Vessel Hunter News
Maritime, in motion

Velesto Second-Quarter Profit Falls to RM531,000 as Rig Rates Slide 16%
Velesto Energy's quarterly net profit collapsed to RM531,000 from RM50.44 million a year earlier as utilisation and day rates fell, though the order book stands at RM1.3 billion.

Wilson Sons Names WS Ariel, Third Tug in Its ASD 2312 Series
Wilson Sons has named WS Ariel at Pier Maua in Rio de Janeiro, the third ASD 2312 tug from its Guaruja yard this year, with 73.5 tonnes of bollard pull and a FiFi 1 system.

Saudi Arabia Was July's Top Buyer of Russian Seaborne Fuel Oil
Saudi Arabia took 1.1 million tonnes of Russian fuel oil and VGO in July, down 18% on June, as summer power demand kept the discounted barrels flowing east.

Petrobras Opens Negotiations on Four Offshore Blocks in Ghana's Keta Basin
Petrobras has submitted an expression of interest for four offshore blocks in Ghana's Keta Basin, part of a plan to make Africa its main exploration region outside Brazil.

Maersk Expands Its AI Customs Platform as Tariff Exposure Gets Harder to Price
Maersk has widened Trade & Tariff Studio into a connected customs environment covering HTS classification, landed-cost modelling and audit readiness across a shipper's whole product catalogue.

Viking Holds $4 Billion in Cash and Sets a Four-Part Test for Acquisitions
Viking closed the second quarter with $4 billion in cash and an undrawn $1 billion revolver, and says any acquisition must beat the returns its own newbuildings generate.

LNG Bayelsa Becomes a Floating Storage Unit for Gabon's Cap Lopez Project
The former LNG carrier Bayelsa is being converted into a floating storage unit at Drydocks World Dubai, with Lloyd's Register handling class and technical assurance for Gabon's Cap Lopez gas backbone.

Dutch-Built 5,400 hp Pushboat Heads for DP World's Parana Iron Ore Run
The DPW Lapacho was launched at Kampen for a Paraguayan trade where a 25-barge tow moves 15,000 tonnes through water with 30 centimetres under the keel.

India Plans First Northern Sea Route Cargo Voyage to Europe in 2027
India would follow China's first scheduled NSR container service and a South Korean demonstration voyage, adding a third Asian user to the Russian Arctic route.

Bulker Burns VLSFO Co-Processed With Cashew Nutshell Liquid
The 82,144-dwt Scion Mathilda took 34.5 tonnes of co-processed CNSL VLSFO in Singapore and ran Asia to Northern Europe to South America without operational remarks.

Landlocked Kyrgyz Republic Warns IMO That Its Flag Is Being Faked
Bishkek told the IMO it has authorised nobody to register or operate seagoing vessels under its flag, the latest state to find its registry impersonated.

Delays and Congestion Now Absorb 5% of Global Container Capacity
Sea-Intelligence puts the absorption rate at 5.0 percent against a 2011-2019 norm of 2.2 percent, with schedule reliability stuck at 60-65 percent.

Conoship Unveils Fully Electric 89-Metre Short-Sea Cargo Ship Design
The Dutch design house has taken its proven 3,800-dwt coaster platform fully electric rather than building a new hull form around the batteries.

Rock Strike Sank New Zealand Tourist Catamaran Carrying 41 People
The 17-metre Black Cat struck Archway Rock off Akaroa with 38 passengers aboard, flooded, and was lost after the crew could not operate the bilge system.

German Court Leaves Eventin Crude Cargo Sale Blocked as Case Drags
The Hamburg Finance Court has closed the expedited track and will wait for the main ruling, keeping customs barred from confiscating or selling the crude.

HD Hyundai in Advanced Talks to Buy a US Shipyard Under MASGA
South Korea's largest shipbuilder has narrowed its search to two or three American yards, with Cerberus Capital Management and the Korea Development Bank lined up behind the deal.

Crew of US-Flagged SLNC York Evacuated After Water Ingress
The 9,500 dwt roro SLNC York was in ballast from Honolulu to Japan when it reported an incursion of water, and its 18 crew transferred to the gas carrier Pacific Yantai.

Royal IHC Names Erik-Jan Bijvank Chief Executive From October
Royal IHC will change both its chief executive and its chief financial officer within weeks, three years after the Kinderdijk builder restarted under Te Bokkel.

Finland Picks Helsinki Shipyard to Build the Icebreaker Aino
Helsinki Shipyard has won the contract for the first of Finland's next-generation icebreakers, a 96-metre vessel able to open a 25-metre channel, with delivery set for September 2029.

Arklow Falcon Hits Canal Bank After Rudder Failure at Terneuzen
The 90-metre Irish general cargo ship drove its bow into the embankment near Terneuzen after losing rudder control, and was backed off about an hour later with tug assistance.

Heerema Consortium Wins 120,000-Tonne UK North Sea Removal Work
Heerema Marine Contractors and AF Offshore Decom have been awarded three UK North Sea platform removal contracts with a combined weight of more than 120,000 tonnes.

Hapag-Lloyd Buys 25 Percent of APM Terminals Maasvlakte II
Hapag-Lloyd is taking a quarter of the automated Rotterdam terminal at the centre of the Gemini network, its terminal arm's latest move toward a 30-facility portfolio.

Maersk Drops Its Fleet Cap as Capacity Passes 4.7m TEU
Maersk has abandoned the 4.0 to 4.4 million teu ceiling that defined its strategy for the decade, with its operated fleet already past 4.7 million teu and CMA CGM closing the gap.

MSC Reaches 500 Secondhand Boxship Purchases Since 2020
MSC has bought its 500th secondhand containership since August 2020, taking its operated fleet from about 3.8m teu to close to 7.4m teu and more than 21 percent of global capacity.

Romanian F-16s Destroy Explosive Drone at Neptun Deep Gas Field
Two Romanian fighter jets were sent to disable a loitering naval drone found next to an active work area at the Neptun Deep gas project, where several hundred people were working.

CK Hutchison Files Second Panama Claim Seeking $1.5 Billion
CK Hutchison has opened a second arbitration against Panama over the Balboa and Cristobal concession, claiming more than $1.5 billion for breaches of investment protection treaties.

U.S. Sanctions Ten Ecuadorian Fishing Vessels Over Cocaine Runs
Fifteen Ecuadorian individuals and companies and ten fishing vessels have been designated for moving cocaine and supporting go-fast boats bound for Central America and Mexico.

Pirates Seize Sanctioned Product Tanker East of Al Mukalla
A 32,238 dwt product tanker sanctioned by OFAC in December 2025 is being steered toward Bosaso after six armed pirates boarded it 136 nautical miles east of Al Mukalla.

Panama Canal Cuts Daily Transits to 32 From September 3
Daily transits drop from 34 to 32 on September 3 and fall again on September 15, with unbooked ships already waiting more than eight days to get through.

DP World Lands First Cranes Under 30-Year Tartous Concession
DP World has taken delivery of the first cranes at the Port of Tartous under a 30-year concession, the opening step in an investment programme running through 2028.

Global Tug Deliveries Reach 177 in the First Half of 2026
A total of 177 port tugs and inland pushers were delivered worldwide in the first half of 2026, up from 173 a year earlier, driven by new port development and fleet modernisation.

Carriers Raise Panama Canal Surcharges as Gatun Lake Falls
Falling water levels at Gatun Lake have brought stricter draft restrictions, and CMA CGM, Hapag-Lloyd and MSC have all announced significant Panama Canal surcharges.

Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia Weigh Coordinated Coast Guard Patrols
The three coast guard chiefs have signed Notes of Discussion on information sharing, training and coordinated responses to cross-border threats, and are weighing coordinated patrols.

Port of Hamburg Throughput Falls 3.1 Percent in First Half of 2026
Hamburg handled 56.1 million tonnes in the first half of 2026, down 3.1 percent, with container volumes of 4.0 million TEU and a marked 13.5 percent fall in cargo handling with the United States.

Suezmax Skiros Attacked After Loading at the CPC Terminal
The Greek-run Suezmax Skiros was attacked in the Black Sea after loading Russian-origin crude at the Caspian Pipeline Consortium terminal near Novorossiysk, with no injuries or pollution reported.

Sanctioned Ships Account for 58 Percent of Tanker Scrapping in 2026
Sanctioned vessels are taking an extraordinary share of the tanker recycling market this year, with 22 blacklisted tankers making up 58 percent of all reported tanker demolition sales.

Covert Hormuz Crossings Are Holding Global Oil Prices in Check
Middle Eastern producers are shuttling crude out of the Persian Gulf undetected and transferring it to tankers in the Gulf of Oman, keeping Brent between $80 and $90 through August.

Russia Builds an LNG Shadow Fleet Ahead of the EU's 2027 Ban
Russia is assembling a shadow fleet of LNG carriers ahead of the EU's complete ban on Russian LNG imports from January 2027, buying up ageing tonnage the industry is already retiring.

Everllence and Hudong-Zhonghua to Design 180,000 cbm LNG Carrier
Everllence has signed an engineering design agreement with Hudong-Zhonghua covering a 180,000 cubic metre class LNG carrier using a dual-fuel electric propulsion system.

ALAM Maritim Chief Returns to Post After Anti-Corruption Remand
Malaysian offshore services firm ALAM Maritim says its group managing director was remanded by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission for two days and has resumed his executive roles.

Hydrophone Study Records One Fishing Blast an Hour off Sulawesi
A single hydrophone in the Spermonde Archipelago recorded an average of 23 blasts every 24 hours, suggesting bomb fishing is far more common in hotspot areas than previously believed.

BlackSea Revives the LASH Concept for Floating ISO Containers
Blacksea Technologies has scaled down the Cold War Lighter Aboard Ship concept into an autonomous 85-foot vessel that carries watertight, floating ISO containers instead of barges.

US Lifts 12-Year Security Restriction on Vessels Calling Nigeria
The US Coast Guard has lifted the Conditions of Entry imposed on vessels calling at Nigerian terminals in 2014, removing enhanced scrutiny that had weighed on turnaround times and costs.

Australia and China Trace 91 Containers in Tobacco Smuggling Sweep
The Australian Border Force and China Customs identified 112 suspicious containers, with 91 confirmed as smuggled tobacco carrying about US$65 million in unpaid duty.

Indonesia Seizes 2.6 Tonnes of Methamphetamine on Tanzanian-Flagged Ship
Indonesian police and customs seized 2.6 tonnes of liquid methamphetamine from a Tanzanian-registered general cargo ship off Bengkalis, detaining 10 Myanmar nationals.

First Chinese Container Ship Reaches Murmansk via Northern Sea Route
Murmansk has received the Xin Xin Hai 1, the first Chinese-operated container ship to arrive by the Northern Sea Route and the port's first container imports through the Arctic passage.

Zim Lifts Q2 Revenue to $1.8bn as Hapag Merger Meets Regulators
Zim reported $1.8 billion in second-quarter revenue, up nine percent, but its shares fell four percent after Brazil's competition authority opened a full review of the $4.2 billion Hapag-Lloyd merger.

Indian Union Says Owners Are Pressuring Crews to Transit Hormuz
The Forward Seamen's Union of India says shipowners are pressing seafarers to sail through the Hormuz war risk zone against their wishes, an apparent breach of the right to request repatriation under the MLC.
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.
