News

The surge in boardings and robberies is showing no signs of abating in the area around the straits of Singapore and Malacca. The monitoring operation ReCAAP has been raising the concern and now reports two additional vessels were boarded on Sunday and Monday after a two-week lull.

The Trump administration's steep tariffs on Chinese goods have prompted carriers to deeply slash sailings on Asia-U.S. routes, a sign of plummeting bookings. So far, freight rate indexes have not collapsed, suggesting that the carriers are pulling out ships quickly enough that slot supply is dropping as fast or faster than the drop in demand.

Grimaldi’s fire-damaged Conro Grande Brasile was towed from the Port of Antwerp, Belgium where it had laid for the past two months after a devastating fire in the English Channel. The hulk is being sent to scrapyards in Aliaga, Turkey for recycling, but before she left, she created one further incident in the port.

While recognizing the Trump administration softened the financial impact of its port fees on Chinese-built shipping for many carriers, the shipping industry was quick to respond raising serious concerns after the U.S. Trade Representative’s Office released the structure of the fees.

The Coast Guard has initiated the final of five planned phases of the service life extension program (SLEP) for Coast Guard Cutter Polar Star, the service’s sole operational heavy icebreaker. Polar Star arrived at Mare Island Dry Dock in Vallejo, California, on March 30 to begin the remaining SLEP activities.

Former FESCO co-owner and Board Chairman Andrei Severilov has opened a new venture targeting the West African freight market.

Less than a year after becoming the first port in Europe to offer shore power for large containerships, Hamburg, Germany is on track to complete the installation of shore power capabilities at all its terminals for large containerships.

The first large vessel designed to transport liquified carbon dioxide (LCO2) was launched in South Korea as the industry for the transport and storage of captured carbon begins to take shape. The vessels are being built for Greece’s Capital Maritime Group which in 2023 announced plans to expand into the developing market.

In a stunning move late on Wednesday, April 16, the U.S. Department of Interior announced it has ordered a stop to the construction of Equinor’s Empire Wind offshore wind farm.

The Swedish Maritime Accident Investigation Board released the details of its observations aboard a Chinese bulker accused of damaging undersea cables saying it cannot determine sabotage.

Offshore wind service provider IWS has significantly improved productivity across its CSOV fleet thanks to the unparalleled performance of MacGregor’s Horizon walk-to-work gangway.

Chinese officials touted the new class of CMA CGM containerships as the “world’s largest dual-fuel powered” containerships as the naming and delivery took place of the new CMA CGM Seine (220,000 dwt).

The first test steps were undertaken at the Port of Rotterdam to test the port’s capabilities for future ammonia bunkering operations. Rotterdam is the world’s second-largest bunker port and expects that ammonia-fueled vessels requiring bunkering will begin in 2026 or 2027.

The expansion of the European Union Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) to include the maritime industry has introduced significant financial and operational hurdles for all shipowners who are voyaging to or through EU ports.

Australian mining giant Fortescue and the Saverys family’s CMB.TECH signed a charter agreement which the companies are calling a landmark in the efforts to accelerate the deployment of ammonia-fueled vessels and the decarbonization of large, long-distance vessels.

Pakistan has welcomed a $2 billion investment from the global shipping giant Maersk. On Tuesday, Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif met with Robert Maersk, Chairman of the A.P Moller- Maersk board, who was on a business tour in the country. Sharif hailed the investment as a significant boost to Pakistan’s maritime sector.

American importers are beginning to delay or cancel orders in China due to the White House's new 145 percent tariff on Chinese goods - and some U.S. firms may even abandon import cargo on the dock because they can't afford to pay the extra duties, though the White House has promised an exemption for goods already in transit. 

The vessel was not identified, but would have been a small tanker, as it had a crew of six and was carrying 100,000 liters of fuel.  The ship was apprehended by patrol craft from the Nedsa’s Second Naval District, and was then taken to the district's home port of Bushehr.

On Wednesday, U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order containing new measures to support U.S. shipbuilding, centered on a new "Maritime Action Plan."

After the abrupt suspension of the Trump administration's "reciprocal" tariffs, markets in the U.S. and Asia soared upwards, regaining much of the losses posted over the past week. Only China remains subject to the White House's steep nation-by-nation tariff schedule, and its exporters now face a crippling levy of 125 percent.