Vessel Hunter · This week in maritime

Week ending Sunday, 20 September 2026

This Week in Maritime: the strait gets a price list, the Dali gets a record

Week ending 20 September 2026. What a Hormuz crossing now costs, why the queues moved ashore, and what the week cost in people.

27 stories6 sections7 min readVessel Hunter newsroom

Forty stories and five briefings went through this newsroom between Monday and Sunday. The week can be read off two numbers. One is $1m a day, which is what a VLCC now charges to cross a strait a fifth of the world's oil has to use. The other is $2.8bn, which is what one containership hitting one bridge eighteen months ago has cost the insurance market. Everything else on this page is a consequence of the first number or a warning about the second.

Hormuz has a price list now

5 stories

Aerial view of an oil tanker alongside a storage terminal

The benchmark tanker rate through the Gulf passed a million dollars a day, and stayed there

The Baltic Exchange's Middle East Gulf to China VLCC assessment broke through it, and by the end of the week an individual fixture had confirmed it: the Kuwait Prosperity took a Gulf to Asia cargo for 22 September at Worldscale 1350. Braemar now puts a ten-year-old VLCC at about $150m against $135m for a newbuilding, an inversion it has never recorded before. When prompt tonnage outprices a delivery slot, the market is not pricing transport. It is pricing the ability to be there this week.

Benchmark VLCC Rate Passes $1m a Day and Ten-Year-Old Ships Outprice NewbuildingsFull story · Industry

Cryptocurrency market data on a computer screen

The fee for crossing has stopped being a rumour and become a payment rail

The US Treasury sanctioned BitBank, the crypto exchange handling payments to HormuzSafe, the IRGC front selling Strait of Hormuz passage as digital insurance at rates put as high as $2m per transit. Treasury says the exchange moved hundreds of millions of dollars in Bitcoin to the Revolutionary Guards. The designation closes the rail, which raises the price of the cheapest bad option without making the strait any safer.

US Sanctions the Crypto Exchange Behind Iran's Hormuz Transit FeesFull story · Sanctions

A magnifying glass over a chart of the Strait of Hormuz

Iran's own blacklist reached 77 ships and started naming the people who insure them

The Persian Gulf Strait Authority added 21 vessels in under two weeks and extended its warnings to P&I clubs and class societies — an attempt to reach owners through their service providers rather than through their hulls.

Iran's Hormuz Blacklist Reaches 77 Ships and Now Warns Insurers and Class SocietiesFull story · Sanctions

Aerial view of a laden crude oil tanker under way

Cargo is now changing hands rather than crossing

Around 4.6m barrels moved from east to west of the strait by ship-to-ship transfer in August, against effectively nothing a year earlier, and VLCCs are ballasting east of Hormuz to wait for a lift.

Gulf Crude Exports Pass 10m Barrels a Day on Facilitated Hormuz TransitsFull story · Industry

An empty conference room set with national flags and microphones

Oman's attempt to put a corridor on paper collapsed before it convened

The Salalah conference was called off after Bahrain refused to sit alongside Iran and Riyadh objected to the technical terms.

Oman Calls Off Salalah Conference on a New Strait of Hormuz Transit CorridorFull story · Industry

What it cost in people

5 stories

Aerial view of an oil tanker and an LPG carrier at an industrial terminal

Three ships with Indian crews were struck in two days near the strait

, and India counts 173 of its seafarers still aboard vessels west of it, with ten ships marked for evacuation.

Three Ships With Indian Crews Struck in Two Days Near the Strait of HormuzFull story · Incident

A product tanker under way at sea, seen from the air

**The product tanker El Gaia was left disabled off Oman with two of her crew missing.** Oman took 23 off and towed her in. Tehran said sea mines; US Central Command said a drone hitting a hull already crippled a month earlier. Nobody has reconciled the two accounts, and the difference between them reprices war-risk cover on every transit.

El Gaia Crew Taken Off Disabled Tanker, Two Still MissingFull story · Incident

A cargo ship under way in a narrow strait

A drone killed the master of a Tanzanian-flagged ship bound for Ukraine and injured three of her crew

Turkey has put a draft memorandum to Moscow and Kyiv aimed at stopping attacks on merchant vessels; Sergei Lavrov has already said a ban on striking ships with civilian cargo could not be monitored. The owner of the Turkish bulker Reyhan Sari, attacked in July, has gone to the International Criminal Court instead.

Master Killed in Black Sea Drone Attack as Turkey Circulates Truce TextFull story · Incident

Aerial view of a ferry under way in poor visibility

**The ferry Virgo Transport 8 went down in the Java Sea with 243 people aboard.** By the end of the week 108 had been rescued, at least six were dead and 129 were still missing, with waves of up to 2.5 metres keeping divers out of the wreck. The June Aster death toll in the Philippines reached 77.

Ferry Virgo Transport 8 Sinks in the Java Sea With 243 People on BoardFull story · Incident

A general cargo ship under way in open water

Somali pirates released the Sward and her 17 crew for a ransom

Four commercial vessels are still held, and the IMO has logged more regional attacks than in any year since 2013.

Somali Pirates Release the Sward and Its 17 Crew After a Ransom PaymentFull story · Incident

The Red Sea came back, the queues moved ashore

5 stories

A merchant ship transiting the Suez Canal

Four more Gemini services left the Cape for Suez

, with Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd switching AE5, AE11, AE12 and ME2 starting with the Antonia Maersk on 19 September. By Wednesday OOCL had sent the 24,188 teu OOCL Portugal through, the first Cosco-controlled ship in the canal since the attacks began. Canal volume in the first eight months of 2026 is up 54 percent year on year.

Gemini Moves Four More Services Back Through the Red Sea and SuezFull story · Industry

Cranes and ships working in a crowded container port

Shorter voyages did not produce more capacity, because the ports cannot absorb it

Container capacity tied up at Asian terminals reached 4.3m teu, past the roughly 4m stranded at the pandemic peak, and Sea-Intelligence puts about 6.6 percent of the world fleet in queues rather than moving cargo. Colombo is running six-day turnarounds at its deep-water berths and Shanghai eight to ten days on some strings.

Asian Port Congestion Passes Its Pandemic Peak at 4.3M TEUFull story · Port activity

Aerial view of a laden bulk carrier at sea

Bulk carriers are taking almost 20 percent longer to do the same voyage than in 2020

Average laden legs ran to 22.42 days in June at 10.67 knots, which is congestion and routing, not demand.

Bulk Carriers Are Spending Almost 20% Longer at Sea Than They Did in 2020Full story · Industry

**Yanbu stopped loading.** Damage to the Saudi East-West Pipeline took out a terminal that had been lifting around four million barrels a day, roughly four percent of global supply, and pushed those barrels back towards Hormuz at exactly the wrong moment.

Yanbu Loadings Paused as East-West Pipeline Damage Halts FlowFull story · Port activity

Aerial view of the Miraflores locks on the Panama Canal

The Panama Canal budgeted 29.5 deep-draft transits a day for FY2027

and held its 48-foot Neopanamax draught limit, with booking slots down to 32 on 15 September.

Panama Canal Budgets 29.5 Deep-Draft Transits a Day for FY2027Full story · Port activity

Ports, and the people who work them

3 stories

Container gantry cranes at a German seaport

German seaport workers rejected the employers' offer and opened a ballot on an open-ended strike

Almost 65 percent voted no, on a consultation of more than 5,500. The ballot closes on 1 October and needs 75 percent. Up to 11,000 workers at Hamburg, Bremen, Bremerhaven, Emden, Brake and Wilhelmshaven have been without a contract since 31 July, and ver.di has put drone flights over the terminals into the claim alongside pay.

German Seaport Workers Move to an Indefinite Strike BallotFull story · Port activity

Ship-to-shore cranes at a container terminal

Hapag-Lloyd bought African terminal capacity for the long term

, covering Dakar, Luanda and Dar es Salaam with infrastructure support at Banana and Maputo, in an agreement with DP World.

Hapag-Lloyd Secures Long-Term African Terminal Capacity in DP World AgreementFull story · Port activity

Container cranes and berths at the port of Los Angeles

**Three containers went over the side at Berth 302 in Los Angeles**, during a lift rather than at sea. Divers had both sunken boxes up within a day.

Three Containers Go Overboard at Port of Los Angeles Berth 302Full story · Port activity

What a casualty costs now

4 stories

A container ship under tug escort in a channel

**The Dali became the largest single loss in the history of the P&I market.** Reserves exceed $2.8bn, more than a billion above the Costa Concordia, and the claim has reached a layer of the International Group's structure no casualty of this scale had previously tested. About $300m of overspill cover stands between it and a levy on every entered ship.

Dali Becomes the Largest Single Loss in P&I Market HistoryFull story · Industry

A container ship under tug assistance seen from the air

One in ten container inspections filed for 2025 found deficiencies

Seven states reported out of more than 170 IMO members, which is the other half of the story.

General Average Declared on CMA CGM Petra After Malacca FireFull story · Incident

An inspector checking machinery on board a working ship

A pilot's remark about unresponsive steering put a cargo ship under a departure ban at Brake

, and the inspection that followed found three main-sized auxiliary diesels carrying no certificate at all.

Gottlieb Detained at Brake Over Steering Gear and Hidden EnginesFull story · Incident

A laden crude oil tanker under way, seen from the air

A Coast Guard cyber team and the FBI boarded a VLCC off Texas

after indications her networks had been compromised. At least two US-bound tankers are in the investigation, and the nine-year-old IMO guidance covering it assumes an owner defending its own systems, not a state selecting hulls by flag and destination.

Coast Guard and FBI Boarded a VLCC Off Texas Over a CyberattackFull story · Incident

Ordering, building, and the rules being written

5 stories

A large container ship seen from directly above at a terminal

Maersk confirmed 26 ships, not the 40 the market had described

The 18,600 teu dual-fuel vessels are worth about ten percent of current capacity, and still leave the carrier as the only one of the top five without a megamax. CMA CGM is meanwhile linked to twelve 24,000 teu ships at Yangzijiang for around $3bn.

Maersk Confirms 26 Ships, Well Short of the 40 the Market ExpectedFull story · Industry

A large hull under construction in a shipyard dry dock

Japan certified another $635m of shipyard investment

across five builders, taking the programme to $1.4bn against a capacity target of 18 million gross tons by 2035 — against roughly nine percent of the global market today.

Dynacom Returns to Hengli With Eight More Ships Worth Close to $1bnFull story · Industry

Harbour tugs working alongside a large ship at a berth

The House voted to strip two of California's maritime emissions rules

At-berth shore power went 216-211 on Tuesday and the commercial harbour craft rule the following day. Both now go to the Senate, on a referral whose legality is itself under injunction.

House Votes to Strip Two California Maritime Emissions RulesFull story · Industry

Aerial view of a gas carrier alongside a liquefied gas terminal

Maersk overtook COSCO in the intra-Asia trade

, with more than 340,000 teu across 108 ships — largely a by-product of the Gemini hub-and-spoke design.

EU Ports Took 156 Yamal Cargoes in Eight Months Before the January BanFull story · Sanctions

A container ship under way at sea, seen from the air

The full list for each day is in that day's briefing; Sunday's is the Maritime Briefing of 20 September 2026. Every ship named on this page has a record in our fleet database, with particulars, ownership and the people behind it where we hold them.

Maritime Briefing of 20 September 2026Full story · Other

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