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Daily maritime briefing

Monday, 12 October 2026

Two missing off Sohar, HMM Platinum fire, ammonia bulker

Two seafarers are missing off Oman, a containership burns off Madagascar and Mineral Europa sails for Australia

8 stories4 sections5 min readVessel Hunter newsroom
01

Conflict and security

6 stories
An oil tanker alongside a crude oil terminal, seen from above
**Two Indian seafarers are missing after a drone hit the tanker Petro Dolphin at Sohar anchorage in Oman on 11 October,** two days after Iran's IRGC Navy said ships on unauthorised routes would be pursued anywhere in the region. The laden VLCC Gem No. 2 was hit at anchor off the UAE on 9 October, and Kpler put crude exports at just under 10 million barrels a day, about a third below September.
Two seafarers missing after drone hits Petro Dolphin off Sohar as IRGC widens threatFull story · Incident
**Salvage work appears to be continuing on the sanctioned Aframax Caroline Bezengi, aground off Yemen's Jazirat Al Qibliyyah since 30 June.** The offshore vessel EDT Kennedy was on site on 8 October and calmer post-monsoon weather may allow a small tanker to come alongside to start offloading, but no transfer had begun and the wreck is still leaking oil.

The US Treasury has added 17 tankers to its Iran sanctions list,

mostly product tankers and LPG carriers, and the State Department listed ten entities, six individuals and five more ships. Treasury removed two containerships sold to buyers it called non-sanctioned. TankerTrackers.com counts 173 Iran-linked tankers still not under US sanctions. The UK added 12 oil tankers in its second Russia package this month and now lists more than 600 ships.

The Dutch government has sent a bill to parliament to take tougher action against Russia's shadow fleet,

the network of older tankers that often sail without a flag or under a false one. It went to the Tweede Kamer on 10 October.

US President Donald Trump said the United States will not attack Iran before the midterm elections on 3 November,

while the blockade of Iranian ports stays in force. Brent closed the week at about $104.50 a barrel.
02

Casualties and investigations

3 stories
**The tuna purse seiner Monte Arballu, which sank at her berth in Arrecife on 29 September, has been refloated** with pumps and a crane. Her tank held about 10,000 litres of diesel; the slick was contained by two booms.
03

Markets, deals and fleets

8 stories

SFL is selling four 2014-2015-built LR2 product tankers and three 2019-built Suezmaxes to their charterer Trafigura,

with deliveries in the fourth quarter of 2026 and the first quarter of 2027. SFL expects net cash proceeds of about $275m and a book gain of about $175m; prices were not disclosed.

Bruton, the VLCC owner backed by Tor Olav Trøim, has started a strategic review to maximise shareholder value

after media speculation about a transaction. Its notice of 8 October said there could be no assurance that any deal would follow.

HD Hyundai Marine Solution has agreed to buy Goltens Worldwide for $247.5m

Goltens, founded in 1940, repairs two-stroke and four-stroke engines from 28 locations in 15 countries.

Tokyo Gas has bought all shares in PT AGP Indonesia Utama,

which is developing a small-scale LNG network for PLN power stations at six locations in Sulawesi and the Maluku Islands, served by one small LNG carrier, one floating facility and six onshore units.

MSC and Ocean Network Express will run the Ipanema service between Asia and the east coast of South America without Hapag-Lloyd

from a first sailing out of Shanghai on 3 April 2027. MSC will add ships.

MSC's fleet and orderbook together now exceed 10m TEU,

after a reported order for six 21,700 TEU LNG dual-fuel ships at Zhoushan Changhong for about $1.4bn, according to Alphaliner. Global Ship Lease has taken up options for two more mid-size containerships for about $163m, taking its orderbook to 17.
04

Shipbuilding, ports and offshore

7 stories

Royal Wagenborg named and launched Abelina Wagenborg, the first EasyMax 2.0, at Royal Niestern Sander on 8 October

She is prepared for methanol, ammonia and LNG. Egbert Vuursteen, who led Wagenborg for forty years with Rob Wagenborg, was made a Knight of the Order of Orange-Nassau at his farewell the same day.

The Port of Los Angeles handled 1,042,652 TEU in September,

its best month on record, with imports of 545,696 TEU, 19% above September 2025.
**The Port of Galveston has approved a lease for Power LNG to build a small-scale LNG production, storage and bunkering plant on Pelican Island,** with about 400,000 gallons a day of output and commercial production due in the fourth quarter of 2028.
**Norway's DSB has approved test bunkering of up to 73 tonnes of ammonia for the supply ship Viking Energy at Stord** in October or November, part of a project to run her for Equinor on at least 70% ammonia.

Oceânica Engenharia has won a four-year Petrobras contract worth about R$354m ($70m)

for offshore diving and ROV work from the first half of 2027. The Italian group Progeco has a five-year project management and supervision contract on Azule Energy's $5.1bn Greater PAJ development off Angola.

Every story in this edition

8
  1. 01Two seafarers missing after drone hits Petro Dolphin off Sohar as IRGC widens threat
  2. 02Abandoned Capesize Emil drifts into Bulgarian waters two months after drone strike
  3. 03HMM Platinum still at sea after container fire off Madagascar, SMIT on Lloyd's Open Form
  4. 04MAIB: Arvia lift moved on a stored call while a technician was in the shaft
  5. 05CMB.TECH's Mineral Europa leaves for Australia as first ammonia-powered bulker
  6. 06Stena Imperator and Stena Superior join the Swedish register
  7. 07Rheinmetall buys Romania's Mangalia shipyard for €138m at the fifth auction
  8. 08Two missing off Sohar, HMM Platinum fire, ammonia bulker
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Two missing off Sohar, HMM Platinum fire, ammonia bulker