
IFM Investors agrees to take control of Associated British Ports
CPP Investments and OMERS have agreed to sell their entire stakes in Associated British Ports to a fund managed by IFM Investors, in a deal that values the port group at more than £10 billion.

Oman will not renew Salalah Port Services concession after November 2028
Oman's transport ministry has told Salalah Port Services, led by APM Terminals, that its concessions at the Port of Salalah will end on 1 November 2028 and will not be extended.

Suez Canal large container transits jump tenfold as CMA CGM Pantheon makes first passage
Container ships over 130,000 net tons made 166 Suez Canal transits in Q3 against 16 a year earlier. The 24,212 TEU CMA CGM Pantheon made her first transit on 13 October.

Singapore LNG starts building third jetty for 2m tonnes a year of bunker reloads
Singapore LNG Corporation has started building a third jetty at its Jurong Island terminal, its first berth for small and mid-scale LNG carriers, due in 2H 2028.

Red Sea container transits hit post-crisis high as ONE sends FE1 and IOX back via Suez
Containership transits of Bab el Mandeb reached 314 in September, the most since late 2023, as the Premier Alliance moves two Asia-Europe loops back to Suez.

Dubai Tower sails home via Suez after Sea Legend's first Arctic run of 2026
Sea Legend Shipping's 1,740 TEU Dubai Tower transited the Suez Canal southbound on 5 October, closing a loop that took her to Europe through Arctic waters.

TT-Line and Viking Line to add a second ferry on the Muuga-Vuosaari freight link
TT-Line will become the second operator between Muuga and Vuosaari in early 2027, in a joint operation with Viking Line, which is buying half the ship for about €10m.

Mundra Port Sets Cargo and Container Records in August at 18.60 MMT
Mundra Port recorded its highest ever monthly cargo throughput of 18.60 million tonnes in August, alongside a record 819,046 TEU and a single-day container rail record.

Panama Canal opens long-term slot auctions to the Panamax locks for 2027
The Panama Canal is extending its long-term slot programme to the Panamax locks for the first time, offering 288 slots for January to April 2027.

Panama Canal raises neopanamax draught to 49 feet and adds a daily slot
The Panama Canal has restored a 49-foot maximum draught in the neopanamax locks and will return to ten daily neopanamax transits from 15 October, as near-average rain eases its water deficit.

Dunkirk picks MSC's TiL for its second container terminal, due in 2029
Dunkirk's port authority has confirmed MSC's Terminal Investment Limited as developer and operator of its second container terminal, with the quay due for completion in January 2029.

MSC's Medlog enters Kazakhstan with a stake in Sarzha Logistics at Kuryk
Medlog, the logistics arm of MSC, is to become an equal partner in Sarzha Logistics at Kazakhstan's Caspian port of Kuryk, building container flows on the Middle Corridor to Türkiye and Europe.

Tanger Med handles 84m tonnes in first half as carriers rebuild services via Suez
Tanger Med handled 84 million tonnes in the first half of 2026, up 6%, as ONE, CMA CGM and the Gemini partners redrew their networks around the gradual return to the Suez Canal.

Wind-powered Neoliner Origin makes first Zeebrugge call
The sail-assisted ro-ro Neoliner Origin called at Zeebrugge on 21 September, the first large cargo ship working partly under sail to load in a Belgian port.

Chattogram Port Unions Call Two Protests Over DP World Terminal Concession
Two Bangladeshi port worker groups have called protests on 22 and 27 September against a proposed government-to-government concession handing Chattogram's New Mooring Container Terminal to DP World.

Asian Port Congestion Passes Its Pandemic Peak at 4.3M TEU
Container capacity stuck at Asian ports has reached 4.3m teu, above the pandemic peak, with Colombo turnarounds at six days and about 6.6 percent of the global fleet unavailable for normal service.

German Seaport Workers Move to an Indefinite Strike Ballot
Ver.di members at Germany's main seaports have rejected the employers' latest offer and opened a ballot on indefinite strike action running to 1 October, covering up to 11,000 workers.

Yanbu Loadings Paused as East-West Pipeline Damage Halts Flow
Loading has been suspended at Yanbu after attacks on the East-West Pipeline, removing a terminal that had been lifting around four million barrels a day, roughly four percent of global supply.

Three Containers Go Overboard at Port of Los Angeles Berth 302
Three 40-foot containers fell from a CMA CGM boxship during cargo operations at Berth 302 in Los Angeles. Two sank, and both were recovered within a day under a 400-yard safety zone.

Panama Canal Budgets 29.5 Deep-Draft Transits a Day for FY2027
The Panama Canal is budgeting for 10,750 deep-draft transits in FY2027, an average of 29.5 a day, while tightening booking slots and postponing a planned draught reduction.

Hapag-Lloyd Secures Long-Term African Terminal Capacity in DP World Agreement
Hapag-Lloyd has signed an agreement with DP World covering long-term terminal capacity at Dakar, Luanda and Dar es Salaam, as its African volumes head past 1m TEU this year.

German Port Workers Weigh Offer as Indefinite Strike Nears
Around 11,000 workers at Hamburg, Bremerhaven and four other German seaports are consulting on a 3.4% offer; a rejection moves the dispute to a ballot on indefinite strikes.

Port of Tauranga Wins Fast-Track Nod for Stella Passage
Port of Tauranga's Stella Passage development has been approved under New Zealand's Fast-track Approvals Act, subject to conditions and remaining appeal rights.

Rotterdam and Antwerp-Bruges still dwarf every other EU port on tonnage
Rotterdam handled 397.3 million tonnes in 2024 and Antwerp-Bruges 243.7 million, with third-placed Hamburg on 97 million as the gap collapses below the top two.

Suez Canal Transits Rise 40% and Dollar Revenues Jump 50%
Suez Canal transits are up 40% and dollar revenues 50% in the second half of this year, though traffic remains at 14,000 to 15,000 vessels against around 26,000 in 2023.

CMA CGM and RSGT Sign $434m Jeddah Terminal 4 Agreement
CMA CGM and Red Sea Gateway Terminal have signed a definitive agreement on Terminal 4 at Jeddah, an SAR 1.6 billion project adding about 2.6 million TEU of annual capacity and ten ship-to-shore cranes.

Espino de Marotta Takes Charge of a Panama Canal Running Short of Water
Ilya Espino de Marotta has taken office for a seven-year term at the Panama Canal, with rainfall 34% below average and daily transit capacity falling to 32 ships from 15 September.

Panama Canal Postpones Neopanamax Draft Cut for a Second Time
The Panama Canal Authority has again deferred a planned reduction in Neopanamax draft, holding the maximum at 14.63 metres as Gatun Lake levels stay steady.

Juneau Keeps Its Five-Ship Cruise Cap Voluntary After a 5 to 4 Vote
The Juneau Assembly postponed an ordinance that would have turned its negotiated five large cruise ship daily limit into local law covering downtown berths and Douglas Island.

Xi and Sisi Agree a Third Phase for the Chinese Zone Beside the Suez Canal
Egypt and China agreed on 2 September to expand Chinese investment in the Suez Canal Economic Zone, deepening Beijing's position beside the waterway as the Hormuz conflict continues.

COSCO Shipping Ports Handles 80.16m TEU as Overseas Volume Rises 18%
COSCO Shipping Ports reported first-half throughput of 80.16m TEU, up 7.9%, with EBITDA climbing 20.6% to $536m and an interim dividend of 2.360 US cents per share.

Oakland Signs for a $640m Turning Basin Widening to Take Longer Ships
The Port of Oakland has completed an agreement with the US Army Corps of Engineers to widen and modernise its inner and outer harbour turning basins by 2030.

German Port Strike Deepens Congestion Already Holding 160,000 TEU at Anchor
A 48-hour warning strike at Hamburg, Bremerhaven, Bremen, Wilhelmshaven, Emden and Brake landed on top of North European congestion already absorbing about 5% of deepsea containership capacity.

Jebel Ali Falls Out of the Top Ten as Hormuz Rewrites the Port Ranking
The ten largest container ports finished 2025 in the same order as a year earlier, but 2026 returns covering 76% of the ranked volume show one port leaving the top ten entirely.

Chemical Leak at Mersin Port Affects 35 People After Machine Topples on a Box
Heavy equipment fell onto a container at Mersin International Port before dawn on 4 September, releasing what is believed to be ethyl acrylate and halting terminal operations.

Rotterdam Terminal Workers Face Prison After a Controlled Cocaine Delivery
Dutch prosecutors are seeking up to 3.5 years for two men accused of using temporary terminal jobs in Waalhaven to retrieve cocaine first intercepted in St Maarten in April.

Chilean Operator Prepares a Punta Arenas to Falklands Cargo Service for November
Easter Island Naviera has agreed with the Falkland Islands Development Corporation to launch a direct cargo service from Punta Arenas, cutting the South American supply leg by half.

Panama Pays $191.7m for Full Ownership of Its Cross-Country Oil Corridor
Panama has bought the remaining 41% of Petroterminal de Panama, taking full state ownership of a pipeline and terminal system that works as a second canal for hydrocarbons.

Second Jan De Nul Dredger Arrives at Anaklia to Take the Port Down to 17.5 Metres
The dredger Al-Idrisi has entered Anaklia Deep Sea Port in Georgia, where two Jan De Nul vessels will now work together to deepen the seabed to 17.5 metres.

Churchill Loads Its First Grain Cargo in Six Years as Arctic Traffic Returns
Canada's only Arctic deep-water port is loading grain again after a six-year gap, following its first critical minerals export in more than two decades.

Rotterdam Ship Handling Stops for Nearly Eight Hours on 4 September
No vessels will be handled at Rotterdam between 11:15 and 19:00 on 4 September, with Amsterdam and Zeeland also affected, ahead of a nationwide rail walkout on 9 September.

Bremen and Bremerhaven Lift Container Volumes 5.7% as Hamburg Slips
Total seaborne throughput across the two locations rose 5.9% to 34.5m tonnes, with the sharpest relative gain at Bremen's city ports.

APM Terminals Breaks Ground on a $550m Terminal at Chattogram
The 30-year concession adds over 800,000 teu of annual capacity from 2030, with Bangladesh retaining ownership of the asset throughout.

Drewry Puts Worsening Port Congestion Down to Utilisation, Not Capacity
A terminal running at 90% berth utilisation needs about a week to recover from a one-day disruption, against roughly two days at 75%, which is where the queues are coming from.

Record 4.3m TEU Waiting for a Berth as Typhoons Hit Chinese Ports Again
Global container congestion has passed the Covid-era peak, with stranded capacity equal to 12.6 percent of the world container fleet.

Dutch Ports Stop Work for Eight Hours in 4 September Strike
The port authority expects ships to wait at the berth and in the anchorage, on top of inland container waiting times already running near 60 hours.

Klaipeda Begins Work on the Largest Port Expansion in Its History
Site preparation has started in the southern part of the Port of Klaipeda, where breakwater construction begins this autumn on a development expected to exceed EUR 1bn in total value.

Panama Canal Loosens Booking Rules to Stretch Shrinking Transit Capacity
From booking dates beginning 13 September the canal will offer 63 neopanamax slots a week and guarantee minimum allocations to containerships, gas carriers, bulkers and vehicle carriers.
Never miss a move
Maritime, in motion. In your inbox.
The vessel sales, incidents, and market moves worth knowing, sent as they happen.
How we make the news
Vessel Hunter News is written with AI, working from maritime news reporting and the primary documents behind it, to fixed editorial rules. Every article passes an automated quality check before it is published, and Vessel Hunter is responsible for what it says. How our news is made. We correct what we get wrong. Mail contact@vesselhunter.io and tell us what to look at.
