Floater specialist BW Offshore and Prio Comercializadora, previously known as Petro Rio, have settled an arbitration case dating back to 2021.

In September 2021, Prio, then Petro Rio, filed a request for arbitration concerning the charter and services agreement for the FPSO Polvo against BW Offshore.

At the time, the Brazilian firm claimed that it overpaid the hire and requested $31m as compensation, including arbitration costs and fees.

In October 2021, BW Offshore responded by filing counterclaims primarily for unpaid invoices and demobilisation costs for approximately $30m. Back in 2023, the company claimed that it expected a resolution to this case either before the end of 2024 or in early 2025.

In an Oslo Bors filing on Thursday, BW Offshore stated that the arbitration between the two was settled before the issuance of a final award.

The two agreed to settle the case, led before the London International Court of Arbitration, via a confidential settlement agreement. As a result, BW Offshore will be awarded approximately $36m, which includes the costs of the arbitration.

United Arab Emirates-based jackup rig pure-play Shelf Drilling has received a contract termination from French giant TotalEnergies.

The company said it received a contract termination notice for the 2014-built Shelf Drilling Winner. The jackup was contracted to the Danish arm of the French major.

Under the notice and in accordance with the contract, the termination shall be effective in August 2025.  

The driller stated that the rig had “consistently delivered outstanding operational and safety performance while under contract with TotalEnergies”.

The rig’s contract was initially scheduled to conclude in August 2026, subject to two additional options to extend it further into late 2027.

However, following a thorough evaluation of the original schedule, TotalEnergies informed Shelf Drilling that the rig would be released in the summer of 2025 after the completion of the final scheduled well activities due to changes in the 2025 work program. Shelf Drilling will actively market the rig for future opportunities.

Taiwanese owner and operator U-Ming Marine Transport is expanding its fleet with a brace of capsize bulker newbuilds in China.

The subsidiary of the Far Eastern Group has signed up for 180,000 dwt vessels at Qingdao Beihai Shipbuilding, with delivery expected in 2028.

U-Ming said it is paying between $75m and $79m per newbuild.

U-Ming owns and operates nearly 80 ships, including those under construction and joint ventures. Most of the fleet comprises bulkers, but the company also trades in the VLCC, LR1, cement carrier and crew transfer vessel segments.

Most recently, the company signed up for a pair of ultramax bulker newbuildings at Oshima Shipbuilding and up to four capes at Hengli Heavy Industry.

“Everything is on the table,” commented a pumped-upPankaj Khanna in conversation with Splash yesterday on expansion plans following his ringing of the closing bell at the Nasdaq in New York, sealing long-held dreams to get his company listed. 

The CEO of Heidmar Maritime Holdings Corp merged with lifestyle brand portfolio company MGO Global earlier this year in order to get listed. 

Heidmar, with more than 60 tankers and bulkers under commercial management, first tried to go public via a merger with Home Plate Acquisition Corporation but dropped these plans in October 2023.

The company’s second attempt at a stock market listing was announced last June with the business combination initially expected to close late in the third quarter of 2024.

Khanna said the plan now was to grow and to look at mergers and acquisitions. Asked if owning ships was a possibility, Khanna replied: “Why not? Everything is on the table.”

Khanna started out as a cadet aged 18. His work ashore has seen him take on c-suite roles with Alba, Excel, Dryships, Ocean Rig, Pioneer Marine as well as seven years with Teekay.

The Trump administration has targeted Russian interests over grain theft from Ukraine used to support funding for the Houthis in Yemen. 

The US Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) yesterday added additional persons and companies to its sanction list as these were identified as entities supplying weapons, sensitive goods and stolen Ukrainian grain via an Iranian network to the Houthis. This also includes sanctions on the bulk vessel Zafar also known as AM Theseus.

Secretary of the treasury Scott Bessent said the sanctions were part of ongoing plans to degrade the Houthis’ ability to threaten the Middle East. The US has also been bombing Houthi strongholds for the past few weeks.

According to Lars Jensen, a shipping consultant who has been providing daily coverage of the Houthi attacks on merchant shipping via LinkedIn, today marks the 500th day of the Red Sea shipping crisis. Red Sea transits are still running 70% below trend and the diversions are generating 3% additional demand for shipping, according to data from Clarksons Research.  

Following reports of cable breakage and to strengthen the safety of Taiwan’s waters and key infrastructure, ships from Mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau are now required to go through longer port visit application processes to the island with the paperwork expected to take up to a month per vessel visit. Ships also flying the flags of Cameroon, Tanzania, Mongolia, Togo and Sierra Leone are also required to fill in the extra filings, many of which will be screened by Taiwanese security officials before being passed on to Taiwan’s Maritime and Port Administration.

Like in the Baltic, Taiwan has faced multiple attacks on its subsea infrastructure in recent months, largely from merchant ships dragging their anchors. 

The island blacklisted 52 Chinese-owned ships in January while Taiwan’s National Security Bureau has said ships which have previously been found to misreport information will be put on a list of ships for priority inspection at ports.

Moreover, if these ships enter within 24 nautical miles of Taiwan’s coast and are close to where undersea cables are, the coast guard will be dispatched to board them and investigate.

A ship accused at the end of February of damaging cables off Taiwan had a simple way of changing identity. 

The Togo-flagged Hongtai 68 was able to change its name many times as the crews simply replaced three steel plates (pictured) at its stern and on its bow whereby it has also recently traded as the Hongtai 58 and Shanmei 7.

The captain of the vessel – dubbed in local media as the ‘thousand faces ship’ – had on an earlier occasion been caught entering Taiwan with false documents.

At a time when Panamanian transport infrastructure is making regular headlines, Maersk’s ports arm APM Terminals has acquired the Panama Canal Railway Company (PCRC) from Canadian Pacific Kansas City and the Lanco Group/Mi‑Jack for an unspecified sum. 

PCRC operates a 76 km single-line railway adjacent to the Panama Canal that mainly facilitates cargo movement between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. In 2024, the PCRC generated revenue of $77m and $36m in EBITDA with much business coming from Maersk who used the rail link during last year’s drought in Panama that stifled traffic along the country’s canal.

“The Panama Canal Railway Company represents an attractive infrastructure investment in the region aligned to our core services of intermodal container movement,” said Keith Svendsen, CEO, APM Terminals. “The company is highly regarded for its operational excellence and will provide a significant opportunity for us to offer a broader range of services to the global shipping customers we serve.”

Panama has been constantly in the news following Donald Trump’s return to power in the US, with the American president vowing to wrest back control of the Central American nation’s canal, while Hong Kong’s CK Hutchison has included two Panamanian ports in its planned $22.8bn sale of its non-Chinese ports to BlackRock and Mediterranean Shipping Co (MSC), a transaction China is keen to prevent. 

Stena Line has unveiled a new concept roro vessel design. Dubbed the Stena Futuro, the vessel’s designers claim the ship can slash energy usage by at least 20%.

“The mission is to develop the most efficient and competitive vessel possible for a specific cargo capacity, using today’s available technology. The goal is for the vessel to have the lowest fuel consumption on the market,” said Nicolas Bathfield, project manager at Stena Teknik, who has been involved in developing the concept.

The sleek 240 m long vessel will have hybrid propulsion, batteries and engines with low fuel consumption that can run on several different fuels. Solar panels will also contribute to the ship’s electricity needs. The hull of Stena Futuro will also be equipped with an air lubrication system, where small air bubbles are released beneath the waterline to reduce friction between the vessel and the water. A waste heat recovery system will make it possible to reuse the hot exhaust gases from the ship’s engines to meet other onboard heating needs as well as supporting electric power generation.

The developed concept for Stena Futuro also includes four 40 m tall wing sails, which can be retracted when needed.

“We aim to help lead our industry in achieving the global climate goals. We work toward this every day in our ongoing operations, but we also need to be at the forefront in developing tomorrow’s vessels. The Stena Futuro concept is an important step in that direction,” said Niclas Mårtensson, CEO of Stena Line.