Vessel Hunter · Daily maritime briefing

Sunday, 18 October 2026

GFS Pride sinks, Wine Trader hit, Seaways buys Bruton

Strikes in Hormuz and the Black Sea, war-damaged tankers aground in Turkey, a stateless tanker's master arrested and a VLCC takeover, on 18 October 2026

4 stories5 sections4 min readVessel Hunter newsroom

Security The Singapore-flagged feeder GFS Pride sank after being struck in the Strait of Hormuz on 13 October, and all 21 crew were evacuated. Her sister GFS Giselle, the feeder Al Saadiyat and the tanker Alfonso were hit the same day, and the crude tanker ST 3 was struck on 16 October with all 15 Indian crew safe. GFS Pride sinks in Hormuz

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**Seven of the 12 crew of the tanker Wine Trader are missing after drones struck her 13 nautical miles off Sulina on 15 October,** and the chemical tanker Yara J was hit inside Romanian waters. Bulgaria has asked NATO for combat aircraft and anti-drone systems.

Wine Trader hit off Sulina with seven crew missing as drones strike Yara J in Romanian watersFull story · Incident

A freight ship in the Bosphorus off Istanbul

Storms drove two drone-damaged tankers ashore in Turkey

Banda near Kısırkaya on 15 October and Grace Romavictor in the Cilingoz nature reserve on 12 October.

War-damaged tankers Banda and Grace Romavictor driven ashore in Turkey by Black Sea stormFull story · Incident

**The 330-metre container ship Espirito Santo Express had an explosion and fire on 16 October about 975 miles north-west of Tristan da Cunha,** fully laden from Singapore to Santos. The crew abandoned ship and the owners said all were safe and accounted for; the ship was left adrift.

A large cargo ship at sea on a sunny day

The IMB recorded 51 piracy and armed robbery incidents from January to September, the lowest nine-month total since 1992,

but crew affected rose to 105 as Somali pirates carried out eight hijackings.

Piracy falls to 51 incidents in nine months, the lowest since 1992, as Somali hijackings riseFull story · Industry

Sanctions and enforcement France has arrested the Chinese master of the tanker DF Peak , found to have no valid flag, and the Netherlands has sent parliament a bill to detain stateless and false-flag ships in its EEZ. DF Peak and the Dutch bill

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The UK will extend its ban on maritime services for Russian LNG to long-term contracts from 1 January 2027,

when the general licence for contracts of a year or less, covering Sakhalin-2 and Yamal LNG, also expires. Narrower licences will allow certain Sakhalin-2 cargoes to Japan and South Korea until 31 March 2028.

**Ukraine's Asset Recovery and Management Agency is preparing to sell the bulker Emmakris III,** stuck at Chornomorsk since February 2022 with Egyptian-bought grain on board. The 2000-built, 73,000 dwt ship was appraised at about $2.6m; no sale date has been set.

Tankers and deals International Seaways has agreed to buy Bruton for about $370m, taking the VLCC Mount Vision and three newbuildings at New Times Shipbuilding. Seaways buys Bruton

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The ClarkSea index rose 12% to a fifth straight record of $84,951 a day in the week to 9 October,

with average VLCC earnings at $804,601 a day, suezmaxes at $724,398 and aframaxes at $393,951.

Liquimar Tankers has ordered three 157,000 dwt suezmaxes at Jiangsu New Hantong Ship Heavy Industry,

and Chemnav Shipmanagement two 158,000 dwt suezmaxes at Penglai Zhongbai Jinglu, taking its suezmax orderbook to four.

BGN International has ordered four more 93,000 cbm dual-fuel VLGCs at HD Hyundai Heavy Industries for delivery in January 2030,

its tenth VLGC at the yard this year.

Capital Axis Maritime is reported to be selling the 181,250 dwt capesize newbuilding Arriktos, under construction at Hengli, for $90m,

the highest capesize price of the year.

TT Club and UK P&I Club members approved their merger at meetings on 7 and 8 October

The combined group, United Transport Mutual, will have about $750m of annual premium and takes effect on 20 February 2027, subject to regulatory approval. China P&I Club has separately applied to join the International Group of P&I Clubs.

Containers and ports HMM's board approved KRW2.168trn, about $1.62bn, for 12 container ships, eight 13,000 TEU newbuildings and four smaller vessels.

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Weekly container capacity through the Suez Canal averaged 753,000 TEU in the first two weeks of October, more than half of the 1.46m TEU of the same weeks in 2023,

the first time since the Houthi attacks that transits have passed that mark.

Hapag-Lloyd has stopped taking new bookings to Manila, Batangas and Subic Bay until the end of December

because empty containers cannot be returned, with truckers reporting waits of up to 40 days.

A.P. Moller Capital has agreed to buy all of Singapore terminal operator Portek International from Mitsui

through its Emerging Markets Infrastructure Fund II.

Shipbuilding and offshore LD Armateurs has fitted all six Norsepower rotor sails to Spirit of Toulouse, a 168-metre, 19,000 gt ro-ro being completed in Shanghai to carry Airbus aircraft sections between Europe and North America. Each rotor measures 35 by 5 metres.

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Zhonggu Shipping Group has ordered two 14,000 TEU ships at Hudong-Zhonghua,

its first above 10,000 TEU, taking its 2026 newbuilding programme to 20 ships.

Transocean has lined up an expanded $750m revolving credit facility ahead of closing its $5.8bn takeover of Valaris.

**The salvage of MSC Baltic III in Newfoundland has passed two-thirds of the ship's tonnage,** 7,445 tonnes recovered.

MSC Baltic III wreck removal in Newfoundland passes two-thirds as oil sheen returnsFull story · Incident

**The Isle of Man Steam Packet Company puts the cost of repairs and extended drydocking of the ferry Manxman at about £5m,** after wear was found on both propulsion shaft liners and bearings; she is due back in service at the end of November.

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