Vessel Hunter · This week in maritime

Week ending Friday, 11 September 2026

This Week in Maritime: Hormuz opens a crack and fuel gets harder to buy

Week of 7 September 2026. What the strait did, what it now costs to move a box, and what the week cost in people.

30 stories6 sections8 min readVessel Hunter newsroom

Seventy-eight stories went through this newsroom between Monday and Friday. Most of the week's weight sits in one waterway. Qatar moved a loaded gas carrier openly through Hormuz for the first time since July and started pointing the empty ones back at the Gulf, and everything else on this page is downstream of that: what fuel costs, where the boxes are waiting, which yards are being paid to build the replacements.

Hormuz and the energy war

6 stories

A gas carrier alongside at an energy terminal

QatarEnergy sent an LNG carrier through Hormuz with her AIS transmitting

It is the first open transit in nearly six weeks, and a break with the dark-mode navigation the rest of the traffic has adopted. The Al Marrouna is bound for Port Qasim, and Pakistan has spent the month mediating between Tehran and Washington, which nobody in the market is reading as a coincidence. Iran's foreign ministry says talks with Oman on a temporary safe-passage lane are in their final stages, possibly registered at the IMO within days. The first open passage would put something an owner can plan against in place of a transponder-off practice nobody can.

QatarEnergy Sends an LNG Carrier Through Hormuz With Its AIS Switched OnFull story · Industry

Six empty gas carriers are in the Gulf of Oman or heading there, and a seventh has already crossed inbound

Fifteen laden ships are still idled behind the strait. Nobody sends empty tonnage toward a waterway they expect to stay shut, which is why the tracking reads as the clearest sign yet of an export restart rather than as routine repositioning.

Qatar Sends Empty LNG Carriers Back Toward the Arabian GulfFull story · Industry

Power infrastructure in an Asian city at dusk, illustrating electricity supply pressure

Force majeure on Qatari LNG now runs into early November

It has been renewed month by month since March, in the latest extension. Edison alone has lost 29 cargoes since April, about 3.8 billion cubic metres. Qatar shipped 18 cargoes in the first six months of this war against 509 in the same months a year earlier. Pakistan, on the receiving end of both the shortage and the diplomacy, turned down the only cargo offered in its emergency tender at $26.97 per mmBtu while Karachi ran blackouts of up to 24 hours.

Pakistan Rejects a $27 LNG Cargo and Faces Longer Rolling BlackoutsFull story · Industry

Crude oil tanker under way, illustrating tanker traffic in the Strait of Hormuz

Iranian forces have started hitting and turning back tankers on the way in, not only on the way out

The IRGC's non-compliant list grew from 46 names to 57 in a week, in the change of target.

Iran Turns on Inbound Tankers and Lengthens Its Non-Compliant List to 57Full story · Sanctions

Warship with a helicopter on deck, illustrating naval operations in the Strait of Hormuz

CENTCOM fired on IRGC positions on Larak Island to destroy two rockets that were about to be launched

What they were carrying, according to the account of the strike, was an attempt to put sea mines back in the strait.

US Strike on Larak Island Pre-empts a Rocket-Launched Sea Mine BarrageFull story · Sanctions

Conference room overlooking a city, illustrating international maritime policy discussions

The IMO Secretary General has ruled out hardening merchant ships against missiles

Asked at SMM whether ships should be reinforced against missiles and drones, the answer was no, and the advice from the organisation is still to stay out of the strait altogether, in the exchange in Hamburg. It is a defensible position and it is not a free one. The ships still going through are carrying the risk on behalf of everyone who is not.

IMO Secretary General Rules Out Hardening Merchant Ships Against MissilesFull story · Industry

Boxes, rates and congestion

5 stories

Aerial view of a loaded container ship, illustrating container freight markets

Shanghai to US East Coast broke $10,000 per FEU for the first time since 2022

The SCFI finished at 3,509.53 points, its highest in twenty-five months, with the West Coast at $6,940 and the spread between the two coasts out to $3,106. Europe moved the other way as returning Suez capacity landed. The full table has the two American coasts pulling apart while the European legs fall.

US East Coast Box Rates Break $10,000 as Panama Cuts Daily Transits AgainFull story · Industry

Container cranes at the port of Rotterdam, illustrating North European port operations

Eleven thousand German dockworkers walked out for 48 hours, and the Dutch ports followed

Hamburg, Bremerhaven, Bremen, Wilhelmshaven, Emden and Brake first, then Rotterdam, Amsterdam and the Zeeland ports on the day the German stoppage ended. Around 160,000 TEU, roughly 5% of deepsea containership capacity, is now riding at anchor outside berths it cannot get into, in a region with no slack left to absorb any of it.

German Port Strike Deepens Congestion Already Holding 160,000 TEU at AnchorFull story · Port activity

COSCO Shipping Holdings carried 8% more boxes in the first half and earned a third less doing it

Operating profit per TEU fell about 30% to $139 and the margin narrowed to 12.5%, in the first-half result.

COSCO Shipping Holdings' First-Half Profit Falls 34% on Thinner Box MarginsFull story · Industry

Container ships alongside in a major harbour

Panama has deferred its Neopanamax draft cut for a second time

The maximum holds at 14.63 metres while Gatun Lake levels hold, in the reprieve. Daily transits still drop to 32 on 15 September, from 36 at the start of the month, and that is the physical reason behind the East Coast rate above.

Panama Canal Postpones Neopanamax Draft Cut for a Second TimeFull story · Port activity

Container ship seen from above in a port, illustrating container fleet growth

The container fleet is eight thousand TEU short of 34m

It took five and a half years to add the last 10m, against more than a decade for the 10m before it, on BIMCO's count.

The Container Fleet Is About to Pass 34m TEU After Adding 10m in Five YearsFull story · Industry

Ports and terminals

6 stories

Suez transits are up 40% and dollar revenues up 50% in the second half of the year

The canal is handling 14,000 to 15,000 ships a year against roughly 26,000 in 2023, and the authority expects to close December between $5.8bn and $6bn. War-risk and hull premiums still argue for the Cape for part of the fleet, which makes the recovery both real and partial.

Suez Canal Transits Rise 40% and Dollar Revenues Jump 50%Full story · Port activity

A laden container ship under way on an export trade

Maersk has restarted Suez transits on its AE15, MECL and WAF6 services

The carrier was careful to say this is not a full return of the East-West network. Jeddah and King Abdullah are taking the strain, and the customer advisory names yard density, container depots, customs and trucking in the same breath.

Maersk resumes limited Suez transits but warns strain will persistFull story · Industry

Aerial view of a container terminal with quay cranes and stacked boxes

CMA CGM and Red Sea Gateway Terminal signed the definitive agreement on Jeddah Terminal 4

SAR 1.6 billion, about 2.6m TEU of annual capacity and ten ship-to-shore cranes, in the Red Sea corridor deal.

CMA CGM and RSGT Sign $434m Jeddah Terminal 4 AgreementFull story · Port activity

Container ship at an export terminal seen from the air, illustrating port throughput

Jebel Ali has fallen out of the top ten container ports

The order had not changed in a year; 2026 returns covering 76% of ranked volume show one port leaving it entirely, in the ranking Hormuz rewrote.

Jebel Ali Falls Out of the Top Ten as Hormuz Rewrites the Port RankingFull story · Port activity

Rotterdam moved 397.3m tonnes in 2024 and Antwerp-Bruges 243.7m

Third-placed Hamburg managed 97m, which is the whole story of the EU tonnage table in three numbers.

Rotterdam and Antwerp-Bruges still dwarf every other EU port on tonnageFull story · Port activity

Aerial view of the Miraflores locks on the Panama Canal

Ilya Espino de Marotta has taken office at the Panama Canal for a seven-year term

Rainfall is running 34% below average and capacity comes down again this month, in the handover.

Espino de Marotta Takes Charge of a Panama Canal Running Short of WaterFull story · Port activity

Yards, orders and money

4 stories

Dry docks at a Japanese shipyard, illustrating shipbuilding capacity investment

Japan has put $3.8bn behind Imabari, JMU and Namura

It is the first tranche of a roughly $6.4bn programme of public and private money meant to double national shipbuilding volume by 2035, in the first investments.

Japan Puts $3.8bn Behind Imabari, JMU and Namura in Its First Yard TrancheFull story · Industry

Large ship under construction in a dry dock, illustrating shipyard output

CSSC's net profit rose 163% and its order backlog reached 729 ships

First-half revenue was RMB91.53bn and profit RMB9.95bn, on higher deliveries of high-end tonnage and rising average prices, in the half-year.

CSSC Net Profit Rises 163% as Its Order Backlog Reaches 729 ShipsFull story · Industry

Aerial view of ships and wind turbines at a harbour

Yang Ming signed for six 13,650 TEU dual-fuel boxships at Hanwha Ocean

They deliver between 2028 and 2029, in a renewal programme heading for 24 ships by 2030. At the other end of the market, Dajin booked 24 newbuildings worth about RMB12bn and is quietly building a heavy transport fleet of its own, the KING and EMPEROR series, for delivery out to 2030.

Dajin books 24 newbuildings and builds a heavy transport fleet of its ownFull story · Industry

A large vessel under construction in a shipyard dry dock

Hanwha Ocean is facing a second billion-dollar claim over the Arctic LNG 2 ships

LLC Arctic LNG 2 wants about 1.37 trillion won for three cancelled ice-class carriers, on top of the owners' existing claim, in the second arbitration.

Hanwha Ocean faces a second billion-dollar claim over Arctic LNG 2 shipsFull story · Industry

Casualties and safety

5 stories

A passenger ferry under way in poor visibility

A fire in the hold of the ferry June Aster killed five people on the Manila to Coron run

Eighty-six were still unaccounted for on Thursday morning. There were 134 people aboard, 117 passengers and 17 crew, and 43 were pulled out of the water. A survivor described a bang from below after dinner, then thick smoke, then minutes. On a ro-ro the vehicle deck is one open volume full of fuelled cargo, and there is very little between it and the accommodation above. The search went on through bad weather.

Five dead and 86 missing after ferry fire on the Manila to Coron runFull story · Incident

Crew on the deck of a tanker, illustrating seafarer risk in the Strait of Hormuz

Two Filipino seafarers died aboard the VLCC Sidr after she was hit transiting Hormuz

That takes the confirmed toll among merchant crews in the strait to at least 18 this year, in the delayed report.

Two Filipino Seafarers Die Aboard the VLCC Sidr as the Hormuz Toll Reaches 18Full story · Incident

Tankers alongside at an industrial port terminal

The tanker Mekar Jaya and the ferry Teluk Bahang collided off Penang Port

Twenty-one of the 92 people involved were injured, six of them seriously, in the collision.

Ferry and oil tanker collide off Penang Port, injuring 21 peopleFull story · Incident

A container ship under way in open water on a clear day

The Suezmax Siren was hit by drones in the open Black Sea, and the feeder RMS Team has been written off

The Siren lost her accommodation block with no injuries and no pollution, in a strike well clear of either coast; the RMS Team, hit on 21 August on passage to Novorossiysk, is now a constructive total loss. Both landed high on the superstructure rather than on the cargo block. The tanks survive that. The bridge, the controls and the people do not.

Drone-Hit Boxship RMS Team Declared a Constructive Total LossFull story · Incident

Stacked shipping containers on a terminal quay

Ship fires are up 20% year on year, with a major container ship fire now roughly every 17 days

Undeclared and mis-declared goods are the leading cause, and a study published this week names Special Provision 188 as the door lithium cells walk through: cells that meet testing and packaging rules skip the declaration process and arrive inside power tools, appliances and vehicles that no booking description flags.

Container Ship Fires Rise 20% as Lithium Cargo Slips Through SP188Full story · Industry

Fuel, wind and the long argument

5 stories

Aerial view of a tanker alongside an oil storage terminal

Bunker stocks at all three major hubs are running about 30% below seasonal norms

Singapore, the ARA hub and Fujairah are all under their three-year averages. Singapore VLSFO was just under $825 a tonne on 1 September, up 76% since the conflict began against 40% on Brent, so the premium over crude has widened rather than tracked it. Suppliers there were quoting nine to sixteen days for prompt stems, which on a long-haul trade removes the option of buying late. The shortfall sits on the export side as much as on demand.

Bunker Stocks Run 30% Below Seasonal Norms at the Big Three HubsFull story · Industry

Delegates in a boardroom at night, illustrating international regulatory negotiations

The IMO closed another net-zero working group without a finalised text

Four days, the lifecycle framework deferred again, and the real decisions pushed into a run of sessions in late November and early December, in the session that produced nothing.

IMO Ends Another Net-Zero Session Divided, With Three Meetings Left in 2026Full story · Industry

Large vessel at a terminal, illustrating nuclear propulsion proposals for merchant ships

A British nuclear company signed a seven-year MARAD deal for 50 nuclear-powered ships

The fleet would be LNG carriers and container ships, in the programme agreed with the US Maritime Administration.

Core Power Signs a Seven-Year MARAD Deal for 50 Nuclear-Powered Merchant ShipsFull story · Industry

Cargo ship under way at sea, illustrating wind-assisted propulsion adoption

Wind stopped being a pilot this week

Wallenius Marine will retrofit two Oceanbird wing sails to the 2024-built car carrier Way Forward in 2027, the first commercial multi-wing installation, and Anemoi says Korean yards have begun approaching it about putting rotor sails on container ships.

Anemoi Courts Korean Yards as Rotor Sails Move Onto Container ShipsFull story · Product

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