Maritime Briefing of 20 September 2026

after what Tehran described as an illegal attempt to transit Hormuz outside its approved passage system. The 7,119 dwt vessel was reported hit and stopped after a fire broke out on board. The claim has not been independently verified. Italy is preparing naval escorts for its merchant traffic in the Red Sea.

, with some crew treated for minor injuries including smoke inhalation. The ship has not been identified, nor her cargo or position. Four vessels crossed the strait on Tuesday.

in the Strait of Hormuz and the wider Middle East since the war with Iran began at the end of February. Secretary-General Arsenio Dominguez asked member states not to use the conflicts "to attack innocent seafarers".

The 2016-built Kuwait Prosperity, operated by Sinokor Maritime, took a Middle East Gulf to Asia cargo for 22 September at Worldscale 1350. The Baltic Exchange had the round-trip Middle East to China rate at $862,150 a day on 10 September. Around 4.6m barrels moved from east to west of the strait by ship-to-ship transfer in August, against effectively none a year ago, and VLCCs are now ballasting east of the strait to wait for a lift.

, with one assessment stretching to six. Crude held at Yanbu after the shutdown was judged enough for only five to seven days of exports. Saudi production fell to 6.2m barrels a day in August from 10.9m in February.

on the evening of 15 September. India summoned Pakistan's Chargé d'Affaires over what it called unprofessional conduct in international waters; Pakistan summoned India's over what it called a provocative action in its EEZ. PNS Hunain, a Damen-built Yarmook-class vessel commissioned in 2024, took damage and returned to harbour.

, the latest in a run of contact incidents around the contested features.

, the first such mission since the 9 August agreement between Damascus and Moscow on the future of the Russian military presence. The group included the sanctioned ro-ro Sparta and the destroyer Admiral Levchenko, and stopped transmitting shortly after passing Gibraltar.

and 43 survivors, after a crew member being treated for burns died on Tuesday. Master Roel Sarmiento presented himself to the operator's Palawan office on 14 September, five days after the fire. Only a handful of the recovered have been formally identified; forensic work on the remainder could take months.

At least six died and 108 were rescued from the 243 aboard when the ferry capsized in the Java Sea. Waves of 1.75 to 2.5 metres have kept divers out; the navy has deployed a vessel with an underwater drone, multibeam sonar and an ROV.

, struck by heavy weather on 14 September while towing a barge from Rembang to Tanah Laut.

, on 14 September, involving the pier and the 137-foot tour catamaran Klondike Express moored alongside with no passengers aboard. Norwegian Jade sailed without damage. All 2,000 gallons of diesel on the catamaran were accounted for and no sheen was found.

over fuel prices on 17 September, disrupting ferry services until they secured support commitments from the fisheries minister.

The 24,188 teu OOCL Portugal transited northbound-to-south on 16 September on a Belgium and Mediterranean to China rotation, the first Cosco-controlled vessel through the canal since the Red Sea attacks began. She was one of 39 transits that day, against 45 the day before. Canal volume in the first eight months of 2026 passed 72m tons, up 54 percent on the 46.7m of the same period in 2025.

The terminal has 1,520 m of quay, 18 m draft and about 70 hectares of yard for a designed 3.4m teu a year, run by a joint venture of Marsa Maroc, at 51 percent, and MSC's terminal arm TIL. Total investment in the wider project is around $5.1bn.

, taking it from 45 to 80 hectares and from 1.2m to 2.8m teu of annual capacity, with an automated gate complex and a new feeder quay.

Forth Ports has withdrawn, ending efforts to restore a direct Scotland to continental Europe link despite £6m pledged by the UK and Scottish governments. The port says its focus moves to other business under the Forth Green Freeport.

to meet Israeli government concerns while holding to a year-end close. It puts annual synergies at $300m to $500m, on a combined operation of more than 400 vessels, over 3m teu and annual volumes above 18m teu.

at between $118m and $124m each, taking its 2026 ordering at the yard to eight vessels worth $928m to $980m. The design meets EEDI Phase III and is built for methanol and LNG dual fuel.

with two 93,000 cu m very large ammonia carriers at New Times Shipbuilding for 2029 delivery. CULines has ordered two 14,000 teu ships at Hudong-Zhonghua, its first newbuildings above 10,000 teu. Croatia has accepted Kuzey Star's binding EUR12.05m offer for about 97.13 percent of the Uljanik yard in Pula.

, on 17 September at Japan Marine United's Ariake yard, transferring from the 998 gt carrier Shoei Maru to a new ammonia-fuelled medium gas carrier.

The 6UEC35LSGH achieved a hydrogen co-firing rate of at least 95 percent in factory testing, cutting greenhouse gas emissions by more than 95 percent against a heavy-fuel-oil engine. It goes into a 17,500 dwt multipurpose vessel from Onomichi Dockyard for MOL, with onboard trials from April 2028.

for a multi-purpose fuel tank and gas supply system letting a gas-turbine LNG carrier switch between LNG and ammonia without replacing either system.

Having sold its Newcastlemax fleet, the Norwegian company has signed a letter of intent to buy up to 15 large AHTS vessels for $406m, with total financing of up to $485m, and will rename itself AHTS. It notes that only one large anchor handler has been built since 2018 and none are on order.

with CI-Energies and PETROCI, covering a unit of 152,000 cu m storage and 250 million standard cubic feet a day of regasification, for about $21.3m of annual EBITDA from the third quarter of 2027.

The Global Centre for Maritime Decarbonisation and Boston Consulting Group ran 12 fuel pathways and six engine configurations through to 2050 and concluded the move away from fossil fuels stays limited unless carbon pricing rises sharply.