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Ferry and oil tanker collide off Penang Port, injuring 21 people
A collision between the tanker Mekar Jaya and the ferry Teluk Bahang near Penang Port injured 21 of the 92 people involved, six of them seriously.
Five dead and 86 missing after ferry fire on the Manila to Coron run
A fire aboard the ferry June Aster on passage from Manila to Coron has killed five people and left 86 unaccounted for, with 43 rescued from a complement of 134.
Drone strike damages Suezmax tanker Siren in the Black Sea
The Liberia-flagged crude carrier Siren was struck by drones overnight while crossing the Black Sea, damaging her accommodation block without injuries or an oil spill.
Maritime Briefing of 10 September 2026
The day in shipping: fuel oil stocks run 30% below seasonal norms at Singapore, ARA and Fujairah, empty Qatari LNG carriers head back toward Hormuz, and the RMS Team is declared a total loss.
COSCO Shipping Holdings' First-Half Profit Falls 34% on Thinner Box Margins
COSCO Shipping Holdings carried 8% more boxes in the first half of 2026 and earned a third less doing it, as operating profit per TEU fell about 30% to $139 and the margin narrowed to 12.5%.
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.
Bunker Stocks Run 30% Below Seasonal Norms at the Big Three Hubs
Fuel oil inventories at Singapore, the ARA hub and Fujairah are around 30% below their three-year seasonal averages, with Singapore VLSFO up 76% and lead times running to sixteen days.
Qatar Sends Empty LNG Carriers Back Toward the Arabian Gulf
Six empty gas carriers linked to Qatar are in the Gulf of Oman or heading there and another has crossed Hormuz inbound, a repositioning that would be consistent with a resumption of LNG exports.
SAL Signs MoU With Wuhu Shipyard to Double Its Orca Fleet to Ten
SAL Heavy Lift has signed a memorandum of understanding with China's Wuhu Shipyard for five more 14,600 dwt Orca-class heavy-lift vessels, which would double the programme to ten ships.
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.
Container Ship Fires Rise 20% as Lithium Cargo Slips Through SP188
A new study puts the rise in ship fires at 20% year on year and a major container ship fire at one every 17 days, and points at Special Provision 188 as the gap through which lithium cells travel unseen.
Drone-Hit Boxship RMS Team Declared a Constructive Total Loss
The 1,100 TEU feeder RMS Team, hit by a drone on 21 August while bound for Novorossiysk, has been written off after an assessment of the fire damage to her superstructure and forward container rows.
Maritime Briefing of 9 September 2026
The day in shipping: the Consultative Shipping Group warns of a two-tier system, Espino de Marotta takes over a dry Panama Canal, and Hapag-Lloyd gets 30 days to rework its Zim bid.
Hapag-Lloyd Gets 30 Days to Rework Its Zim Bid for Israeli Approval
Israeli authorities have given Hapag-Lloyd a 30-day extension to restructure its proposed acquisition of Zim, with six of eight ministries reported to have been set to oppose the deal.
Yemen Coast Guard Stops the Tanker Nereida After a Call at Ras Isa
The Yemen Coast Guard has stopped the sanctioned product tanker Nereida after a delivery at the Houthi-controlled port of Ras Isa, saying the ship entered without permits or UN inspection.
A Second Bidder Emerges for Austal USA as Wildcat Holds Early Talks
Austal has confirmed preliminary discussions with Wildcat Infrastructure, a US investment firm reported to be interested in Austal USA and a potential rival to Hanwha's approach.
Shearwater Puts Electric ROVs Into Service on a North Sea Node Survey
Shearwater GeoServices is deploying newly installed electric ROV systems commercially for the first time on a seven-week ocean bottom node campaign in the central North Sea.
BULL Adds the Lady of Doria as Its Fourth MR Tanker in Four Months
Buana Lintas Lautan has bought the 20-year-old, 46,000 dwt MR2 Lady of Doria, its fourth MR purchase in as many months and the exit from shipping of Bangladesh's Doria Shipping.
HMM Signs a 25-Year Iron Ore Contract With Vale Worth KRW4.7trn
HMM has taken a third long-term iron ore contract from Vale, worth about KRW4.7trn, running 25 years per vessel and served by eight 210,000 dwt newcastlemaxes from 2030.
QatarEnergy Sends an LNG Carrier Through Hormuz With Its AIS Switched On
QatarEnergy has moved the LNG carrier Al Marrouna through the Strait of Hormuz with AIS transmitting, breaking with the dark-mode navigation adopted by much of the commercial traffic there.
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.
Maritime Briefing of 8 September 2026
The day in shipping: Rosneft opens its Arctic export terminal, fire hits the icebreaker Admiral Makarov, Panama defers a draft cut, and a sanctioned roro is struck off Crete.
Ventura Takes On Deep Value Driller and Lands $58m Petronas Job
Ventura Offshore will manage the drillship Deep Value Driller for Eldorado Drilling and has secured a one-well contract with Petronas in Indonesia worth around $58m.
Fujian Highton Seeks $295m Placement to Fund a 16-Ship Buying Programme
Fujian Highton Development is raising up to RMB2bn to fund 16 bulkers and multipurpose heavylift ships over three years, with the whole placement earmarked for vessel purchases.
Sanctioned Russian Roro Lady Mariia Reported Struck by Drones off Crete
The sanctioned Russian roro Lady Mariia was reportedly hit by drone-dropped munitions near Crete while heading east towards Syria. Neither side has confirmed the strike.
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.
Wallenius Marine Puts Two Oceanbird Wing Sails on Car Carrier Way Forward
Wallenius Marine will retrofit two Oceanbird wing sails to the 2024-built car carrier Way Forward in 2027, the first commercial multi-wing installation of the technology.
Fire Breaks Out Aboard Icebreaker Admiral Makarov During St Petersburg Refit
A fire spread across roughly 80 square metres of the icebreaker Admiral Makarov while the 1975-built vessel lay under repair in St Petersburg. No injuries were reported.
Rosneft Ships First Vostok Oil Cargo Through New Sever Bay Arctic Port
Rosneft has begun exporting crude from the Vostok Oil development through the newly built Sever Bay terminal on the Taimyr Peninsula, loading its first shuttle tanker on 5 September.
Maritime Briefing, 7 September 2026: Hormuz, Congestion, Yard Money
Two seafarers dead aboard the VLCC Sidr, Jebel Ali falling out of the top ten container ports, and US East Coast box rates breaking $10,000 per FEU for the first time since 2022.
The Gulf War Strands the Historic Liner St Helena and Costs Her a New Career
Terra Nova Expeditions has abandoned plans to bring the retired RMS St Helena back into service, chartering a former G Adventures expedition ship instead for its first Antarctic season.
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.
SeaDream Orders Its First New Yacht in 25 Years at a Chinese Cruise Yard
SeaDream Yacht Club will build a 151.2-metre newbuild at China Merchants Cruise Shipbuilding, its first new ship since the two vessels it has operated since the 1980s.
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.
Up to 800 North Sea Workers Still Exceed the November Helicopter Weight Limit
New offshore travel rules taking effect in November cap clothed passenger weight at 124kg so that anyone can be winched to safety, and hundreds of workers are still above it.
Bipartisan Bill Would Extend the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion to US Mariners
Four House members have introduced legislation giving US merchant mariners in international trade the same tax treatment as other Americans working overseas.
Putin Inspects the Arc7 LNG Carrier Pyotr Stolypin at the Zvezda Yard
The Russian president visited the Zvezda complex at Bolshoy Kamen on 2 September to inspect an icebreaking LNG carrier built for a project whose scale has been cut back by sanctions.
North Sea PSV Spot Rates Pass £30,000 as Six Vessels Go on Project Work
Rates for North Sea platform supply vessels have risen sharply on a supply shortage, with spot fixtures above £30,000 in the UK sector and NKr300,000 in Norway.
NORDEN Issues the First Verified Maritime Emissions Reductions Under Book and Claim
NORDEN has delivered verified emissions reductions through the RSB Book and Claim registry, letting a cargo owner buy the benefit of sustainable fuel burned on someone else's voyage.
IMO Ends Another Net-Zero Session Divided, With Three Meetings Left in 2026
The IMO's latest working group closed after four days without a finalised text, deferring the lifecycle framework and pushing key decisions to a run of sessions in late November and early December.
Core Power Signs a Seven-Year MARAD Deal for 50 Nuclear-Powered Merchant Ships
A British nuclear energy company has agreed a seven-year programme with the US Maritime Administration to build a fleet of 50 nuclear-powered LNG tankers and container ships.
Anemoi Courts Korean Yards as Rotor Sails Move Onto Container Ships
The British wind propulsion company says several major Korean shipyards have approached it about integrating rotor sails, as it prepares the first planned installation on a container vessel.
Horizontal Turbines in Containers Begin Sea Trials on an Iceland Feeder
Sea trials have begun on a hybrid wind and solar system fitted to the 909 TEU containership Helgafell, using horizontally mounted turbines packaged inside shipping containers.
Regent's Viceroy Seaglider Makes Its First Flight With People On Board
Regent Craft says its Viceroy prototype is the largest all-electric wing-in-ground effect craft ever to fly with people aboard, marking the start of the programme's final stage of sea trials.
USS Abraham Lincoln Reaches Thailand After 286 Consecutive Days at Sea
The nuclear-powered carrier arrived in Thailand on 2 September after an extended deployment that included combat operations, with a crew that had gone more than 260 days without a full shore stop.
USS Delaware Surfaces at Tromso as Four Russian Submarines Go to Sea
The US Navy publicised the arrival of a Virginia class attack submarine in northern Norway during a summer in which one Russian boat after another has left the White Sea yards for trials.
Japan's 2027 Budget Request Points to Submarine-Launched Hypersonic Missiles
A preliminary defence budget request presented to the Diet refers to an underwater-launched, high-survivability missile that can be fired at an early stage and at long range.
HMS Bulwark Becomes NDM Olapoque as Sister Ship Albion Awaits Disposal
The Royal Navy's retired amphibious ship HMS Bulwark has been sold to Brazil and renamed, while HMS Albion remains alongside at Devonport in condition too poor for a sale.
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