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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.
Gottlieb Detained at Brake Over Steering Gear and Hidden Engines
German authorities detained the Barbados-flagged cargo ship Gottlieb at Brake after a pilot reported failing steering gear, and found three auxiliary diesels missing from her certificates.
General Average Declared on CMA CGM Petra After Malacca Fire
CMA CGM has invoked general average on the fire-hit CMA CGM Petra and appointed Albatross Adjusters, with around 450 containers due to be discharged at Port Klang for inspection.
One in Ten Container Inspections Found Deficiencies in 2025
Deficiencies turned up in 9,645 of 93,079 container inspections filed for 2025, a rate of 10.36 percent, and only seven of the IMO's 170-plus member states reported at all.
El Gaia Crew Taken Off Disabled Tanker, Two Still Missing
Oman took 23 crew off the Panama-flagged product tanker El Gaia and is towing her in, while Iran calls the casualty a sea mine and US Central Command calls it a second strike on an already-disabled ship.
Maritime Briefing of 16 September 2026
The TD3C benchmark passes $1m a day and ten-year-old VLCCs outprice newbuildings, Oman cancels its Salalah conference, and Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd return four more services to the Red Sea.
Divers Recover 350kg of Cocaine From a Bulk Carrier's Sea Chest at Mersin
Turkish police divers have recovered about 350kg of cocaine from the sea chest of the bulk carrier CSPC Pisces at Mersin, seizing diving gear and an underwater scooter alongside it.
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.
Bulk Carriers Are Spending Almost 20% Longer at Sea Than They Did in 2020
Laden bulk carrier voyages averaged 22.42 days in June, 19.1% longer than in January 2020, while laden speeds slipped to 10.67 knots, quietly removing effective capacity from a rising fleet.
Gemini Moves Four More Services Back Through the Red Sea and Suez
Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd are routing four more Gemini Cooperation services through the Red Sea and Suez Canal, a substantial acceleration of their staged return to the shorter corridor.
Oman Calls Off Salalah Conference on a New Strait of Hormuz Transit Corridor
Oman has cancelled the Salalah conference at which it was to present a draft Strait of Hormuz transit corridor agreed with Iran, after Gulf states declined to take part.
Iran's Hormuz Blacklist Reaches 77 Ships and Now Warns Insurers and Class Societies
Iran's self-declared Persian Gulf Strait Authority has taken its Strait of Hormuz blacklist to 77 named ships and warned insurers, P&I clubs and classification societies to stop servicing them.
Benchmark VLCC Rate Passes $1m a Day and Ten-Year-Old Ships Outprice Newbuildings
The Baltic Exchange TD3C benchmark has pushed through the equivalent of $1m a day for the first time, and a ten-year-old VLCC is now worth more than a newbuilding.
Maritime Briefing of 15 September 2026
Gulf crude exports pass 10m barrels a day on facilitated Hormuz transits, Somali pirates release the Sward after a ransom, and a ro-ro ferry sinks in the Java Sea with 243 aboard.
Ferry Virgo Transport 8 Sinks in the Java Sea With 243 People on Board
The Indonesian ro-ro ferry Virgo Transport 8 sank in the Java Sea on 13 September with 243 people and 89 vehicles aboard; 107 have been rescued and 130 remain missing.
Dynacom Returns to Hengli With Eight More Ships Worth Close to $1bn
George Procopiou's Dynacom has ordered eight more vessels at Hengli Heavy Industries in a package worth close to $1bn, taking its VLCC count at the yard to twenty.
SFL Extends Six 15,400 TEU Ships to Hapag-Lloyd and Adds $750m of Backlog
SFL has extended charters on six 15,400 TEU container ships to Hapag-Lloyd by seven years, adding about $750m to a fixed-rate backlog that now stands near $4.6bn.
Shenghang Yongle Takes the First Class Certificate for Ammonia Bunkering
A Chinese semi-refrigerated gas carrier has become the first operational vessel classed for ship-to-ship liquid ammonia bunkering, though no commercial transfer has yet been made.
EU Ports Took 156 Yamal Cargoes in Eight Months Before the January Ban
EU ports received 156 Yamal LNG shipments totalling 11.39m tonnes in the first eight months of 2026, 10% more than a year earlier, three months before the import ban takes effect.
Three Ships With Indian Crews Struck in Two Days Near the Strait of Hormuz
An LPG carrier and two crude tankers carrying Indian crew were hit on 8 and 9 September; all those on board survived, but 173 Indian seafarers remain on ships west of the Strait of Hormuz.
Somali Pirates Release the Sward and Its 17 Crew After a Ransom Payment
The general cargo ship Sward has been released near Garacad with all 17 crew after almost five months in pirate hands, leaving four commercial vessels still held off Somalia.
Gulf Crude Exports Pass 10m Barrels a Day on Facilitated Hormuz Transits
Traffic through the Strait of Hormuz is running at about 20% of its pre-conflict norm, yet Gulf crude exports have passed 10m barrels a day and VLCC rates have reached a record.
Maritime Briefing of 14 September 2026
German dock workers decide on indefinite strikes, a Qatari LNG carrier transits Hormuz for the first time since July, and liner carriers ask the IMO to cap undeclared batteries.
Guangzhou Bunkers Green Methanol to a Bulker for the First Time
Guangzhou has completed its first ship-to-ship methanol bunkering, supplying 1,021 tonnes of certified green methanol to the dual-fuel Ultramax bulk carrier Green Future.
Prompt VLCC Tonnage Now Outprices the Newbuilding Market
Frontline has paid out a special dividend on the sale of two VLCCs at $135m each, while the sale-and-purchase market discusses $200m for a ship available immediately.
Dubai Tower Reaches Teesport on the Arctic Route From China
The containership Dubai Tower has arrived at Teesport after sailing from Ningbo through the Arctic, the first of eight Northern Sea Route crossings planned this season.
Albania Turns Away Shadow Fleet Tanker Hanuman at Durres
Albanian authorities refused the product tanker Hanuman entry to Durres after Ukrainian military intelligence identified it as part of Russia's shadow fleet.
Qatari LNG Tanker Clears Hormuz for First Time Since July
The LNG carrier Al Marrouna has passed through the Strait of Hormuz, the first visible movement of Qatari LNG out of the Gulf since exports were halted in late July.
MSC Baltic III Wreck Pulled 53 Metres Closer to Shore
Salvors have winched the wreck of MSC Baltic III some 53 metres up the shoreline at Cedar Cove in Newfoundland, with about 40% of the ship's tonnage now removed.
Hapag-Lloyd Gets 30 Days to Rework Its Zim Acquisition
Israeli authorities have given Hapag-Lloyd 30 more days to restructure its $4.2bn acquisition of Zim around the state's golden share, with revised terms due by the end of September.
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.
Maritime Briefing of 12 September 2026
Houthi forces reached the Bab el-Mandeb, a dry dock fire at Qingdao killed 25 workers, MSC kept buying secondhand tonnage and the container fleet closed on 34 million TEU.
Ventura Takes On Deep Value Driller and a $58m Petronas Well
Ventura Offshore will market and operate the drillship Deep Value Driller for Eldorado Drilling and has signed a one-well contract with Petronas in Indonesia worth about $58m.
Maersk Pushes $250 West Med Surcharge Back to 7 October
Maersk has moved the start of a $250 per container peak-season surcharge from the West Mediterranean to the US and Canada from 5 October to 7 October 2026.
Rosatom and NewNew Advance Five Arc7 Boxships for Arctic Run
Rosatom and NewNew Shipping are advancing five Arc7 ice-class container ships for year-round Northern Sea Route service, with Murmansk under consideration as home port.
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.
Odfjell Orders Suction Sails for Chemical Tanker Bow Optima
Odfjell has ordered four eSAIL suction sails for the 49,000 dwt chemical tanker Bow Optima, its first repeat order after the installation aboard sister ship Bow Olympus.
MSC Buys Three More Secondhand Boxships After 500-Ship Run
MSC has been linked to three further secondhand containerships, weeks after passing roughly 500 such purchases since August 2020 and with 2.94m TEU still on order.
Fire on Bulker Ocean Melody at Qingdao Yard Kills 25 Workers
Twenty-five workers died in a fire aboard the bulk carrier Ocean Melody during repairs at Qingdao Beihai Shipbuilding, one of China's worst recent industrial accidents.
Houthis Seize Mokha, Closing on the Bab el-Mandeb Strait
Houthi forces have taken the Red Sea port of Mokha, putting them roughly 80 km from the Bab el-Mandeb and in reach of the strait's Yemeni shoreline.
This Week in Maritime: Hormuz opens a crack and fuel gets harder to buy
The week Qatar moved a gas carrier openly through Hormuz, Suez transits came back 40%, bunker stocks fell 30% below their seasonal norm and 160,000 TEU sat at anchor off North Europe.
Maritime Briefing of 11 September 2026
The day in shipping: drones damage the Suezmax Siren, fire kills five aboard a Philippine ferry with 86 missing, and Maersk restarts limited Suez transits.
Dajin books 24 newbuildings and builds a heavy transport fleet of its own
Dajin Heavy Industry reports 24 newbuildings worth about RMB 12 billion for delivery to 2030, alongside its own KING and EMPEROR series heavy transport ships.
MSC Cruises cancels the Armonia repositioning voyage to South Africa
MSC Cruises has cancelled MSC Armonia's 26-night repositioning voyage to Durban, saying it cannot guarantee safe transit of the Suez Canal and the Red Sea.
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.
Hanwha Ocean faces a second billion-dollar claim over Arctic LNG 2 ships
LLC Arctic LNG 2 is seeking about 1.37 trillion won from Hanwha Ocean over three cancelled ice-class LNG carriers, on top of the shipowners' existing claim.
Maersk resumes limited Suez transits but warns strain will persist
Maersk has restarted Suez transits on three services while telling customers to plan for variable lead times across India, the Middle East and Africa.
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