Indian offshore vessel operator Seamec has secured a long-term charter from Saudi-based Safeen Al Behar for the dive support vessel Seamec Swordfish.
The 2007-built DSV has been fixed for 730 days in a deal worth $57.4m.
The charter with extension options attached, will see the vessel utilised in Saudi and UAE waters from March.
Mumbai-based Seamec bought the vessel as Subtech Swordfish from UK marine service provider James Fisher and Sons for $24m in 2022. The unit had previously worked in the Middle East for contractors Zamil Offshore and Mermaid Subsea Services.
Germany’s Hapag-Lloyd has lined up financing for its 24-ship newbuilding spree signed off last year.
The Hamburg-based global carrier said the financing consists of four parts. Around $900 will be financed using the company’s own funds, $500m using bilateral mortgage loans from two banks, $1.8bn will be financed via three leasing structures, and $1.1bn through a syndicated credit facility backed by the China Export & Credit Insurance Corporation (Sinosure).
The 24 ships ordered last October for delivery between 2027 and 2029 will be built in China at Yangzijiang Shipbuilding and New Times Shipyard and equipped with the latest low-emission and fuel-efficient high-pressure LNG dual-fuel engines. The vessels can also be operated using biomethane and will be ammonia-ready.
The financing will be carried out based on Hapag-Lloyd’s Green Financing Framework, which in turn complies with the standards of the Green Loan Principles of the Loan Market Association (LMA).
The green financing covers around 80% of the investment volume, with maturities ranging between 10 and 18 years, the company said.
Once delivered, the ships will add about 312,000 teu of new capacity to the world’s fifth-largest liner.
“We are continuously modernising our fleet in order to deliver a high quality of service and to achieve our ambitious decarbonization goals,” said Mark Frese, chief of finance at Hapag-Lloyd., adding: “The successful conclusion of several attractive financial transactions confirms that green financing components are becoming increasingly important.”
More than 50 years in shipping is ending as Greek kamsarmax specialist Chronos Shipping is letting go of its last ship, the 2012 built, 81,000 dwt Patra, built at Japan Marine United. The bulker is noted to have been sold by several brokers who tie a price tag of just under $16m to the deal.
Last week, the Greek owner reportedly sold three Japanese-built eco kamsarmaxes to compatriot owners paying generously for Japanese-built eco kamsarmax tonnage, ships still in demand, despite uncertainty in the spot market.
The Chronos fleet has been sold piece by piece, with brokers reporting that a trio in the 10-year-old age bracket was sold last week. Two Sanoyas-built units were sold.
The 2015-built 82,000 dwt Athina 11 and the one year older, Volos, sold for $25m and $24m each, respectively while the Japan Marine United-built Kleisoura was noted sold for $28m. Several Greek accounts have been tied to theships including Sealestial, Sea Tribute, Polforce, and Brave Maritime.
Piraeus-based Chronos was founded in 1972, originally making a name for itself in the asphalt transport business, before moving into dry bulk in 2012.
European and American shipowners have pocketed at least $6.3bn from selling hundreds of ageing tankers on to shell companies, from where they make their way into the shadow fleet, a new probe carried out by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) and investigative journalists from Follow the Money has revealed.
The report tracks the sale of around 230 ships and how they often quickly changed names and flags on being sold, and then started to shift oil for Russia with some very well-known names in European shipping mentioned, especially out of Greece who accounted for more than half of the sales that ended up in the shadow fleet.
Direct sales of oil tankers to Russian entities are prohibited under European Union sanctions imposed in 2023. But indirect sales to companies from countries that are not participating in sanctions are not illegal. Follow the Money and its media partners identified at least 32 tankers of European owners that were sold into the shadow fleet after those rules came into effect at the end of 2023.
“More than a third of a shadow fleet of tankers transporting Russian oil consists of vessels that had previously been owned by shipowners from Western countries – the same countries that are sanctioning Russia because of its war of aggression against Ukraine,” the joint investigation states.
The number of vessels hit by sanctions surpassed 1,000 late last year with data from S&P Global Market Intelligence showing that more 800 of these ships do not have confirmed insurance. Moreover, the average age of sanctioned ships – 21 years – is some eight years older than the global average, adding to growing concern that the sprawling so-called shadow fleet could lead to multiple costly environmental catastrophes.
Despite slowing, the grey fleet is still growing by around 10 tankers a month, according to brokers BRS.
Nearly two in three vintage tankers carried Iranian, Venezuelan, or Russian cargoes last year, according to estimates from broker Gibson.
San Marino, Guyana, Sierra Leone, Comoro Islands, Guinea Bissau and most notably Guinea are the flag states that stand out for their extraordinary fleet growth in the latest data compiled in Clarksons Research’s World Fleet Monitor, statistics that highlight the whack-a-mole game authorities in the West are having to fight in their bid to crack down on the growing shadow fleet.
San Marino’s growth will likely raise questions within European circles – its fleet growing by 663% over the past 12 months to 1.1m gt.
Guyana in South America has also been making headlines in recent months, its fleet growing by 576% in the past year to 3.3m gt. The fleet is also notable for its average age, standing above 40 years old.
It is in Africa, however, where flag states have mushroomed the most in step with the growth of the shadow fleet – Sierre Leone up by 105%, the Comoro Islands by 104%, Guinea Bissau leaping by 340%, and most extraordinary of all, Guinea’s flag state growing by 99,094% over the past 12 months.
Another flag that has been in the news a great deal for its shadow fleet links, Barbados, saw its fleet grow by 177% in the past year, according to Clarksons data. Under pressure, the London-headquartered Barbados ship registry has said that by the end of January it will have asked a total of 46 ships to remove the country’s flag as a result of UK sanctions.
“Russia’s use of the so-called shadow fleet poses a particular threat to the maritime and environmental security in the Baltic Sea region and globally. This reprehensible practice also threatens the integrity of undersea infrastructure, increases risks connected to sea-dumped chemical munitions, and significantly supports funding of Russia’s illegal war of aggression against Ukraine,” noted a joint statement from the heads of state or government of Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Sweden last month.
Offshore support services provider Interocean Marine Services has won a three-year contract to provide marine vetting and assurance to the Morgan, Mona, and Morven offshore wind projects.
The three projects are being developed under a joint venture between energy giant BP and Energie Württemberg (EnBW).
Morgan and Mona are located in the Irish Sea approximately 22-37 km from the coast, covering a combined area of approximately 580 sq km.
Situated in the North Sea, approximately 60 km from the coast of Aberdeen, Morven spans an area of approximately 860 sq km, with water depths varying from 21 to 76 m.
With a total projected generating capacity of 5.9GW – enough to power the equivalent of around six million UK households annually – the three wind farms are expected to contribute to the UK’s target of 50GW of offshore wind capacity by 2030.
“As a UK headquartered company, we take immense pride in supporting initiatives that have the potential to enhance energy security and benefit local communities,” said Alex Reid, Interocean COO.
The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (NJBPU) has pulled the plug on the state’s fourth offshore wind solicitation due to the withdrawal of prospective bidders and Shell freezing its involvement with the Atlantic Shores offshore wind project.
There were three initial bidders in the fourth solicitation with two withdrawing and only Atlantic Shores submitted a best and final offer.
“A number of reasons led to this decision, notably Shell backing out as an equity partner in the Atlantic Shores project and backing away from the American clean energy market, as well as uncertainty driven by federal actions and permitting. The Board concluded that an award in New Jersey’s fourth offshore wind solicitation, despite the manifold benefits the industry offers to the state, would not be a responsible decision at this time,” said Christine Guhl-Sadovy, president of NJBPU.
The Board was initially supposed to announce its latest round of offshore wind power agreements in December but decided to wait for what would happen when president Donald Trump took over the White House.
One of his first moves on his first day as president was to sign an executive order stopping new offshore wind leases on the country’s outer continental shelf.
Through the order, the Interior Department was instructed to lead a review of the environmental impacts of offshore wind leasing in collaboration with the Energy, Agriculture, and Commerce departments. It also directs the review to analyze offshore wind’s effects on bird and marine mammal life.
However, these areas could still be considered for oil, gas or mineral extraction as well as environmental conservation.
American Clean Power Association CEO, Jason Grumet, said that the decision to cancel this offshore wind procurement is a direct consequence of the uncertainty created by the recently issued executive order.
“Each offshore wind project represents a multibillion-dollar investment in American infrastructure. While the merits of each project must be evaluated based on the economic and energy needs of state and local interests, US offshore wind represents the critical investment necessary to maintain our nation’s competitive energy advantage,” he said.
New Jersey approved three offshore wind developments which were supposed to be part of the solicitation round – Atlantic Shores southern project, Attentive Energy Two, and Leading Light Wind. There used to be four projects but Ørsted cancelled its Ocean Wind project in 2023.
But, considering these recent developments and the order signed by Trump, the consortium of TotalEnergies, Corio Generation, and Rise Light & Power pulled its Attentive Energy Two project from the bidding process, just as Invenergy and energyRe did for Leading Light.
Atlantic Shores has a different situation where Shell abandoned its involvement in the project and took a nearly $1b write-down on the project. Also, a proposal for a second Atlantic Shores project was declined by the Board. Despite all this, the other partner in the project, EDF, said it would be pushing forward with the already permitted project.
More pilot use is recommended in Gibraltar, according to a new accident report surrounding one of the most high-profile casualties to hit the British overseas territory in recent years.
On August 29 2022, the OS35 bulk carrier was departing the Bay of Gibraltar anchorage and collided with the LNG carrier Adam LNG. The impact caused a breach in holds two and three of the OS35, leading to the vessel’s controlled beaching to the east of Gibraltar, where it was subsequently dismantled with the ship becoming a feature of the tiny British territory’s coastline for many months.
The investigation found that the master and bridge team of the OS35 did not monitor the manoeuvre out of the Western Anchorage effectively and made an error in their understanding of the effects of the tidal flow and wind.
The Gibraltar Port Authority (GPA) has been recommended to consider introducing compulsory pilotage for vessels departing from the Western Anchorage.
Had a pilot been onboard the report suggests that the manoeuvre astern by the OS35 would not have been their chosen option for the location and conditions that were found on the day. Had the OS35’s turn to port been initiated as the anchor was being lifted there was sufficient sea room to continue moving ahead and turn to port to depart the anchorage to the west.
There was also suitable sea room to pass between the vessels ahead, which would have provided greater control of the vessel than by manoeuvring astern, where the manoeuvre is more difficult to control and monitor.
Flex LNG has set out to leave the Oslo Stock Exchange in favour of listing its shares solely in the US.
The Øystein Kalleklev-led company, backed by John Fredriksen, plans to present its plan for voluntary delisting from Oslo in May.
Flex, which also trades on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), said the move was driven by the relatively high costs of maintaining a dual listing, specifically the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and Central Securities Depository Regulation (CSDR), which would drive administrative costs of complying with dual reporting requirements.
The company with 13 LNG carriers in its fleet also noted that the majority of its trading takes place in the US and that loss of Oslo trading should be mitigated by NYSE’s plan to increase its trading hours.
“Having to deal with two sorts of regulations, which is quite costly in terms of consultants, auditors, and such, and given the fact that 95% of our trading today is on the NYSE…we have decided to propose to the board to delist in Oslo and save that money and focus on one set of requirements instead of having to deal with two conflicting sets of reporting,” Flex LNG chief executive Kalleklev told investors at the fourth quarter earnings presentation.
Amid escalating tensions in an ongoing trade dispute, the anticipated conversation between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping was scrapped yesterday and has yet to be rescheduled.
A tariff tit-for-tat has got underway between the world’s two largest economies with the US putting a blanket 10% levy on all Chinese imports, and Beijing responding, saying it will impose from next Monday a 15% tariff on LNG and coal imported from the US, as well as a 10% tariff on oil, agricultural machinery and large-displacement cars.
In the first month of the Trump administration, the president has threatened – and then dropped – tariffs against Colombia, Canada and Mexico. Only China has felt the wrath of American tariffs to date.
Judah Levine, head of research at box booking platform Freightos, said the recent tariff “drama” heightens the concern over how completely unpredictable and disruptive this second Trump administration may prove.
How seriously tariffs alter trade flows has been brought into question. Tariffs have been a feature of Trump’s first administration as well as by his successor, Joe Biden and yet data from Linerlytica shows loaded container imports into the US outpaced exports by 2.4 times in 2024, a statistic that analysts at Linerlytica said in a weekly report provides “clear evidence that import tariffs imposed since 2018 have been completely ineffective” in reducing the US trade imbalance.
Total laden imports grew by 24% between 2017 and 2024, the Linerlytica data shows, while laden exports shrunk by 8% over the same period, driving a 54% increase in the number of empty containers repositioned out of the US.
“Trump’s tariff wall might be a stage, but like walls to keep out migrants, it is difficult to achieve much in four years,” Martin Stopford, the world’s most famous maritime economist, told Splash in the wake of Trump’s election win last November.
In a conversation with Splash earlier, Khalid Hashim, managing director of Thailand’s largest dry bulk owner, Precious Shipping, said he was sanguine about Trump and tariffs.
“Trade flows under Trump 1.0 and Biden’s continuation and increasing Trump’s 1.0 into Biden 1.0, have increased, not decreased, trade flows into the US,” Hashim said. “If the past is any predictor of trade flows, then as we have seen all such disruptions tend to have an immediate, but extremely short-term impact, before leading to increased tonne-mile and increased trade.”
Looking at the tanker and dry bulk trades, broker Braemar has suggested China tariffs on US crude and coal imports are unlikely to impact tonne-miles.
The market stands to lose roughly three VLCCs per month of US crude to China, according to Braemar, but this slack is likely to be picked up by other importers in Northeast Asia.
Braemar
On coal, Braemar notes China’s customs data confirms that some 10.7m tonnes of coking coal were imported from the US in 2024, alongside 1.5m tonnes of thermal coal, a combined annual record. For context, however, total coal imports into China last year reached 543m tonnes.
Braemar
“For dry bulk commodities like coal, grains, and iron ore, we don’t anticipate major negative effects,” said Stamatis Tsantanis, chairman and CEO of capesize pure-play Seanergy Maritime.
“Ultimately, tariffs are just one factor; geopolitical events play an equally important role,” Tsantanis said. “The next six months will be critical as the current administration aims to end conflicts while implementing new trade policies. The outcome of these efforts, and how tariffs interact with global events, remains uncertain. Significant volatility is expected over the next three to six months as the market adjusts to the evolving landscape, making this a pivotal period for global trade and economic stability.”
In exchange the US would continue to provide Kiev with support in its conflict with Moscow
Kiev will have to supply Washington with rare-earth minerals if it wants to continue receiving American assistance, US President Donald Trump told journalists on Monday. Ukraine will need to enter a new agreement with the US, he added, calling it a “guarantee” for Washington.
According to the 2024 World Economic Forum report, Ukraine “holds immense potential as a major global supplier of critical raw materials” that could be “essential” for defense, high-tech and green energy industries. The nation boasts the largest titanium reserves in Europe, amounting to 7% of global reserves. Before the escalation of the conflict with Moscow in 2022, Ukraine was a key titanium supplier for military industries.
The list of rare-earth metals that can be found in Ukraine also includes beryllium, manganese, gallium, uranium, zirconium, graphite, apatite, fluorite, and nickel. The country also possesses Europe’s largest confirmed lithium reserves, estimated at 500,000 tons. The mineral is particularly important for use in batteries and accumulators.
“Ukraine has very valuable rare earths,” Trump told journalists on Monday. According to the president, the US was “handing them [Ukraine] money hand over fist” and wanted some “guarantees.”
“We are looking to do a deal with Ukraine where they are going to secure what we are giving to them with the rare earths and other things,” he added.
Last week, Trump halted all aid programs run by USAID, a soft-power agency that distributes billions of dollars each year for projects that promote US interests around the world under the premise of humanitarian development. The agency oversaw numerous aid schemes in Ukraine.
In response, Ukrainian MPs appealed to the EU to replace the lost American aid, calling foreign assistance “an important part of our path to democratic development and sustainability.” They also stated that Ukrainian recipients of American grants had been hit “worse than it may seem.”
Vladimir Zelensky told AP in an interview published on Sunday that Kiev had received just over $75 billion in military and other types of assistance from Washington. He was commenting on an earlier statement by Trump that the US had provided Kiev with “$200 billion [worth of assistance] more than the EU.” Zelensky claimed he had no idea where that estimate originated from or where the money could have gone.
Since 2022, the US Congress has authorized roughly $175 billion for Ukraine, but a significant portion of that funding has gone to American industries and various US government activities related to the conflict.
According to Germany’s Kiel Institute for World Economics, as of October 2024, the US had provided Ukraine with some $92 billion in financial and military assistance, while EU nations and the UK had allocated $131 billion.
