of Omani authorities, the injured crew have since been evacuated and are receiving medical treatment in Khasab, Oman," the foreign ministry said in a statement.Eleven of the 12 injured crew members are Indian nationals, it said, a

Oil prices climbed on Wednesday as the market weighed supply constraints from a storm heading for US oil-producing regions and attacks by Yemen's Iran-backed Houthis on Saudi Arabia against increased supplies of Middle East crude.Brent futures LCOc1 rose 81 cents, or 0.8%, to $101.39 a barrel by 0635 GMT. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures CLc1 gained 61 cents, or 0.7%, to $90.05 a barrel.US forecasters said on Tuesday a storm forming in the Gulf of Mexico would become…

The Strait of Hormuz will not reopen until seven Iranian conditions set out in a June interim agreement with the US are met, state media reported Iran's parliament speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf as saying on Sunday.Iran presented a proposal during the UN General Assembly under which the Strait of Hormuz waterway could be reopened and normal maritime passage restored within seven days if the conditions were met, with the US replying to this proposal last week via Qatari intermediaries."The position of the Islamic Republic of Iran is completely clear and firm…

Mitsui O.S.K. Lines' MOL Ocean Bulk has signed a 25-year contract with Vale International to transport iron ore using two 210,000-tonne ore carriers equipped with tri-fuel propulsion systems capable of running on ethanol, methanol and conventional heavy fuel oil.The vessels, described as the world's first ore carriers of their size with the tri-fuel propulsion system, are scheduled for delivery in 2030 and will primarily transport Vale's iron ore from Brazil to destinations worldwide…

Three Liberian-flagged oil tankers were struck by unknown projectiles when transiting the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday, shipping intelligence service Marisks said.The vessels had been moving through the strait with their Automatic Identification System transponders turned off to avoid detection, Marisks said in a report late on Wednesday.Oil products tanker Al Ruwais was last seen as having conducted a ship-to-ship transfer off Sohar, Oman, in late September to discharge its diesel cargo, data from analytics firm Kpler showed.Very large crude carrier Mersin Prosperity also made a ship-to-ship t

A nuclear-powered liquefied natural gas (LNG) carrier could cost about 2.5 times as much to build as a conventional vessel but substantially reduce fuel costs over its operating life, according to a joint study involving ABS, Blossom Energy and a global shipping company.Presented at Gastech 2026, the study assessed a 174,000-cubic-metre LNG carrier equipped with a 20-25 MWe high-temperature gas-cooled reactor being developed by Blossom Energy.The study compared the vessel's arrangement…

Somali pirates killed five crew members of the hijacked MT Honour 25 petroleum products tanker before it was rescued by security forces, Somalia's semi-autonomous state of Puntland said on Tuesday.Puntland's authorities said they also rescued a second vessel on Tuesday that had been hijacked in May.The deaths aboard the Palau-flagged ship appear to be the first at the hands of Somali pirates in over a decade.The ship with 17 crew members was seized by pirates in April during a resurgence of Somali piracy that experts have attributed…

Ship-to-ship transfers in the Gulf of Oman for Middle Eastern oil from inside the Strait of Hormuz have reached their limits after Saudi Arabia diverted exports from the Red Sea, adding to shipments from other producers, trade sources and analysts said.The increasing amount of Saudi exports this month requires more supertankers to shuttle crude through Hormuz to conduct cargo transfers, they said. That has reduced ship availability, raising shipping costs and increasing the time…

Crude oil flows out of the Strait of Hormuz reached 33.7 million barrels so far in the week starting September 20, preliminary ship-tracking data from Kpler showed on Friday, putting exports roughly on track with the previous week's levels.The traffic comprised 19 tankers, of which 17 are very large crude carriers (VLCCs) that can carry 2 million barrels of oil, the data showed. Most of the tankers are laden with crude from Saudi Arabia, followed by Iraq.For the full previous week…

Ten commodity vessels transited the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday, up from seven a day earlier and below the 10-day moving average of about 17, preliminary shipping data showed on Thursday.Nine vessels entered the strait, including Supramax ships carrying metals, grain and other dry bulk cargoes, as well as an empty very large gas carrier.

Baltic Exchange announced that both SGX and European Energy Exchange (EEX) are now offering new Baltic Handysize futures contracts, providing market participants with dedicated tools to manage their exposure to the Atlantic and Pacific Handysize basin.The new freight forward agreements (FFAs) are two baskets of Baltic Exchange's handysize timecharter averages made from four Atlantic routes and three Pacific routes, providing forward contracts specific to the basin. The baskets center on physical contracts for vessels that are highly active on corridors for minor bulks…

ABS and lomarlabs have signed a Master Research Collaboration Agreement (MRCA) to explore technologies from early-stage technology companies that aim to reduce emissions, increase fuel efficiency and automate operations in the maritime industry.The MRCA establishes a framework for both organizations to share expertise and advisory services to engage with the startups to support research, development and testing of novel solutions for maritime applications.The first project under…

Global oil trading firms Vitol and Trafigura are pushing for steeper discounts on Venezuelan crude oil as rising freight rates shrink their margins, five sources familiar with the matter said.The two merchant houses have been among the biggest winners in a race to control Venezuela's crude flows since the US captured then-President Nicolas Maduro in January and began pushing to reactivate the country's oil sector.They now sell and ship more than half of the OPEC member's exports…

Hong Kong-based Jinhui Shipping and Transportation has ordered two 64,500-dwt bulk carriers from Jiangmen Nanyang Ship Engineering for a combined $71.4 million as part of a fleet renewal and expansion program.Two wholly owned Jinhui subsidiaries signed separate shipbuilding contracts on September 21, each valued at $35.7 million.The first vessel is scheduled for delivery by August 31, 2029, followed by the second by September 30, 2029. Both ships will be built to the same specifications.Jinhui…

A tanker transiting the Strait of Hormuz was struck by an unknown projectile, leaving two crew members with minor injuries, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said.Military authorities informed UKMTO on September 21, 2026, that the tanker was conducting an inbound transit when it was hit.The vessel remained under its own power and was continuing to its next port of call, according to UKMTO.No environmental impact had been reported following the incident.Authorities are investigating the incident…