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Daily maritime briefing

Wednesday, 7 October 2026

Aframax Rio burns off Sochi, 12 hurt on On Peace in Hormuz

A tanker ablaze in the Black Sea, the most serious crew casualties of the Hormuz crisis, and a $125m CSV purchase

8 stories5 sections5 min readVessel Hunter newsroom
01

Conflict and security

8 stories

Saudi Arabia's East-West Pipeline has largely recovered from the 11 September attack on three pumping stations

Kpler puts loadings at Yanbu at about 45 million barrels from mid-September to early October, and current flows at 5.8 million barrels a day against 7 million before the attack.

Iran's floating crude stocks are close to exhausted

Kpler estimates about 15 million barrels remained in early October, enough to last until mid-month, after ten weeks in which the US blockade has halted Iranian and dark fleet tanker departures from the Gulf.

Yemen's government forces have retaken the Dhubab airstrip and the N2 highway,

cutting off Houthi positions on Perim Island and the Ras Menhali peninsula. Mocha and Hodeidah are the next objectives.

The Philippines says a Chinese J-16 fighter manoeuvred unsafely close to a Philippine C-208 patrol aircraft near Scarborough Shoal on 3 October

China's Southern Theater Command said the aircraft had intruded into its airspace.

The Dutch maritime services firm Dutch Lloyd is helping Somalia set up its own ship register

Parties believed to be linked to Russia's shadow fleet have already shown interest in the Somali flag.
02

Casualties and salvage

4 stories
**The Dutch heavy lift ship Danzigergracht was towed to anchorage after a machinery breakdown off the Çanakkale Strait on 7 October.** The tug Rescue-17 took the 2009-built ship to the Karanlık Liman anchorage. No damage or pollution was reported.

The owner and P&I insurer of the capsized Indonesian ferry Virgo Transport 8 have agreed to raise the wreck,

which may hold up to 55 missing passengers and crew. PT Virgo Karya Shipping expects to appoint an international salvor soon and to have a team on site by the end of October.
03

Markets, deals and fleets

7 stories

Taylor Maritime has completed the sale of three handysize bulkers for gross proceeds of about $48.6m

and is now selling its last ship. A fourth return of capital of $45m is planned for November.

Bunker prices have risen by roughly three-quarters since the US-Iran war began on 28 February

In Singapore, VLSFO stood at $509 a tonne and high-sulphur fuel oil at $432 on 27 February, the last trading day before the war.

The US Federal Maritime Commission has ordered COSCO to show cause why it should not face civil penalties

for taking 223 days to pay a $24,328.80 reparations award to Agribusiness Holdings over demurrage and detention invoices. The penalties could range from $3.345m to $16.725m; COSCO must file by 1 December.

New Busan-based shipmanager IOB has started operations with four Arc4 ice-class LNG carriers under management

and plans to add three to six Arc7 ships in 2027.
04

Shipbuilding and naval

2 stories

The US Navy has awarded Anduril a $2.9bn contract for a submarine module yard at the former Sparrows Point shipyard near Baltimore

Anduril will add $3.7bn of its own capital. The yard, with a 1,200-foot graving dock, is due to start production by 2030 and would raise submarine production capacity by about 15%.

Modernising four US Navy shipyards will cost about $200bn and run until 2080,

the Government Accountability Office estimates, against the Navy's 2018 estimate of $21bn over 20 years.
05

Energy and offshore

5 stories
**Petronas is preparing to drill the Megah-2 appraisal well off Sabah with the drillship West Capella.** The Megah discovery in Block 3K, estimated at 200m to 300m barrels, is one of Malaysia's largest oil finds in about two decades.

Aramco has hired KBR for engineering and project execution on facility upgrades across the Marjan offshore field,

covering processing, gas compression and power infrastructure.

TechnipFMC has won a Petrobras contract to supply flexible pipe for several pre-salt developments off Brazil,

booked in its third-quarter order intake.

Seoul says neither the decision nor the scale of a South Korean investment in the Alaska LNG project has been determined

The 800-mile pipeline is put at $45bn to $55bn for 20 million tonnes a year.

A study by the consultancy Koinon puts the probability that The Metals Company's nodule project loses money at 83%,

with a median net present value of minus $5bn against the company's projected $23bn. The study was sponsored by five organisations opposed to deep-sea mining.

Every story in this edition

8
  1. 01Aframax Rio burns off Sochi after uncrewed boat attack; 23 crew rescued
  2. 02Twelve seafarers injured as LR2 tanker On Peace is hit in the Strait of Hormuz
  3. 03Alfa Watan sinks off Bulgaria a day after Royad Mammadov is lost off Romania
  4. 04MSC Baltic III wreck removal in Newfoundland passes 55% of the hull
  5. 05Salvors stop flooding on offshore wind support vessel Nautilus at Eemshaven
  6. 06Solstad Offshore exercises $125m option to buy CSV Normand Maximus
  7. 07Cunard's Queen Anne to join P&O Cruises in 2029 as Arcadia moves to Holland America
  8. 08Wärtsilä signs five-year service deal for LNG carriers Al Thurayya and Al Majhoulah
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Aframax Rio burns off Sochi, 12 hurt on On Peace in Hormuz