Vessel Hunter News
Maritime, in motion

Fincantieri Books Two More Viking Ocean Ships for 2032 Delivery
Fincantieri has converted options into firm contracts for two 54,300 gross ton Viking ocean ships, to be built at Ancona for delivery in 2032.

Disney Sets Course for 13 Cruise Ships With a New Meyer Werft Class
Disney Cruise Line will roughly quadruple capacity from its pre-expansion base, with three new Meyer Werft ships, a Japan-based vessel with NYK and a fleet of 13 by late 2030.

NCLH Moves Five Ships Out as a $20 Billion Orderbook Builds
Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings is running the industry's only active fleet optimization programme, with five ships leaving between 2026 and 2028 and 16 on order to 2037.

Chilean Study Confirms Antarctica Subsea Cable Is Technically Feasible
A feasibility study led on behalf of Chile's telecoms regulator has mapped two subsea cable routes to Antarctica, the larger connecting nine landing points across five countries' bases.

Studies Back Year-Round Shipping to Churchill Through Hudson Bay
Three studies have concluded that existing ice-class tonnage can work the Churchill corridor year-round, as grain exports resume through the port after a five-year pause.

Labor Shortage Caps Japan's Plan to Double Shipbuilding Capacity by 2035
Japan is putting $6.5 billion behind a plan to double shipbuilding output by 2035, but orders have fallen 15 percent this year because yards cannot staff the work.

Two Diverting Ships Rescue 27 From Burning Tuna Seiner Off Galapagos
All 27 crew of the Ecuadorian tuna seiner Drennec were recovered within 11 hours of the first distress alert, 450 nautical miles southwest of the Galapagos Islands.

Sanctioned Tanker Caroline Bezengi Still Leaking Oil Off Oman
The beached shadow-fleet tanker is settling deeper in the water off the Hallaniyat Islands, and salvage work cannot begin until the Khareef monsoon eases.

MSC Files New Far East-Africa Rates for September as Demand Firms
MSC has filed new freight-all-kinds rates on Far East-Sub-Saharan Africa and Indian Ocean trades for 1-14 September, ranging up to $8,000 per 40-foot container to Somalia.

Iraq Secures Iranian Approval for Oil Tanker Transit Through Hormuz
Iran has granted permission for Iraqi oil tankers to transit the Strait of Hormuz following repeated requests from Baghdad, though the arrangement remains complicated.

Russian Urals Crude Tops Brent in India for First Time Since May
Russian Urals crude for October delivery to India has been offered at a premium over Dated Brent for the first time since May, as drone attacks constrain loadings from Novorossiysk.

Maersk Launches Tangier-Casablanca Rail Link to Ease Port Congestion
Maersk has launched a high-frequency rail service between Tangier and Casablanca aimed at easing congestion at Casablanca, which handled 17 million tonnes of cargo in the first half of 2026.

Global New Ship Orders Rise 27% Year on Year, Nearing Pre-2008 Peak
Global newbuild orders rose 27% year on year in the twelve months to early August, the fastest growth since the 2008 financial crisis, with the order backlog now at 405.9 million gross tonnes.

Philippines-Japan Military Logistics Pact Enters Into Force
A defence pact allowing Japan and the Philippines to exchange military supplies and services has come into force, deepening a security partnership shaped by China's regional activity.

SBM Offshore Delivers Trion Turret Buoy From China to Mexico
SBM Offshore has shipped a disconnectable turret mooring buoy and related equipment from China to Altamira, Mexico, for the $10.4bn Trion oil development in the Gulf of Mexico.

Boskalis Calls First Half 'Solid' Despite Geopolitical Drag on New Projects
Boskalis reported first-half revenue of EUR1.90bn, down from an exceptionally strong EUR2.35bn a year earlier, as geopolitical uncertainty dampened client appetite for new projects.

Angolan Crude Oil Exports Set to Fall Sharply in October
Angola plans to load 30 crude oil cargoes in October at 932,000 barrels a day, down from 34 cargoes and 1.04 million bpd pencilled in for September.

DEME and Jan De Nul Complete Final Caisson for Princess Elisabeth Energy Island
The TM Edison consortium of DEME and Jan De Nul has installed the last of 23 caissons forming the protective ring of Belgium's Princess Elisabeth energy island.

China's Sea Legend Launches Regular Container Service Through the Arctic
Chinese line Sea Legend has launched a regular Arctic container service to Europe after a 2025 trial crossing took 20 days from Ningbo-Zhoushan to Felixstowe.

ADNOC L&S Pays Record $115 Million for 15-Year-Old VLCC
ADNOC L&S has bought the 15-year-old VLCC Olympic Leopard for $115 million and renamed her Al Yahr, a record price as European brokers value similar tankers at up to $100 million.

Norway Grants Ventyr a One-Year Delay on Southern North Sea II Wind Licence
Norway's energy ministry has given Ventyr an extra year to submit its licence application for the Southern North Sea II offshore wind project, pushing the deadline to 15 October 2027.

Panama Canal to Cut Daily Transit Slots From September as Rainfall Falls Short
The Panama Canal will reduce daily transit slots from 3 September after below-expected rainfall in its watershed, reorganising bookings into four cargo-type auction groups.

Eidesvik Offshore Reports Higher Q2 Revenue but Lower Earnings
Eidesvik Offshore posted NOK204.5 million in second-quarter freight revenue, up from NOK198.5 million a year earlier, while EBITDA fell to NOK71.4 million on a tougher comparison.

Evergreen to Trial AI-Based Autonomous Navigation on a Container Ship
Evergreen Marine will test an SHI-built autonomous navigation module on one of its container ships, with ClassNK independently verifying any reduction in fuel use and emissions.

Bangkok Maersk Makes First Suez Transit With 190,000-Tonne Cargo
Bangkok Maersk crossed the Suez Canal for the first time on 22 August, part of a northern convoy that also carried sister vessel Mathilde Maersk on Maersk's AE7 Asia-Europe service.

Equinor Keeps Rescue Vessel Havila Troll on Charter Until November 2027
Equinor Energy has exercised a one-year option on Havila Shipping's rescue and recovery vessel Havila Troll, extending the charter to November 2027.

SONFOR Takes Majority Control of Lillebaelt Syd and Starts Partner Hunt
Danish utility SONFOR has been cleared to take the majority stake in Lillebaelt Vind after TotalEnergies withdrew, and is now assessing new partners and the project's business case.

Icebreaker Botnica Fixed for a 45-Day South African Buoy Mooring Job
TS Shipping has chartered the multipurpose icebreaker Botnica to OSC Marine Group for a 45-day single buoy mooring change-out campaign off South Africa from May 2027.

Syria and Myanmar Appear as False Flags on Russia-Linked Tankers
Russia-linked tankers claimed Syrian and Myanmar flags for the first time in the second quarter, as the IMO's list of falsely flagged vessels climbed to 580.

A 23-Year-Old VLCC Changes Hands at $57m as Vintage Tanker Values Surge
The 2003-built, 300,000 dwt VLCC Hellstugutinden has been sold for a reported $57m, an unusual valuation for a tanker entering its twenty-fourth year.

RCL Returns to Its Feeder Roots With Four 1,900 TEU Ships in Guangzhou
Thailand's Regional Container Lines has ordered four 1,900 teu feeders at CSSC Huangpu Wenchong, using the Guangzhou yard's in-house design with shore power and scrubbers.

Japan Convenes Yards, Owners and JERA to Restart LNG Carrier Building
Japan's transport ministry has brought Imabari, Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Namura and JERA together to put numbers on order volumes, yard investment and costs for domestic LNG carrier construction.

Hanjin's Collapse Returns to Court as Korea Rethinks Rehabilitation Rules
A decade after Hanjin Shipping was declared bankrupt, the Seoul Rehabilitation Court is considering reducing its reliance on the court-appointed examiners whose valuations decide corporate survival.

Amazon Drought Pushes Manaus Container Surcharges Toward $1,900 a Box
Container lines serving Manaus have published low-water surcharges ranging from $753 per teu to as much as $1,900 per box as the Amazon dry season approaches.

Klaus-Michael Kuehne, Hapag-Lloyd's Largest Shareholder, Dies at 89
Klaus-Michael Kuehne, honorary chairman of Kuehne+Nagel and holder of 30 percent of Hapag-Lloyd, has died aged 89 at his home in Schindellegi, Switzerland.

Dutch Council of State Questions Legal Basis for Shadow Fleet Detentions
The Council of State says the international law of the sea gives no direct basis for the Dutch power to detain suspected shadow-fleet tankers at sea and take them into port.

Bulker Ocean Winner Sinks in Eight Minutes off India, 22 Crew Missing
The Panama-flagged bulker Ocean Winner took a list and went under in about eight minutes in the Bay of Bengal; two of her 24 crew have been rescued and 22 are still missing.

PIL Builds a Real-Time Digital Twin of Its Operations With Celonis and WNS
Pacific International Lines is using Celonis to build a live digital twin of its processes, with WNS embedding the capability across a fleet of more than 100 container vessels.

Australia Picks Amentum and Laing O'Rourke for the Osborne Submarine Yard
Australian Naval Infrastructure has selected Amentum and Laing O'Rourke to help build the Osborne yard for SSN-AUKUS submarines, alongside a A$12 billion upgrade at Henderson.

Algeciras Lines Up EUR 1.4 Billion to Hold Its Position at the Strait
Algeciras has mapped almost EUR 1.4 billion of public and private investment through 2030, aiming for installed container capacity of 7.5m teu by the end of the decade.

One Worker Dies in Tanker Fire at Kanasashi Shipyard in Shizuoka
A man in his 40s died and nine were hospitalised after fire broke out inside a 955-tonne tanker at Kanasashi Heavy Industries in Shizuoka, with welding work under investigation.

Washington Readies New Iran Sanctions and Presses China Over Hormuz
Scott Bessent has promised the toughest sanctions in history against Iran and called on China, which took over 80% of Iran's shipped oil in 2025, to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

US Night Convoys Move 10 Million Barrels a Day Through the Strait of Hormuz
US forces are escorting 15 to 20 tankers a night through the Strait of Hormuz on a southern route hugging Oman, moving around 10 million barrels of oil daily.

CMA CGM Adds Inland Emergency Fee as Low Rhine Levels Cut Barge Capacity
CMA CGM will apply an inland emergency fee on shipments routed through Antwerp, Zeebrugge and Rotterdam as low water on the Rhine reduces barge capacity and lengthens dwell times.

Baltic Dry Index Snaps Two-Session Slide as Capesize Earnings Climb
The Baltic Exchange's main dry bulk index rose 15 points to 2,791 as capesize gains outweighed a weakening panamax market and softer iron ore futures.

Pioneering Spirit Lifts North Cormorant Topsides for Dales Voe Demolition
The world's largest lifting vessel is removing the North Cormorant platform for transport to Dales Voe, where demolition of the 42-year-old structure will take 12 to 14 months.

Russian Frigate Escorts Gazprom LNG Carrier Portovyy Along the Norwegian Coast
The Northern Fleet frigate Admiral Kasatonov is escorting the Gazprom LNG carrier Portovyy from the Baltic toward Murmansk, in the latest naval protection of a Russian commercial voyage.

US Ferry Grants Award $665 Million Across 23 Projects in 14 States
The Federal Transit Administration has selected 23 ferry projects in 14 states and the US Virgin Islands for $665 million, from new passenger vessels to dock and landing rehabilitation.
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.
