Norwegian authorities are warning global shipping about another fake maritime insurer.
RO Marine has been uncovered by NRK, Norway’s state broadcaster, to have been issuing forged insurance documents to help vessels within the shadow fleet sail around the world.
The company’s website claims it insures more than 250 vessels and that it is based in the same Oslo building as the Norwegian Shipowners’ Association.
Four people—a Russian, a Bulgarian, and two Norwegians—have been charged with forging documents and running an unauthorised insurance operation.
Fraudulent insurance companies have proliferated in step with the growth of the shadow fleet in the 2020s.
Last month, Sirius Mutual Protection & Indemnity Association was issued with a cease and desist notice from the US Mississippi commissioner of insurance.
As of today, 86% of the global merchant fleet is insured with the 12 P&I clubs that form the International Group, down from 95% before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine three years ago.
Similarly, the amount of tonnage classed by the established members of the International Association of Classification Societies (IACS) has dropped two percentage points over the past three years to 92%.
Over 5,000 vessels – equivalent to 14.5% of the global merchant fleet – operate under registries with less than 10% ratification of International Maritime Organization and the International Labour Organization conventions, increasing exposure to enforcement actions, according to new data from analytics firm Kpler.
“Flag risks are increasingly shaping maritime due diligence, impacting regulatory scrutiny, financial exposure, and operational integrity. The strategic use of high-risk flags in evasive practices, such as flag-hopping and shadow fleet operations, underscores the complexities of compliance in global shipping,” wrote Dimitris Ampatzidis, a risk and compliance analyst at Kpler, in a new report.
Sanctioned vessel operations have doubled since early 2023, according to Kpler, with more than 600 sanctioned vessels operating under high-risk flags.
It is evident many buyers and sellers may be waiting to hear the results of United States Trade Representative hearing this week pertaining to China’s maritime, logistics and shipbuilding sectors and this will also have a knock-on effect on owners and operators of Chinese-built tonnage.
“This could in effect create a two tier market for pricing, with perhaps Chinese vessels facing discounted prices versus Japanese and South Korean built vessels thereby obtaining premiums,” Gibson suggested.
The gathering momentum in the dry bulk freight market is encouraging a bolder approach from buyers.
“Certain sectors of the market look particularly threadbare of candidates which suggests that prices will have to rise to tempt more sellers to come forward,” Hartland noted.
Prices for vintage capesize bulkers are rising notably, as spot rates are up around 300% in a month.
Lila Global bought a pair of 2006-built capes, the 172,000 dwt Maran Sailor and Maran Odyssey, for $19m each. In comparison, Nasdaq-listed Greek owner OceanPal sold a one-year older sister ship in January for $16.2m to China’s Rongchang Shipping.
Norwegian dry bulk operator Western Bulk Chartering locked in about $1.5m profit from the sale of a 2020-built ultramax picked up by exercising a purchase option. The Oslo-listed company has offloaded the Western Singapore to Thai bulker owner Precious Shipping for $28m.
In tankers, VLCC prices continue to firm in tune with brokers’ forecasts of higher rates for ships trading outside the dark fleet. Brokers note buyers are willing to pay a premium for tonnage of reputable propriety for lucrative, compliant trading.
New York-listed DHT sold a 2011-built VLCC, with broking sources indicating that the 320,000 dwt DHT Lotus, built by Bohai Shipbuilding Heavy Industry, fetched close to $55m.
Alleria Shipping, a Hong Kong-registered company, sold the 2009-built, 296,481 dwt Yinghao Spirit, a Bohai Shipbuilding Heavy Industry-built ship, for $52m to undisclosed Middle Eastern buyers.
Nasdaq-listed Greek tanker owner and operator Performance Shipping nearly doubled its money by selling one of its aframaxes. The Andreas Michalopoulos company has offloaded the 2011-built P Yanbu for $39m after picking up the 105,400 dwt vessel in late 2020 for $22m.
Container shipping is in a curious position. Spot rates have been falling all year, with some analysts forecasting profits for the sector will slide by more than 80% this year, and yet the sale and purchase scene remains busy.
Containership utilisation slipped below 90% this month on many of the sector’s biggest tradelanes, while the gap between box freight rates and charter rates has hit an all-time high..
“Continued softening in the spot market comes against a backdrop of weaker than usual volumes post-Lunar New Year, increased competition between liner companies amid alliance restructuring, and widespread uncertainty brought about by an ongoing series of tariff announcements from the US and its trading partners,” commented Clarksons Research in a weekly report.
Despite all this, Alphaliner noted that in the secondhand market: “Prices remain firm, particularly for the quality units.”
Headline transactions include CMA CGM’s acquisition of the 2009-built 4,255 teu Debussy from UK-based Borealis Maritime for around $31m, while MPC Container Ships sold the 1,341 teu Franziska as well as the 1,296 teu Fabiana to Sea Consortium for $21m en bloc.
Donald Trump’s so-called maximum pressure on Iran’s oil business is squeezing the number of compliant VLCCs, pushing utilisation for supertankers into the sweet spot 90% territory.
In his first two months back in power, Trump has issued four rounds of sanctions against Iran, including many tankers, a Chinese refinery in China and even a ship that was bound for demolition in Bangladesh.
The VLCC fleet now includes 111 sanctioned tankers, of which 37 were added starting in late 2024 under President Biden and 17 over the past two months under Trump.
“Capacity utilization in the VLCC fleet continues to push closer to 90% and spot rates have responded,” Jefferies noted in a recent report, up from 83% six months ago.
“We think that the sanctions on Iran’s shadow fleet could benefit compliant VLCC as supply tightens,” HSBC stated earlier this month.
“Sanctioned ships may be forced out of rotation, potentially tightening vessel availability,” Braemar forecast, noting how in January and February this year, the 101 tankers sanctioned by the US in 2024 for their involvement in Iranian oil markets had loaded just nine cargoes, all of them Iranian oil.
“Iran could face more challenges selling its oil, even at a steep discount. A reduction in Iranian exports create opportunities for other Middle Eastern or West African exporters to expand sales. Everything else being equal, this will boost employment opportunities for mainstream VLCCs,” Poten & Partners suggested.
In his first term, Trump withdrew the US from the Iran nuclear deal and reimposed a full embargo on Iran’s crude oil exports in 2019. As a result, Iran’s crude oil shipments collapsed from 2.5m barrels per day in the first half of 2018 to 250,000 barrels per day. During the Biden administration, sanctions were not as strictly enforced and Iranian exports gradually recovered.
Dry Bulk
Iron ore exports out of Africa are set to be one of the great growth drivers of global seaborne trades for the rest of the 2020s, new research from broker SSY shows.
Guinea’s Simandou mine alone is set to deliver 60m tonnes of iron ore in its first full year, with production, due to start in 2025, expected to double to 120m tonnes the following year, according to Guinea’s Mines and Geology minister. The project is expected to contribute to 10% of China’s seaborne iron ore demand annually.
Just 200 km away, Ivanhoe Atlantic’s Kon Kweni project is expected to produce up to 5m tonnes of iron ore when its first phase opens next year, with second phase expansion expected to see this figure rise up to 30m tonnes a year.
“Beyond these larger mines, Africa is bustling with smaller yet promising projects,” SSY said in a monthly markets update, noting Genmin’s Baniaka project and Fortescue’s Belinga project, both in Gabon, as well as ArcelorMittal’s Western Range expansion in Liberia, and Jindal Africa’s project in Namibia.
“As West Africa’s mines muscle out higher-cost producers elsewhere, particularly in Australia, the global trade map for iron ore is set for a redraw,” SSY suggested, something could see a “notable uptick” for capesize tonne-mile demand.
“On the panamax front, Liberia’s newfound iron ore wealth could reshape Europe-bound trade flows, potentially displacing high-cost Canadian exports,” SSY added.
Containers
Containership utilisation has slipped below 90% on many of the sector’s biggest tradelanes, while the gap between box freight rates and charter rates hit an all-time high this month.
Data from Linerlytica shows boxship utilisation on three of the four main tradelanes has fallen below 90%. Splash Extra estimates suggest that at today’s freight rates, liners can remain profitable with utilisation at 80%. However, rates have been falling all year long, with a huge volume of newbuilds entering service.
“The unabated demand for ships is keeping the charter market high despite the freight market slump,” Linerlytica noted in a recent weekly report, noting how the charter to freight rate ratio has reached a record high of 289%.
“If cargo demand fails to rebound to drive a freight rate rally, a charter market correction could be due soon,” Linerlytica warned.
“If carriers fail to stabilise freight rates, we could see an increase in surplus tonnage being released into the market,” broker Braemar suggested in a container briefing published yesterday.
Liner shipping profits are forecast to slide by more than 80% this year.
Analysts at Sea-Intelligence have calculated that the container shipping industry made a combined EBIT last year of $60bn, the third-highest figure recorded in the history of the business, and the highest outside the covid era.
One leading container markets analyst, John McCown, who runs New York-based Blue Alpha Capital, is expecting the liner sector to remain in the black this year, albeit with profits sliding to below $10bn.
Container spot rates have been on a constant slide in 2025. The overall Shanghai Containerized Freight Index is now down nearly 50% since the start of the year.
Prices on Asia to North Europe, Asia to the Mediterranean, and on the transpacific to the US west and east coasts are now all lower than at any point in time in 2024, according to data from Drewry.
However, comparing spot rates now to the level seen in mid-December 2023 just before the Red Sea shipping crisis, Asia to North Europe remains up by more than 70%, Asia to the Mediterranean remains up more than 90%, while voyages across the Pacific to both the west and east coasts are still up by more than 40% compared to the lows experienced towards the end of 2023.
Alarm bells are ringing though as Asia to US spot rates have fallen below long term contract rates, something Peter Sand, chief analyst at Xeneta said was another clear sign of a weakening market in 2025.
“The last time spot rates fell below long term rates on the fronthauls from the Far East to US was August 2023 following the massive post-covid market collapse,” Sand said.
The transpacific Trump bump was always going to end and so it has come to pass. With Chinese exporters in the cross-hairs, a box loading in Shanghai today no longer can arrive in the US before April 2, the date Trump has designated ‘Liberation Day’ when he will impose as yet unspecified extra tariffs on imports.
The freight rate for shipping a feu from Shanghai to Los Angeles plunged in March, down by half in four weeks as of March 21, at $2,238, including a 7% fall in the last seven days. On the all-water service via Panama to the US east coast, rates are down by 41% over the four weeks to March 21, at $3,343, a level last seen in early January 2024. The potential for future disruption remains severe, following Trump’s repeated assertions on March 4 (after Hutchison sold its ports to BlackRock) that the US will take control of the Panama Canal, to add to its new imperial domains of Canada, Greenland, Gaza, bits of Ukraine and maybe even the UK.
The Asia-Europe freight rate has halved during 2025
Liner companies are turning their attention to the proposed increase in US port charges for Chinese built, owned or operated container ships. The charges will hit smaller ships harder, so the independent operators who have been running sub-panamax vessels on cut-price transpacific voyages will presumably reposition any Chinese tonnage to other routes. The charges per port call for COSCO vessels in the trade will be high enough to make the voyage uneconomic. The consequence could include reduced tonnage on transpacific services to the US, more port calls in Canada and Mexico instead, and higher freight rates. These unintended consequences will surely lead to further UPPER CASE YELLING in tweets from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington DC.
As Israel’s Gaza ceasefire ends and the Houthis and the US return to hostilities in the Red Sea, it is becoming clear that the Suez Canal route from Asia to Europe remains effectively closed. Liner companies may actually be relieved as the extra sailing time round the Cape of Good Hope soaks up surplus tonnage deployed on the route. As we reported last month, the newbuilding frenzy in liner shipping continues as owners continue to renew fleets to meet future environmental benchmarks and regulations.
Meanwhile, the Asia-Europe freight rate has halved during 2025, collapsing from $5,558 on January 3 to $2,565 on March 21. The Asia-Med rate has fallen less, reflecting longer voyage times, but is still down from $5,630 at the start of 2025 to $3,259 on March 21, including a 14% fall since March 14, the biggest weekly drop since April last year.
In the Atlantic, rates from Europe to the US east coast remain flat at $2,130 per feu, while the rate on the reverse route was unchanged on the week to March 21 at $547 per feu but down 13% over four weeks. Transatlantic trade is heading for massive disruption as Trump asserts that the EU was formed “for the sole purpose of taking advantage of the United States” and that if the EU tries to fight back against his tariffs by refusing to import US goods, “we just go cold turkey; we don’t buy anymore. And if that happens, we win.” And lose billions in US exports to the EU as well, but that isn’t part of the logic.
In addition to the EU ETS and proposed US port fees, liner shipping faces increased charges for environmental management. Even tiny amounts of soil adhering to shipping containers can contain potentially invasive bacteria, viruses or insects. The Sea Container Focus Group, established to work on solutions to invasive species hitch-hiking on shipping containers, says that the problem is causing billion so of dollars of financial losses globally. Its chair, Gregory Wolf, claims that infestations of pests and disease could “wreak devastation on regional ecosystems” before identification and remedial action can be taken.
According to the Freightos Global Average of containerised freight rates, the world-wide average cost of shipping a 40 foot container stood at $2,094 on March 21. That is a 6% reduction on a week previously, a 31% reduction on four weeks previously, and 51% lower than at the beginning of 2025. If there is a global average of container shipping costs covering ports, environmental costs and tariffs, it is surely going in the other direction. In the end, the biggest importers (hello US) will end up burdening the largest proportion of the increase.
US president Donald Trump has announced that April 2 will be Liberation Day when he imposes trade tariffs on countries which have tariffs or barriers on US goods. He has said some nations or blocs might be excused but with only 10 days to go, no details are as yet available. Dry bulk commodity traders, with one eye on what buyers of containerised freight did in 2024, have sprung into action and have been securing supplies of iron ore, bauxite, agriproducts, steel and timber before the next phase of the Trump trade wars kicks off.
Meanwhile, the Chinese leadership announced a 5% GDP growth target for 2025 and trailed measures to get the Chinese population consuming more. It is surely only a matter of time before we see helicopter cash falling onto Chinese high streets.
This has been good news for dry bulk freight markets. The Baltic Dry Index improved by an eye-catching 67% in March, reaching 1,643 points. The last time it exceeded 1,600 points was in November 2024, on the way down. The Baltic Capesize Index spiked to a peak of 2,893 on March 13 and as of March 21 was at 2,676, a full 170% higher than on February 21. Amid rising excitement around capesizes shipping bauxite from West Africa to China, it was the old faithful Australia-China voyage which enjoyed the biggest uptick in activity and freight prices, with daily TCEs from Port Hedland to Qingdao trampolining from $2,159 per day on February 12 to $33,291 on March 13, only to fall back to $21,737 on March 21. Brazilian exports ramped up too, with daily TCEs rising from $7,400 per day on February 12 to $25,918 on March 13, and still holding up at $25,482 on March 21.
We will see helicopter cash falling onto Chinese high streets
Good news was around in the panamax freight markets. The daily TCE from Santos to Qingdao, a common agriproducts voyage, followed a firm February with a further 13% rise in March to reach $13,529, a level last seen in October 2024. The parallel voyage from Mississippi to Qingdao added 11% to reach $17,612. US farmers were used to selling up to $2bn of grain to USAID every year but the government has cancelled the business, forcing farmers to scramble to sell product to any buyer they can find. Chinese buyers have been happy to take US wheat at four year low prices, with analysts saying the bottom has fallen out of the market for US grains futures since February. Panamaxes were being attracted to the US from Northeast Asia, with the round voyage daily TCE improving by 14% to $13,913 over 30 days to March 21.
Panamaxes sailing from Northeast Asia to Northwest Europe enjoyed a 31% uplift in earnings in the 30 days to March 21, with rates restored to a more usual $7,784 per day after a very weak first two months of the year.
The Atlantic panamax markets also enjoyed the increase in activity in March, with the daily TCE for a kamsarmax sailing from Skaw-Passero to the US east coast and back laden, adding 37% over the month to March 21 to sit at $10,105 per day. Overall the P5 timecharter average is up 18% in a month to $12,379.
A combination of seasonality and pre-tariff fixing helped supramax earnings to improve from an average of $7,746 per day in February to $9,541 in the first three weeks of March. The North China to Australia round voyage TCE went up by 15% to a tidy $14,250 per day. Voyages from South China to load coal in Indonesia and return saw a 21% TCE increase to $12,550 between February 21 and March 21. Ships fixed from the Indian Ocean to load coal in South Africa for China discharge enjoyed a 26% increase in daily TCEs between the same dates to $11,221. On the return voyage, leaving China to load coal in Indonesia for discharge on the east coast of India, rates added 31% to reach $14,694. In the west, the market was more muted. Trips out from the Black Sea to China lost 3%, hovering at $12,000 exactly on March 21. Trips out from the US Gulf via Panama rose 3% to $16,832. Rates on the Europe to US Gulf voyage rose 7% to a still mediocre $8,050 per day.
It is perhaps counter intuitive then that the daily TCE for a 38,000 dwt handysize bulk carrier voyage from Northwest Europe to the US Gulf went up by 23% over 30 days to March 21, to a supramax-beating $9,057 per day. Perhaps this was in part due to the increase in tonnage heading from Northwest Europe to South America, leading to a 14% increase in daily TCEs to $6,850 per day. Rates on the reverse voyage lost 6% to land at $14,033 per day while rates from the US Gulf to Europe added 2% to hang around at $10,893 per day. In the east, the Southeast Asia round voyage added 14% to hit $10,850 per day on March 21, while the Northeast Asia round voyage TCE went up 21% to a daring $11,563 per day. Even the North China to Southeast Asia voyage added 20% to reach $11,325 per day.
So far 2025 is shadowing 2023 – no bad thing, but will the market’s usual seasonal peak appear in April and May? Once again, unforecastable policy will have an outsized say in freight outcomes.
Tariffs on, tariffs off, tariffs on, tariffs off… the world’s traders are dancing the commodity hokey-cokey to the hurdy-gurdy daily churn of US trade and foreign policy. The one conclusion that everyone can agree on is that life is going to become more expensive in the coming few years as the cost of doing business with the US, or in US dollars, goes up. Tanker owners have caught up with the idea that they may be on the hook for the egregious port surcharges that the US may impose on operators calling at US ports with Chinese owned or built oil tankers.
S&P brokers are salivating at the potential shuffling of the global tanker fleet as some owners with significant US business but significant Chinese content in their fleets may seek to substitute in ships built in, say, Japan or South Korea. Careful, lads: there is no guarantee that the Dept of Trade’s Tariff Eye of Sauron will not alight on vessels built in other countries in due course. After all, we are still not yet three months into this US presidency; there is plenty of time yet before the MAGA Republicans get destroyed in the mid-terms.
As the US EIA publishes data showing that US shale oil production is peaking and will probably decline after 2026, we will let wiser heads answer the question, how quickly can the US build enough oil tankers to manage its future oil imports and exports?
Elsewhere, the demand and supply balance of oil markets is pointing to oversupply and lower prices. In China, Sinopec has announced a 16% fall in profits blaming a nationwide fall in demand not just for transport fuel but also for petrochemicals, which were supposed to be the key future driver of Chinese oil demand. Sinopec’s chemicals unit operating loss widened by 66% to RMB10b ($1.38bn). CNOOC and PetroChina will report on March 27 and 30.
OPEC+ has announced plans to rein in quota-busting overproduction particularly in Iraq, Kazakhstan and Russia (good luck with that guys). Trump is doing his part to help by tightening US sanctions on Iranian oil production and oil tankers and asking Russia for help in stopping Iran’s nuclear weapon programme. Good luck with the anti-proliferation scheme as Poland, German, South Korea and Japan are thinking seriously about acquiring their own ultimate deterrents.
As oil prices bottomed out earlier in March with WTI going as slow as $66.03 before recovering to over $68.20, crude oil and refined products tanker markets lifted shipowners’ sentiment via higher day rates. Over 30 days to 21 March, the Baltic Dirty Tanker Index improved 9% to 990 points, while the Baltic Clean Tanker Index rose 18% to 848 points, its highest level since last July.
Assessed time charter equivalents on the US-China VLCC route slipped from around $43,000 per day in late February to a low of $36,654 on March 12 before recovering to $43,446 on March 21. Brisker fixing on the Middle East to China voyage led to a 12% improvement in rates between February 21 and March 21, to $46,589, though the market peaked two days earlier at $52,126.
Suezmaxes continue to be the darlings as rates on the shiny new Guyana to ARA route gained 19% to $39,922 over 30 days to March 21, via a peak of $42,913 four days earlier. The more mature cross Med route added 11% to a comfortable $42,923 while the Dangota-defying WAF to UKC voyage added 13% to reach a commendable $40,975.
Aframaxes were more muted, as a range of regional differences cancelled each other out. Recent excitement on North Sea- Germany discharge dissipated in the Spring sunshine as rates lost 11% to land at $25,230, though afras loading from North Sea platforms to discharge in the UK added 30%, rising to a stonking $62,939. In the Middle East, ships loading in Kuwait for Singapore discharge enjoyed a 9% increase over the 30 days to March 21 when the TCE was assessed at $33,735.
In defiance of tariffs, aframaxes loading in the US Gulf for ARA discharge enjoyed a steady improvement in earnings in March adding 11% by the 21st to an assessed $35,548 a day. The star performer however was the Singapore to Australia voyage which added 48% to recover from lows of around $21,000 a day in February to $31,045 on March 21, as Aussies booked their Easter holidays in Bali and airlines filled up on jetfuel. The MR tanker sector enjoyed that trend too, with rates from Singapore to the Aussie east coast up 14% at $23,034 and the TCE from South Korea to Australia up 10% to $20,334.
Oil products tanker markets followed up a volatile February with a glamorous March. the benchmark LR2 voyage from the Middle East to Japan spiked by 69% over the month to March 21, reaching a tidy $38,714 via a peak of $40,100 on March 18. Daily TCEs for LR1s on the same voyage rose 68% to $29,844 on March 21 via a peak of $30,028 a day earlier.
TCEs for LR2s on the voyage from the Mid East to UK/Cont added 61% over the same period to achieve a tasty $42,076, while LR1 earnings for that voyage rose 62% to $33,779. The MR Atlantic basket added 26% to reach $28,283 on March 21, while the Pacific basket rise faster, by 30% to $24,317.
All in all, March has been a rewarding month for tanker owners.
Li Ka-shing’s CK Hutchison reached a blockbuster mega deal with BlackRock and Mediterranean Shipping Co (MSC) to sell 80% of its giant ports division for $22.8bn in a record-breaking ports transaction that covers 43 ports comprising 199 berths in 23 countries. The deal has been viewed very poorly in Beijing.
CMB.TECH, the shipowning vehicle controlled by the Saverys family, bought a 40.8% stake in Golden Ocean, one of Europe’s largest dry bulk owners, from John Fredriksen’s Hemen Holding for close to $1.2bn. Shortly after his exit, Fredriksen flagged a fresh play in the bulkers arena at Greece-based giant Star Bulk Carriers with a filing to the US Securities and Exchange Commission showing that Fredriksen-affiliated companies own 11.8m shares in the Nasdaq-listed comany, corresponding to a 10.7% ownership stake.
Shipping is closely watching a public hearing in Washington DC this week as the US deliberates hitting owners of Chinese-built tonnage with hefty extra charges for any call to American ports, a ruling president Donald Trump will decide on in the coming days, and one which could redraw the global seaborne trading map.
Houthi media
The majority of the global merchant fleet is expected to keep away from the Red Sea for the foreseeable future as the security situation in the region worsens. The Israeli military has carried out extensive strikes along the Gaza Stripafter talks to extend the ceasefire failed to reach an agreement. It was the largest wave of strikes to hit Gaza since the ceasefire began on 19 January. The Houthis are expected to head back on to more of a war footing at sea following Israel’s decision to end the ceasefire in Gaza, and renewed strikes hitting Yemen from the American military. Houthi leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi said his militants will target US and Israeli ships in the Red Sea again.
Peace talks brokered by the US between Russia and Ukraine occupied headlines for much of the month. The two warring nations continued their three-year war however with Barbados-flagged bulk carrier MJ Pinar hit by Russian missiles at the port of Odesa on March 11 with four crew killed, and another injured. As we went to press, a tentative Black Sea ceasefire appeared to have been agreed upon.
Japanese finance and trading house Orix Corporation bought 70% of Sojitz Shipping from parent Sojitz with the shipping subsidiary set to change name to Somec Corporation. Shoei Kisen, a member of the Imabari Shipbuilding Group that handles ship leasing, will also invest in Somec, and Sojitz will continue to hold a small portion of the shares and participate in its management.
South Korea’s Hanwha Group took a 9.9% stake in Australian shipbuilder Austal almost a year after it proposed a full takeover. Both companies are keen to expand US operations at a time when new president Donald Trump is looking to resuscitate American shipbuilding.
Japanese shipowner Mitsui OSK Lines (MOL) is buying LBC Tank Terminals, one of the world’s largest independent tank terminal operators primarily handling and storing chemicals in Europe and the US. The acquisition of the Dutch firm will cost $1.72bn.
Container leasing giant Triton agreed to acquire Global Container International (GCI) in a deal valued at more than $1bn, including outstanding debt. The transaction, expected to close during the first half of 2025, will add about 500,000 teu to Triton’s world’s largest fleet of 7m containers.
The 140 m long Solong containership, owned by Hamburg-based Ernst Russ, hit the 183m long Stena Immaculate tanker while anchored near Hull on the east coast of the UK, rupturing at least one of its cargo tanks containing jet fuel and triggering a huge fire with one seafarer reported dead.
Wily, shady entrepreneurs are scanning world maps to seek ever more distant outposts to establish ship registers to help grease the flows of the dark fleet. France and The Netherlands have submitted a paper to the International Maritime Organization’s legal committee about the emergence of two new shipping flags with questionable credentials, one in the Caribbean and the other, a disputed, uninhabited volcanic island in the South Pacific. The submission hits out at what is described as the “fraudulent” registers of Sint Maarten and Matthew Island.
It seems like Maersk has gone from “All the Way to Zero” to “All the Way to Lowest Fuel Costs”. It’s zero slogan has been emblazoned on methanol dual-fuelled ships coming out of South Korea for the past couple of years, but the Danish carrier now looks to have bowed to economics, turning to a fuel that it had previously eschewed.
Like the great scrubber debate six or seven years ago, Maersk, previously a vocal opponent of both LNG and exhaust gas cleaning tech, has had a change of heart, in step with much of the industry, with LNG now dominating the alternative fuel orderbook.
Morten Bo Christiansen, senior vice president and head of energy transition at Maersk, said in a LinkedIn post: “The math applied in current fuel standard proposals has an unintentional consequence; it is not fuel-agnostic and financially it heavily favors LNG, a fossil fuel. The consequence of this could be that pay-to-pollute financially becomes the most attractive fuel strategy and that we materially delay the development of the much needed low-emission fuel supply chains.”
Christiansen said the fuel standard maths make the principle of pay-to-pollute the financially most attractive strategy for most shipping companies for the next decades.
According to the latest figures from DNV’s Alternative Fuels Insight (AFI) platform, 34 new orders for alternative-fuelled vessels were placed last month of which 33 were LNG.
Jason Stefanatos, global decarbonisation director at DNV Maritime, commented: “LNG remains the headline story, with a clear continuation of the trend towards these vessels evident since mid-2024. Again, this is being driven by the container segment, highlighting the importance of the voluntary market in driving maritime decarbonization.”
Based on vessels already in the orderbook, the number of LNG vessels in operation is set to almost double by the end of the decade, and the need for supporting LNG bunkering infrastructure is intensifying.
A couple of years back on this page, I stated methanol was the clear leading fuel of the future. How wrong I was!
Maritime executives in Hong Kong are putting a brave face on the exodus of ships from its shipping register as shipowners take fright over the growing rift between China and the Donald Trump-led US.
Another 12 ships left the Hong Kong flag last month, the register now down by more than 200 vessels over the past four years with the majority of ships being reflagged to Singapore, Panama, Liberia and the Marshall Islands.
Hong Kong’s shipping registry grew dramatically following the territory’s reunification with China in 1997 to become the fourth largest in the world, but in recent years the city has attracted plenty of criticism and sanctions from Washington DC for its role in aiding the so-called dark fleet. With Trump’s return to the White House and a perceived further downturn in relations between the US and China, prominent shipowning names have decided to relocate some of their ships to ensure they are not caught up in any trade war.
The Hong Kong Shipowners Association (HKSOA) sought to play down the political nature of the reflagging decisions when contacted by Splash Extra.
“While we recognise recent shifts in tonnage, it is important to distinguish between short-term market adjustments and long-term strategic positioning,” the HKSOA said in an emailed statement.
The shipowners body pointed out that while there has been a net decrease of 273 ships from 2020 to 2024, the total gross tonnage has actually increased by 4.3m, signalling a shift toward larger vessels.
“It is natural for ship registries to experience fluctuations, particularly in a highly competitive and geopolitically dynamic landscape,” the HKSOA said, arguing that to frame the tonnage shift as purely a result of political tensions would be oversimplifying the reality of commercial decision-making in a complex global industry.
The HKSOA maintained many shipowners are diversifying their flagged fleets across multiple jurisdictions—not just in response to geopolitical risks but also for regulatory, tax, and operational efficiency reasons.
“It is a shame that the Hong Kong Shipping Registry whose services are excellent when compared with those of various other registries – and I say this from experience – is being challenged by politics in this way,” commented Rosita Lau, a partner at Ince & Co Hong Kong, and long-term champion of the city’s maritime credentials
Japanese conglomerate Marubeni has acquired a 25.1% stake in offshore wind service vessel provider Windward Offshore
Windward Offshore, which has a fleet of four CSOVs under construction at VARD shipyards, entered a partnership with Marubeni several months after securing a senior loan facility of up to €182m ($196m).
The company also launched its first vessel CSOV, Windward Athens, last month. It will be delivered in September this year.
The sale of the stake to Marubeni raised new equity to fund the future growth of Windward. Marubeni already has a strong presence in the global energy sector and is the developer of offshore wind projects in Europe and Japan.
“We believe that Marubeni is a perfect complement to our existing group of shareholders, and we appreciate the diverse opportunities they bring to Windward. Marubeni’s expertise, network and financial strength will be invaluable as we continue to develop our portfolio and expand our footprint in the offshore wind industry,” said Bastian Hagebeuker, managing director of Windward Offshore.
