News

Continuing its strategy to pressure Iran, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced the latest round of sanctions. The newest targets are a network of nearly two dozen companies, which the U.S. contents are mostly fronts or in support of Iran’s Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics to provide funds through the transport and sale of oil products to China. 

The International Transport Intermediaries Club (ITIC) is highlighting how it stepped in to aid one of its customers when a simple oversight racked up large fees. The provider of professional indemnity insurance settled a claim that it acknowledges was a lack of communication that led to a simple oversight.

Plans were announced laying the groundwork for the creation of a transshipment hub in the Dominican Republic. It comes at a critical time as shippers consider steps to manage the Trump policies ranging from tariffs to port fees for Chinese-built ships. 

The Russian government mapped out its ambitious plans to modernize and expand its national fleet to counter the impact of foreign sanctions and restrictions. The shipbuilding industry is one of the hardest hit by the restrictions on exports of advanced technology and machinery to Russia since the start of the war in Ukraine.

In what appears to be a surprise development in the two-year-old case related to the damage of a gas pipeline in the Baltic, China on Thursday charged the captain of the containership suspected in the incident with a criminal charge related to the incident.

Worn-out mooring lines that were not replaced on time are being called the reason a US-flagged cargo RoRo broke free from its dock and out-of-control hit a pier and dry dock at the Port of Bremerhaven in Germany.

The Getting to Zero Coalition, a non-profit focusing on decarbonization of the maritime industry, released its first benchmarking as a tool to assess and document the collective actions of members.

Maersk, the largest publicly-traded container carrier and logistics company, cited the “increasingly volatile environment,” telling investors that it expects volume growth in the global container market will slow and possibly even be negative in 2025.

Yemen's Houthi rebels may have agreed to a ceasefire with the United States, but it appears to be off to a less-than-friendly start. On Wednesday, a Houthi spokesman said that the group had attacked the carrier USS Harry S. Truman on the day of the ceasefire announcement, causing the loss of a $60 million F/A-18 Super Hornet strike fighter.

Berge Bulk has become the latest ship owner to begin to test an onboard carbon capture system. Interest continues to grow in the technology as a means of maintaining the economic life of in-service vessels as the new emissions regulations emerge, as well as a possible approach for newbuilds during the period of uncertainty and lack of supply for alternative fuels.

Denmark’s Scandlines is anticipating the delivery of its newest ferry which is completing trials and certification in Turkey. When the hybrid-electric vessel enters service later this year it will be the first the line had that is capable of operating in a fully zero-emission mode.

In a development Wärtsilä calls a breakthrough in decarbonization, the company has announced the commercial launch of its much-anticipated onboard carbon capture system. Wärtsilä reports successful trials at sea and at its plant in Norway, and says the ability to capture CO2 from ship exhaust systems will have a major impact on the industry’s efforts to reduce GHG emissions.

Last year's Gaza floating-pier mission was even more fraught than previously reported, according to a new investigation by the Pentagon's independent inspector general's office. In addition to the servicemember who was killed in an accident during cargo operations, 62 people were injured in unspecified incidents, the IG found.

Polish authorities confirmed that a deal has been reached and pending final documentation a derelict Russian-owned product tanker will finally be departing after more than seven years at the dock in Gdynia.

HD Hyundai and A.P. Moller – Maersk have agreed to expand their long-term working relationship to jointly develop future decarbonization solutions for vessels while HD Hyundai will expand its use of Maersk’s integrated logistics services across its affiliates.

The Trump administration has decided to implement a mutual ceasefire with Yemen's Houthi rebels, President Donald Trump announced in a press conference Tuesday. He said that U.S. bombing runs over Yemen would cease "effective immediately," and that he would take the Houthis "at their word" that they would cease attacking American shipping.

A small vessel issued a distress call shortly after midnight local time off Malta on May 2 reporting that it was on fire and claiming it was under attack by drones. The activist group Freedom Flotilla Coalition which is campaigning to free Gaza quickly reported it was their vessel named Conscience on a humanitarian mission to Gaza.

The first monthly data has appeared since the major container carrier alliances began to shift, and it is showing a positive impact on schedule reliability. The analysts at Sea-Intelligence highlight that the sector remains in transition with the move to the new routes, schedules, and feeder systems not expected to be fully rolled out until July.

The Iranian-owned cargo vessel Elyana (IMO: 9165827) was located on May 3, underway and entering the southern end of the Suez Canal. As of the end of the day on Saturday, the AIS signal shows it has completed the Suez Canal transit. 

On Sunday night, a tanker collided with a towboat's tow on the Mississippi near New Orleans, sinking one barge and setting half a dozen adrift in the river.