gCaptain - Maritime News

Panama Canal Congestion Drives Gas Tankers To Unusual Routes
▻https://gcaptain.com/panama-canal-congestion-drives-gas-tankers-to-unusual-routes

Aug 28, 2026 (Bloomberg) –Growing congestion at the Panama Canal is forcing some gas tankers into unusual journeys, from a rare detour around South America to the possible emergence of shuttling through the waterway.

Two supertankers were recently observed conducting an unusual ship-to-ship transfer off Balboa port on Panama’s Pacific Ocean coast, according to vessel-tracking data, traders and shipbrokers. The process allows one of the tankers to shuttle back and forth through the canal to ensure the steady flow of liquefied petroleum gas to Asian customers, traders said.

The Iran war has diverted more traffic through the canal, while authorities tightened restrictions on how much cargo vessels can carry along with the number of ships that can cross due to drier conditions triggered by El Niño. Waiting times for vessels that haven’t made bookings in advance to transit the waterway have grown in recent months and some operators are paying millions of dollars to jump the queue. 

There are currently 14 ships waiting near the canal without reservations, while there’s a total of 115 scheduled to transit, a canal spokesperson said Friday. Of the 14 vessels without bookings, those seeking northbound passage face a maximum wait of 8 days, while those looking to go south have to wait as long as four days, the spokesperson said.

The biggest impact has been on wider Neopanamax vessels, which are typically used to ferry LPG from the US Gulf Coast to Asian customers. Rates and wait times for the narrower Panamax tankers, which go through a separate set of locks, haven’t increased as much, according to traders.

Off Balboa, the Panamax Energia Grandeur is transferring its cargo to the Eneos Wisdom, a Neopanamax tanker. The Energia Grandeur was previously carrying LPG across the Pacific toward Japan before U-turning. The move suggests its charterer saw more value in deploying the ship to shuttle gas through Panama, rather than tying it up on a month-long journey to Asia, traders said.

The two supertankers were chartered by TotalEnergies SE. The French oil and gas major, along with Eneos Holdings Inc., which owns a stake in the ship manager of Eneos Wisdom, declined to comment. MOL Energia Pte., the owner and ship manager of Energia Grandeur, did not respond to a request for comment. 

Separately, the Panama logjam has prompted another supertanker, Gas Scorpio, to embark on a rare voyage around South America in order to load a cargo in the US, a costly trip that adds around a month of transit time. The vessel is currently off Chile. A similar voyage was last made in 2023, after low rainfall snarled traffic through the waterway.

“The global LPG market is already stretched thin from Strait of Hormuz tensions, and the Panama Canal is one more disruption it simply couldn’t afford,” said Julian Renton, lead analyst covering natural gas liquids at East Daley Analytics. “It’s a vivid illustration of how geopolitics, climate, and energy security are colliding in real time.”

US Commander Declares Hormuz Shipping Lanes Are Mine-Free
▻https://gcaptain.com/us-commander-declares-hormuz-shipping-lanes-are-mine-free

Aug 28, 2026 (Bloomberg) –The top US commander for the Middle East said that American forces have cleared Iranian mines from the Strait of Hormuz, after Washington’s allies expressed doubts about similar claims by President Donald Trump.

Admiral Brad Cooper, head of US Central Command, said in the three-and-a-half-minute video released Thursday night that “over the past few months, our forces meticulously and quietly” cleared the international shipping lanes of mines. The work was carried out by Navy divers and SEALs, as well as aircraft.

“The circumstances were challenging and dangerous, to say the least, but we got the job done,” Cooper added in the video, which included a detailed map and a diagram. “Bottom line, today, international shipping lanes are open and momentum is building.”

US allies, however, have privately warned that the strait, a key thoroughfare for Middle East oil, natural gas and fertilizer, was still likely mined. The dangers posed by mines and attacks on commercial vessels have severely curtailed shipping in the strait since the US and Israel began the war with Iran in late February.

The US is likely to have made some progress, according to people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be named because they were discussing internal assessments. But they believe that operations haven’t cleared all of the estimated 80 to 150 mines laid by the Iranians.

American officials rejected that assessment. One person familiar with the US position, who also asked not to be named, said those figures were outdated.

On Wednesday, Trump called Hormuz — which links the Persian Gulf to global markets — “a very functioning strait,” while repeating his claim that no mines remained.

Meanwhile, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the US had guided 130 million barrels of oil out through Hormuz over the past 14 days, according to a post on X. Bessent is leading an effort to try to isolate Iran’s economy with a wave of sanctions and curbs in a bid to force Tehran’s capitulation.

The Islamic Republic has insisted throughout the conflict it controls the strait, and the status of the waterway has been a key sticking point in on-off talks with the US. Earlier this week, Iran’s military said it reached a revenue-sharing deal on Hormuz with Oman, which sits along the artery’s southern edge.

Pipelines and Ports: Iran War Spurs Gulf Infrastructure Investment
▻https://gcaptain.com/pipelines-and-ports-iran-war-spurs-gulf-infrastructure-investment

DUBAI, Aug 28 (Reuters) – The Iran war’s redrawing of the global trade map is forcing Gulf nations to retool their investment play book, plowing capital into infrastructure, from energy pipelines to ports, to weather the fallout from the conflict.

The war has highlighted the Gulf’s overreliance on the Strait of Hormuz, previously a chokepoint for 20% of global oil flows but also subject for decades to Iranian threats of disruption.

With the strait virtually blocked for much of the past six months, a burst of billions of dollars of investment commitments has emerged as Gulf energy exporters try to future-proof their economies now facing a severe slowdown.

Trade is being redirected to Saudi ports on the Red Sea and the United Arab Emirates’ eastern ports but capacity is smaller. Gulf governments are looking at ways to create permanent, integrated solutions to get round using the Strait of Hormuz, said an industry source, declining to be named due to the sensitivity of the matter.

‘PORTS, PORTS, PORTS’
While most Gulf governments can tap into oil riches accumulated over decades, some may look to external funds as they work towards ambitious foreign direct investment targets and as big infrastructure funds and other international investors show interest in the region’s assets.

Costs could exceed hundreds of billions of dollars in the coming years and Gulf sovereign wealth funds, among the biggest in the world, are already stepping in to accelerate the push.

Ports have emerged as a “mission-critical priority” for Gulf governments, including Saudi Arabia, said a second industry source.

“If two years ago sports was the big buzz thing, I think for the time being, next year or two, they’re going to say ports, ports, ports,” he said of Saudi Arabia.

Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund L’IMAD said last week it plans to buy out the rest of AD Ports as it revamps the company’s strategy.

AD Ports operates ports in the United Arab Emirates and across the globe, but its UAE container throughput, as well as bulk and general cargo volumes, dropped by around two thirds in the second quarter from a year earlier as the company said it operated “through perhaps the most significant challenge in its 20-year history.”

Dubai’s DP World, one of the world’s biggest port operators, also saw business decline in the first half. It plans to develop two container terminals in Fujairah, where the UAE is building a new oil pipeline that will double crude capacity to Fujairah when it becomes operational next year. DP World is also working on inland container depots in the UAE.

Zin Bekkali, chief executive of UK-based investment management firm Silk Invest, says Gulf governments have the capital to fund some or most of this accelerated investment in infrastructure internally.

“So infrastructure is definitely an area which we think is going to benefit,” Bekkali said.

Saudi Arabia has fast-tracked billion-dollar plans to steer oil away from Hormuz, including a capacity expansion of its crude pipeline to the western Red Sea coast, sources told Reuters last month, potentially helping neighbors transport more oil without crossing the strait.

ECONOMIC FALLOUT
Beyond disruptions to shipping, strikes on production facilities in the Gulf have significantly affected oil refineries, aluminum plants and data centers among others, while air traffic remains below pre-war levels, impacting tourism and business flowing through the region.

On another level, the war has shaken Gulf hubs’ reputation as safe havens.

Qatar and Kuwait’s economies are set to shrink by just over 8% this year, according to a Reuters poll, while Saudi Arabia’s economy will expand by 1.4%, after 4.5% growth in 2025.

Qatar, one of the world’s top liquefied natural gas exporters before the Iran war, relies wholly on the strait to export LNG and also faces massive production shortages due to damage to its energy facilities.

Kuwait Petroleum Corp is in discussions with Saudi Arabia and the UAE to expand their pipeline systems to accommodate its oil shipments. Iraq is working to expand its oil exports through Turkey’s Ceyhan port and aims to begin exporting oil through ports at Syria’s Baniyas and Jordan’s Aqaba, involving new pipelines.

There has been some opening up of the Strait of Hormuz recently but trade is limited and there is no clear end in sight to the conflict between Iran and the U.S. despite a cooling of hostilities. Control of Hormuz is one of the most contentious points of disagreement, and countries are joining forces to find new ways to reduce reliance on it.

Turkey and Saudi Arabia aim to build a railway to link the two countries with Jordan and Syria in the next three or four years, Turkey’s transport minister said in June, adding other Gulf countries would join the project.

“The recent Strait of Hormuz crisis has given us a very important lesson that these vulnerabilities are real… and they can happen anytime at any chokepoint,” said Afaq Hussain, a former senior fellow at the Middle East Initiative at the Atlantic Council.

Backup trade and transport routes are needed even when they may initially appear uneconomical, he said.

Gulf Oil Tankers Near $650,000 a Day as Iran War Disrupts Flows
▻https://gcaptain.com/gulf-oil-tankers-near-650000-a-day-as-iran-war-disrupts-flows

Aug 28, 2026 (Bloomberg) –Earnings for ships on the world’s benchmark oil tanker route approached $650,000 a day as the Iran war and a bold bet by a South Korean tycoon continue to reshape how barrels are transported across the globe. 

Ships hauling cargoes from Saudi Arabia to China were pulling in a record $647,000 a day on Thursday, more than ten times the rate a year earlier, according to Baltic Exchange data. There are signs that export volumes within the Persian Gulf are rising, adding to the clamor for ships to pick up oil inside the Strait of Hormuz. Few shipowners are willing to risk that hazardous journey, which means owners are demanding huge premiums. 

The rate began to climb late last week when Sinokor Group, the world’s largest supertanker player, told market participants that it hired out ships at elevated rates, according to people involved in the market. Earlier this year the company, led by Ga-Hyun Chung, embarked on the biggest oil tanker bet ever, buying dozens of ships before the Iran war began and hiring them out at heightened rates. 

The Iran war has roiled the world’s main oil tanker benchmark as the number of ships entering and exiting the Persian Gulf has become increasingly opaque. Before the conflict, shipowners and commodity traders relied on it as a proxy for global supertanker earnings, with substantial sums of derivatives also tied to the marker. 

Moving barrels through Hormuz effectively comes with two shipping costs. There is a lump sum to get a ship through the waterway and then, once the cargo is switched onto a different tanker outside Hormuz, a lower rate based on a journey from Oman to China becomes effective.

The cost of hiring a ship to sail from Oman to China is currently about $220,000 a day, compared with $131,000 a month ago.

TotalEnergies SE Chief Executive Officer Patrick Pouyanne said earlier this week that it costs about $20 million to move barrels through Hormuz. Two tanker market participants said that amount had risen further throughout the week.

In addition to higher volumes of oil moving out of the Persian Gulf, other shipping disruptions are also boosting earnings. Attacks on Saudi tankers by Yemen’s Houthi rebels have seen the kingdom redirect some exports north, through the Mediterranean, and thousands of miles around Africa. That generally adds about 30 days to a journey to Asia.

At the same time, vessels transiting out of Hormuz are often switching their cargoes onto different ships once they leave the waterway. That process can also take time and eats up vessel supply.

Capacity Squeeze Looms as Panama Canal Restrictions Tighten
▻https://gcaptain.com/capacity-squeeze-looms-as-panama-canal-restrictions-tighten

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By Charlotte Goldstone (The Loadstar)

CMA CGM has postponed its $150 per TEU Low Water Surcharge on cargo moving from South America’s west coast through the Panama Canal, where more restrictions on draught and transits are expected.

The French carrier had announced the surcharge would take effect on 1 September, but told customers yesterday it was pushing the start date back to 1 October.

The charge will apply to all cargo from South America’s west coast to North Europe, the Mediterranean, North Africa, Indian Subcontinent, Middle East Gulf, Red Sea, South Africa, West Africa, Central America east coast, Caribbean, Leeward and Windward islands, Mexico’s east coast, US east coast, US Gulf, and Canada’s east coast.

Industry consultant Lars Jensen commented: “Strictly speaking, the 1 September date was announced just three days ago, making this seem more like an initial miscommunication of the implementation date.”

The move comes as restrictions on Panama Canal transits are expected to tighten, with implications for container vessel capacity.
Braemar analyst Jonathan Roach said: “This time the issue is not simply fewer transit slots. It is fewer slots and less cargo per ship.”

From 2 September, the maximum permitted draught for Neopanamax vessels will be 14.63 metres, dropping to 14.48 metres from 1 October. The number of daily transits is also expected to fall, from 36 to 34, on 3 September and then to 32 from 15 September, although this is subject to change.

Braemar’s July data recorded 189 Neopanamax transits, 85 of which – involving 78 individual vessels – were by ships drawing 15 metres or more. That means around 45% of Neopanamax transits could be affected by the new draught restrictions, representing about 55% of nominal teu capacity moving through the Neopanamax locks.

“The immediate response is likely to be less cargo, rather than fewer ships,” said Mr Roach. “Vessels can remain on their existing services, but may have to sail below their normal intake to meet the draught restriction.”
A further reduction in daily transits could bar some ships from the canal altogether, while queues and delays compound the effective capacity loss.

If conditions deteriorate, carriers could consider diverting Asia-US east coast services around the Cape of Good Hope, adding roughly 30% to transit times and tying up vessels for longer.

“The Panama Canal does not need to close to disrupt container shipping; it only needs to become a little less deep and a little less available,” warned Mr Roach.

And he noted that the capacity squeeze could extend beyond the canal, as cargo displaced from Panama would have to be absorbed elsewhere in the global fleet.

MARAD Activates SUNY Maritime Training Ship Empire State VII for Undisclosed National Mission
▻https://gcaptain.com/marad-activates-suny-maritime-training-ship-empire-state-vii-for-undisclos

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dans le cadre du conflit israélo-états-unien avec l’Iran etdes pénuries de moyens logistiques, une première réquisition probablement à destination de #Diego-Garcia

The U.S. Maritime Administration is preparing to activate SUNY Maritime College’s training ship Empire State VII for a federal mission expected to last approximately 170 days, potentially taking the vessel away from the academy for much of the coming academic year.

SUNY Maritime President Rear Admiral John A. Okon announced Friday that he had received a decision memorandum from Maritime Administrator Stephen M. Carmel outlining plans to terminate the ship’s current assignment to the college and prepare it for federal service beginning around September 1.

The nature and destination of the mission have not been officially disclosed.

The activation comes amid heightened U.S. military logistics requirements connected to operations in the Middle East, including the ongoing conflict with Iran. Unconfirmed reports have suggested Empire State VII could be used to support logistics operations involving Diego Garcia, the strategically important U.S.-British military base in the Indian Ocean.

gCaptain has not independently confirmed those details.

“There is still much that we do not know, but over the next week our obligation is to prepare the vessel for federal use and remain focused on our efforts on what we do every day: educate and develop the next generation of maritime leaders,” Okon wrote.

The move would mark the first activation of a National Security Multi-Mission Vessel, which were specifically designed to give the federal government a modern fleet capable of serving both as maritime academy training ships and national response assets.

Empire State VII was delivered to MARAD in September 2023 and assigned to SUNY Maritime College in the Bronx as the first of five new NSMVs built for the nation’s state maritime academies.

The ships are owned by the federal government rather than the academies.

While their primary mission is training future U.S. Merchant Marine officers, the vessels were designed with extensive capabilities for humanitarian assistance, disaster response and other national emergencies.

Each NSMV can accommodate up to 600 cadets during training missions and as many as 1,000 people during emergency operations. They are equipped with hospital facilities, a helicopter landing pad, roll-on/roll-off ramps and container capacity, allowing them to transport personnel, vehicles and relief supplies without relying on fully developed port infrastructure.

The approximately 170-day activation would represent a considerably longer federal deployment than the short-term disaster response missions historically performed by maritime academy training ships.

It would also leave SUNY Maritime without its primary training vessel for an extended period.

Okon acknowledged the uncertainty surrounding the deployment while saying the college would work to minimize its impact on students.

“What we do know is that we will face whatever comes next together, with our students first and our mission always at the forefront,” he wrote.

“I know this message is likely to cause anxiety and stress,” Okon added, pointing students toward Student Affairs and reminding faculty and staff of available employee assistance resources.

SUNY Maritime has previously supported federal emergency operations with its training ships, including responses to Hurricanes Katrina, Harvey and Sandy.

The NSMV program was conceived in part because the aging vessels previously assigned to the state maritime academies were increasingly difficult to maintain and lacked many of the capabilities needed for modern emergency response.

Philly Shipyard was selected to build all five vessels under a vessel construction management program overseen by TOTE Services.

The first ship, Empire State VII, arrived at SUNY Maritime in September 2023. Subsequent NSMVs have been assigned to Massachusetts Maritime Academy, Maine Maritime Academy and Texas A&M Maritime Academy, with the fifth vessel intended for California’s maritime academy.

If Empire State VII enters federal service around September 1 as indicated, a 170-day mission would extend into approximately February 2027.

Neither MARAD nor SUNY Maritime has publicly disclosed where the ship will operate or what specific federal mission it will perform.

Bidders for Panama Canal Auctions Up to Nine Times the Normal
▻https://gcaptain.com/bidders-for-panama-canal-auctions-up-to-nine-times-the-normal

By Lori-Ann LaRocco – Key supply and demand data show the market pressures fueling the record auction prices at the Panama Canal.

In an expanded interview with gCaptain, Ricaurte Vasquez, Administrator of the Panama Canal Authority (ACP), said the number of vessels without an appointment to transit through the Panama Canal has increased from 10% to 20-25%.

“We are facing a significant number of vessels coming without reservation,” said Vasquez. “One of the lessons we learned from the previous (El Niño) event was that everyone must come and book (a reservation). So those who do not have a reservation wait, and most of them are the ones who pay high prices in order to get the (auction) slot.”

Vasquez explained the number of bidders per auction depends on the amount of auction slots available. Total slots per day are determined by water availability and any bookings in the Long-Term Slot Allocation System (LoTSA) that companies booked in advance and then canceled.

“Once the (auction) slot is open for the market, they start bidding and then the highest price wins,” said Vasquez. “The allocation has always followed market rules.”

In recent days, the auction rates have set back-to-back records. An auction slot was recorded at $5.3 million on Monday, surpassing the $4.6m bid the prior week. In March and April, auction slots increased to approximately $385,000. Before the war, auction slots ranged from $135,000 to $140,000.

“At the peak, we had 18 bidders for one slot,” said Vásquez. “That’s a lot. Normally you have two to three per day.”

That number of auction participants has steadily increased as the war with Iran drags on.

Tracking the bidders, in May-June, the average number was around 4 bidders per Neopanamax slot auction. In July, the ACP saw about eight bidders per day.

Vasquez tells gCaptain that for the Neopanamax locks in August, the ACP had up to 15 bidders for one slot. The overall average for the month so far is 6 bidders.

For the Panamax locks from April to August, Vasquez told gCaptain the ACP had over 8 bidders per day, and one auction in May had 18 bidders. The average from October to March was around 2 bidders per day.

Japan Energy Plan Seeks to Back Pipelines Bypassing Hormuz
▻https://gcaptain.com/japan-energy-plan-seeks-to-back-pipelines-bypassing-hormuz

Aug 26, 2026 (Bloomberg) –Japan plans to support the construction of pipelines that bypass the Strait of Hormuz after the US-Iran war laid bare the country’s vulnerability to disruptions in Middle Eastern oil supplies.

The plan is part of a new energy strategy that’s aimed at strengthening supply security, according to documents from Japan’s Cabinet Office on Wednesday. Other measures include diversifying oil procurement sources and providing support with shipping costs, the documents show.

“The dynamics surrounding energy have fundamentally shifted, upending the assumptions underpinning government policy and corporate activity,” Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi told reporters. Her government is seeking to finalize the strategy by year-end, she added.

Japan relied on the Middle East for more than 90% of its crude prior to the war, which started in late February, and the nation’s refiners have been forced to seek alternative supplies from countries including the US. Processors have also drawn on the nation’s strategic stockpiles to make up for the shortfall.

Under the proposed strategy, there are plans to enhance the risk-financing capabilities of the Japan Organization for Metals and Energy Security to encourage participation in new pipeline projects. JOGMEC is a government-backed agency that provides money and liability guarantees to help Japanese companies buy and develop overseas stakes in resources.

Japan will also look to ensure stable oil shipments by securing necessary insurance coverage for vessels, and will seek to bolster crude reserves to cover the domestic production of naphtha.

Iran and Oman Plan for Temporary Hormuz Corridor as Impasse With US Persists
▻https://gcaptain.com/iran-and-oman-plan-for-temporary-hormuz-corridor-as-impasse-with-us-persis

CAIRO/DUBAI, Aug 26 (Reuters) – Iran has held new talks with neighboring Oman on management of the Strait of Hormuz, blockaded over nearly six months of conflict, with Oman’s foreign minister saying he was hopeful a temporary corridor through the waterway could be announced soon.

Iran and Oman have held on-and-off talks for weeks about controlling traffic through the strait, which handled one-fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas shipments before the war began in February.

Most shipping has since been shut down, as Iran and the U.S. have tried to assert control over the strategic channel, imposing separate blockades.

Iran and Oman said on Tuesday that they discussed “a joint temporary navigational corridor” through the strait and agreed to clear it of mines.

“I am hopeful we will soon announce a temporary corridor for the Strait of Hormuz and practical arrangements to restore safe navigation,” Omani Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi posted on X following talks with his Iranian counterpart.

U.S. President Donald Trump — who has threatened to bomb Oman — repeated an earlier assertion that all mines in the strait had been cleared, and warned Iran against trying to lay any more.

Shipping Tycoon Kuehne, Germany’s Richest Person, Dies at 89
▻https://gcaptain.com/shipping-tycoon-kuehne-germanys-richest-person-dies-at-89

Aug 24, 2026 (Bloomberg) –Klaus-Michael Kuehne, the shipping heir and Germany’s wealthiest individual, who expanded Kuehne + Nagel International AG into one of the world’s biggest sea and air freight forwarders, has died. He was 89.

His death, in Schindellegi, Switzerland, was confirmed by the company in a statement on Monday. Under his leadership, Kuehne + Nagel grew over decades into a global transport behemoth with more than 1,300 offices worldwide and a staff of 88,000. 

“With the passing of Klaus-Michael, we have lost a visionary, a great entrepreneur and an extraordinary personality,” Kuehne + Nagel Chairman Joerg Wolle said. “Our thoughts are with his widow Christine Kuehne.”

Kuehne was born on June 2, 1937, in Hamburg, the only child of Alfred Kuehne and the former Mercedes Greef, according to his profile on Munzinger Archiv GmbH, an online database.

Kuehne’s Swiss-based holding company owns 55% in Kuehne + Nagel. His net worth was about $49 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. 

Profits at the company soared during the Covid-19 pandemic, when supply chains buckled and freight transport rates skyrocketed. Among freight carriers with expertise in shipping health-care products, Kuehne + Nagel was a major mover of vaccines. It also increased business when stuck-at-home consumers ordered goods.

Rhine Water Rises Sharply After Rain, Ships Able to Load More Cargo
▻https://gcaptain.com/rhine-water-rises-sharply-after-rain-ships-able-to-load-more-cargo

HAMBURG, Aug 24 (Reuters) – The river Rhine in Germany has risen sharply after recent rain, the country’s inland navigation agency said on Monday, with vessels able to load more freight although problems with shallow water persisted.

German companies reported disruptions after Rhine water levels hit record lows earlier in August following a heatwave in western Europe, with industry suffering higher transport costs, logistics bottlenecks and curbed production.

“Vessels are still only able to sail partly loaded on the river but are able to take on more freight,” one commodity trader said. “More rain is forecast around the river this week which could bring more improvements.”

Inland navigation agency WSV said the navigable water gauge at the chokepoint of Kaub near Koblenz was around 60 cm on Monday, after falling to around 5 last week, below the previous lowest recorded level of 25 cm in 2018. The navigable gauge normally required at Kaub to fully load vessels is about 1.50 meters.

Many ships had stopped sailing past Kaub because of shallow water in mid-August. Some are resuming sailings through Kaub although with small loads of 700-800 metric tons depending on vessel type, commodity traders said.

Sailings on northern sections of the river continue with loads spread among several vessels sailing part loaded, increasing costs for industry, while much freight has also been switched to land transport.

Germany, like much of Europe, has experienced successive heatwaves with little rainfall this summer, leading to low water levels on waterways like the Rhine, an important shipping route for grains, minerals, coal and refined oil products.

Houthis Escalate Saudi Shipping Campaign With VLCC Strike
▻https://gcaptain.com/houthis-escalate-saudi-shipping-campaign-with-vlcc-strike

UKMTO says a tanker was struck by an unknown projectile about 63 nautical miles west of Yanbu, Saudi Arabia, early Monday, sparking a fire on the main deck. All crew are safe and accounted for, and no environmental impact has been reported.

Maritime security analyst Martine Kelly, Head of Advisory at EOS Risk Group, identified the vessel as the Saudi-flagged, Bahri-owned VLCC AMZAN (IMO 9693745), saying the Houthis attacked the tanker with an anti-ship ballistic missile. The vessel was sailing from Ain Sukhna, Egypt, to Yanbu when it was hit.

The Houthis have separately claimed responsibility for the attack. 

The strike marks another escalation in the Houthis’ renewed campaign against Saudi-linked commercial shipping in the Red Sea and comes after a series of attacks targeting Saudi tankers over the past month.

Kelly said Monday’s attack fits the targeting profile established by the Houthis: vessels that are Saudi-flagged, Saudi-owned or managed, as well as ships calling at Saudi ports.

So far, however, there have been no confirmed attacks against non-Saudi-flagged vessels solely because they called at Saudi Red Sea ports—a distinction she cautioned should not be interpreted as reducing the threat.

The Joint Maritime Information Center has previously assessed the threat in the Bab el-Mandeb and southern Red Sea as SUBSTANTIAL, citing Houthi statements that the waterway is effectively closed to Saudi-affiliated vessels and warning that additional attacks were a “strong possibility.”

Cost to Ship a VLCC Through Hormuz Hits $20 Million, TotalEnergies CEO Says
▻https://gcaptain.com/cost-to-ship-a-vlcc-through-hormuz-hits-20-million-totalenergies-ceo-says

By Mitchell Ferman and Alex Longley (Bloomberg) — The cost of shipping oil cargoes on a supertanker through the Strait of Hormuz is about $20 million, the boss of TotalEnergies SE said, underscoring the wide margins to be made by traders and shipowners. 

TotalEnergies Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Patrick Pouyanne said the company is buying barrels at $50 to $60 inside the Persian Gulf as producers are desperate to get their supplies onto the market following six months of conflict. The additional freight costs for a supertanker equate to about $10 a barrel, he said. Benchmark Brent futures were trading above $90 on Monday. 

The French energy giant is one of the largest traders of oil from Iraq and Qatar, two countries that have continued to move barrels through Hormuz in recent weeks, Pouyanne added.

A growing number of producers have been ferrying cargoes through the critical waterway, which before the Iran war carried about a fifth of the world’s oil flows. Those volumes have helped prevent a surge in global prices beyond $100 a barrel, but also offer lucrative trading opportunities for shipowners and middlemen. 

While some shipments sail directly to refineries around the world, many are loaded onto ships in the Gulf of Oman, before being taken to their eventual destinations. 

Pouyanne said that there’s a split between crude oil markets, which look bearish — in part thanks to flows through Hormuz — and fuel markets that remain tight. Prices of products like gasoline and diesel have rallied due to Ukrainian attacks on Russian refineries and the fact that crude dominates Hormuz shipments.

Trump Takes Iran Hard Line as Hormuz Tensions Set New Normal
▻https://gcaptain.com/trump-takes-iran-hard-line-as-hormuz-tensions-set-new-normal

Aug 18, 2026 (Bloomberg)
[…]
The United Arab Emirates said it was cutting off trade, commercial exchanges and financial transactions with Iran until further notice “in light of regional escalations that undermine regional and international peace and security.”

The move came after the UAE said Iran fired two ballistic missiles toward its territory, the Islamic Republic’s first confirmed attack on the Gulf nation since May. Both missiles were targeting maritime traffic, but fell into the sea and only one reached the UAE’s waters, according to the country’s Defense Ministry. Tehran had recently launched strikes against UAE-linked ships. Esmail Baghaei, a spokesperson for Iran’s Foreign Ministry, denied that Iran launched a missile toward the UAE. 

Brent crude was above $91 a barrel as prospects dimmed for a swift reopening of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas transited before the war. 

Traffic through Hormuz remains well below prewar levels amid repeated attacks on ships. The UK said Tuesday that a vessel leaving the strait was hit by a projectile that damaged its engine room and caused one casualty. Secretary of State Marco Rubio discussed freedom of navigation with the UAE’s national security adviser.

Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Iran’s lead negotiator with the US, told lawmakers that Hormuz won’t reopen until Washington lifts its port blockade, releases frozen assets, removes oil sanctions and ends military operations, as agreed in June.

Trump, meanwhile, is demanding Iran drop efforts to charge tolls on vessels crossing the waterway, while Tehran has said it will govern traffic in conjunction with Oman. The US president, citing the naval blockade of Iranian ports, claimed that the strait is “open and operating” despite shipping data showing otherwise.

Trump also asserted that “all water mines have been removed or detonated,” though European officials are skeptical given the time-consuming nature of mine clearing. A planned European mission has yet to begin.

Tuesday’s declarations from the president marked the latest example of the mixed messages coming from the administration. 

The president’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, who has been active in diplomatic efforts, told Fox News on Tuesday that conversations with “different areas of the Iranian government” were ongoing. 

“There’s really not a lot of trust between America and Iran after all these years of not having these relations and dialogues,” he said. “But we are having very positive and active conversations.”

According to the president, those are now over. Yet there’s little sign Iran is willing to bend.

“We are in what I call an economic war of attrition to see who can endure longer, to see who can force the other side to make concessions,” Mark Cancian, a senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told Bloomberg Television. 

The war began Feb. 28 with US-Israeli airstrikes on Iran and spread across the region. Trump says his primary objective is to prevent Tehran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, which Iranian officials deny pursuing.

Trump has also reiterated his idea of declaring Hormuz an American territory, while insisting the US has total control over the strait, a position directly at odds with Iran’s stance.

Iran and Oman are negotiating a deal on managing Hormuz, without US participation. Trump told Fox News that if “Oman gets in the way, we’ll bomb the s—— out of them,” repeating a similar threat from May. Oman isn’t a formal US ally but is a close security partner.

Trump has struggled to find an off-ramp to a war that’s driven up gasoline prices and grown increasingly unpopular in the US, threatening Republican support ahead of November’s midterm elections.

China Completes First Stage of Work at Disputed South China Sea Reef, Images Show
▻https://gcaptain.com/china-completes-first-stage-of-work-at-disputed-south-china-sea-reef-image

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HONG KONG, Aug 19 (Reuters) – China has completed the first phase of construction on Antelope Reef in the #Paracels archipelago, building a man-made island in the hotly-disputed South China Sea that analysts say will form part of its largest military base.

Satellite images reviewed by Reuters show the reclaimed feature in outline for the first time, with barges and dredgers having left after at least six months of work in the busy waterway.

The completion shows the South China Sea as an increasingly militarized arena of competition between China and the United States and its allies, as both sides jostle for advantages that could prove critical in any future conflict over Taiwan.

“The northern part of the South China Sea would be particularly important in a Taiwan conflict scenario, so Antelope is ideally placed,” said Ben Lewis, founder of the open-source data platform PLATracker.

Construction of buildings work has started in the southeast corner of the island, including a helicopter pad, in the July 19 images taken by Vantor, a commercial provider of satellite images.

China’s defense ministry did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

China has yet to acknowledge construction of a new military base, while state media have said Antelope will serve civilian needs such as weather forecasting and scientific research.

LIKELY TO STRENGTHEN CHINA’S MILITARY HOLD
Regional security analysts and military attaches say it is more likely to strengthen China’s military hold on the northern part of the vital waterway.

The images show a reclaimed island nearly 6 km (4 miles) long, with a straight line of coast longer than 3 km (2 miles) that some analysts see as a potential runway.

A wharf stretching 680 m (740 yards) fronts a deep water harbor, with one Vantor image showing a coast guard ship alongside.

In a study this week, the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies said the first excavation work for a new runway appeared to have already started.

Open source intelligence tracker Damien Symon, who first highlighted dredging at the reef on X in early January said he spotted initial signs of work last December.

Lewis said he believed Antelope Reef could prove to be one of the Chinese military’s most important features in the South China Sea, larger than neighboring Woody Island and easier to defend than a network of bases further south in the Spratlys archipelago.

“I think the importance of the South China Sea and the Southern Theater Command has been elevated in the last year by the Central Military Commission largely as it relates to Taiwan,” Lewis added, referring to China’s top military panel, headed by President Xi Jinping.

KEEPING BOMBERS CLOSER TO THE MAINLAND
China’s military planners might feel more comfortable keeping some weapons, such as its H-6 strategic bombers, in the Paracels and closer to the Chinese mainland rather than on the Spratlys further south.

The construction work was “modest,” Chinese South China Sea scholar Ding Duo said in an opinion piece published in the official China Daily in June.

“Rather than militarisation, the purpose is peaceful and constructive – making the waters safer for everyone who depends on them,” Ding wrote.

The comments mirror China’s previous explanations of its build-up in the Spratlys in waters also claimed by Southeast Asian neighbors Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei.

Woody Island has served as the traditional administrative center for China in the South China Sea, housing at times jet fighters and surface-to-air missiles. Triton Island, also in the Paracels, hosts extensive long-range surveillance devices.

China has occupied all the Paracels since 1974, when it forced off the navy of the former South Vietnam. Vietnam, which claims the entire grouping as its own, has moved in recent years to expand its own network of bases in the Spratlys.

Vietnam’s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment. It has previously asserted its sovereignty claims to Antelope, saying in March it “resolutely opposes such actions (and) has made representations.”

Antelope could also help support any bid by China to create so-called bastions or protected ocean areas in the South China Sea to defend its nuclear-armed ballistic missile submarines, said Singapore-based security scholar Collin Koh.

Koh said the island buildup, likely to house extensive surveillance equipment, could potentially complicate submarine operations by the United States and Vietnam, which are both active in the area.

Such bastions close to home ports would protect China’s submarines from exposure to rival attack, avoiding having to send them out into the western Pacific.

Some analysts believe the South China Sea was chosen for China’s test firing last month of a long-range missile from a submarine.

Once complete, the Paracels facilities would strengthen China’s ability to monitor the United States and allies in peace time, and add complexity in a conflict, said Carl Thayer, a professor at the Australian Defence Force Academy.

“It’s one more thing the United States would have to take care of, and something they could attempt to defend from the Chinese mainland.”

Saudis Offer to Sell Oil Near Oman, a Possible Sign They’re Sailing Dark Through Hormuz
▻https://gcaptain.com/saudis-offer-to-sell-oil-near-oman-a-possible-sign-theyre-sailing-dark-thr

(Bloomberg) — Saudi Arabia is offering to sell oil from off the coast of Oman, a sign that the kingdom may be following the United Arab Emirates in shuttling more barrels through the Strait of Hormuz.

State oil company Saudi Aramco is offering cargoes on a so-called ship-to-ship basis from locations including Sohar in the Gulf of Oman, people familiar with the matter said, asking not to be identified because the information isn’t public. The grades being marketed are Arab Medium and Arab Heavy, something that means it’s highly likely the barrels came from inside the Persian Gulf.

For now, the offers are only being made to some Chinese refiners, the people said. Many of the nation’s processors prefer the heavier and relatively sulfur-rich grades produced by Aramco, which are more suited to their complex refineries.

Saudi Aramco declined to comment.

Middle Eastern producers have been pressing ahead with shuttling large volumes of crude out of the Persian Gulf, helping keep a lid on oil prices and assuaging fears of an energy-driven inflation spike. Aramco’s trading arm shuttled some supplies through Hormuz in May, but the kingdom’s ability to divert exports to its Red Sea port of Yanbu made it less reliant on the waterway.

Over the past several weeks, even those diverted Red Sea flows have come under threat after Yemen’s Houthi militants declared a maritime blockade on Saudi Arabia.

There have been recent signs of a pickup in cargo activity from Saudi Arabia’s facilities inside the Persian Gulf. According to satellite imagery, vessels with at least 9 million barrels of transport capacity have loaded at or near the country’s giant Ras Tanura export installations over the past week.

Saudi Arabia has also amassed a large cluster of oil supertankers just outside of the gulf.

Aramco Chief Executive Officer Amin Nasser said in March that the pipeline sending barrels to Yanbu was primarily carrying Arab Light and Extra Light. The nation’s offshore fields, which are largely inside the Persian Gulf, are made up of the country’s medium and heavy supplies, he said at the time.

Iranian Attacks Push Hormuz Shipping Toward Tehran-Controlled Route
▻https://gcaptain.com/iranian-attacks-push-hormuz-shipping-toward-tehran-controlled-route

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Iranian attacks on commercial shipping are pushing more vessels away from the U.S.-coordinated route through Omani waters and toward the northern, Tehran-controlled corridor through the Strait of Hormuz, according to the latest maritime security assessment.

The latest UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) Voluntary Reporting Area overview shows a striking concentration of attacks along the southern route, with 16 of 18 projectile strikes reported since July 6 occurring in the Omani corridor. UKMTO says the attacks are changing how ships navigate the world’s most important oil chokepoint.

“Despite a brief recovery in late June, vessel traffic through the Strait of Hormuz remains significantly reduced,” UKMTO said, adding that transit information shows operators increasingly favoring the northern route following projectile attacks, security concerns and heightened enforcement activity.

The shift is notable because the two routes are controlled very differently.

The northern route runs through Iranian waters and is overseen by Iran’s Persian Gulf Strait Authority, or PGSA. The southern corridor runs through Omani waters and has been coordinated with U.S. Naval Cooperation and Guidance for Shipping (NCAGS), providing an alternative for vessels seeking to avoid the Iranian-controlled passage.

Iran has sought to direct vessels toward the northern route. Previous JMIC guidance warned that ships transiting Hormuz with AIS switched on could expect directed radio calls instructing them to divert toward the Iranian-controlled corridor. The same assessment classified the threat in Hormuz as SEVERE, with deliberate hostile action considered highly likely.

The latest data suggest shipping companies are increasingly taking the hint.

UKMTO said multiple vessels have aborted planned transits or rerouted north following attacks, describing the change as evidence of “risk avoidance rather than route substitution alone.” Tankers continue to account for the largest share of the limited traffic moving through the Strait.

For the seven days ending August 14, UKMTO counted 75 outbound and 76 inbound full transits through Hormuz. The agency’s overall transit picture incorporates AIS and dark-derived information, capturing some vessels that transit without broadcasting normally.

Its more detailed route breakdown, which is based on AIS-visible vessels, shows the preference for the Iranian side.

UKMTO counted 19 outbound vessels using the northern route compared with eight on the southern Omani route and two using the traditional Traffic Separation Scheme. Inbound, 26 vessels used the northern route compared with five on the southern route, while none used the TSS.

The report does not provide a route breakdown for the dark-derived transits, meaning it is not possible from the UKMTO data alone to determine how those vessels were divided between the northern and southern corridors.

The routing shift follows weeks of attacks concentrated on the Omani side of the Strait.

UKMTO has recorded 20 projectile-strike incidents in and around Hormuz since July 6. Engine rooms were the primary damage location in 12 incidents, raising the risk of ships losing propulsion while navigating the narrow waterway.

The latest incidents came Thursday when two tankers affiliated with Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. were struck by drones during outbound transits. Both vessels suffered minor damage and their crews were safe. The UAE blamed Iran for the attacks, while Iran had not responded publicly to the accusation.

The attacks came just a day after Bloomberg reported that ADNOC’s trading arm was expanding its Hormuz shuttle operation to transport Iraqi crude through the Strait, using tactics that have helped keep UAE oil exports moving despite the disruption.

Traffic overall remains severely depressed. UKMTO estimates AIS-detected transits are about 90% below pre-conflict levels, despite a brief recovery in late June. The traditional IMO Traffic Separation Scheme remains suspended, with no indication of an imminent return to normal routing.

Before the war, more than 130 vessels typically crossed Hormuz each day.

The latest assessment does not say Iran is attacking vessels on the southern route specifically to force them onto the northern corridor. But the pattern is increasingly clear.

For shipowners, the choice is increasingly stark. The southern corridor offers a route outside Iranian control but has borne the overwhelming majority of recent projectile attacks. The northern route requires vessels to operate through a corridor controlled by Iran, which has asserted authority over who can use the Strait.

Two Slicks Appear in Gulf as Huge Oil Spill Off Oman Threatens Disaster
▻https://gcaptain.com/two-slicks-appear-in-gulf-as-huge-oil-spill-off-oman-threatens-disaster

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Aug 14 (Reuters) – Two slicks have appeared in Iranian waters, satellite imagery and video verified by Reuters show, as tit-for-tat attacks on oil tankers and other vessels by Iran and the United States spark concerns about environmental damage to the Gulf.

A potential environmental disaster is already unfolding off Oman outside of the Strait of Hormuz where a grounded tanker, the Caroline Bezengi, is leaking Russian crude oil in a protected marine area and has created a massive slick some estimates put at 2,000 square km.

The Caroline Bezengi incident has not been linked to the Iran war.

The two latest slicks are inside the Gulf.

NEAR DOLPHIN-SHAPED ISLAND
One slick has appeared off the southern tip of Qeshm Island, the large dolphin-shaped island in the Strait of Hormuz close to Iran’s coast, pictures from Copernicus’s Sentinel-2 satellites showed.

Wim Zwijnenburg, an environmental open-source researcher at Dutch peace organisation PAX, said the dark colour in parts of the slick indicated it was heavy fuel oil, while a lighter diluted slick stretched around 160 km.

A dark, bubbling liquid was spotted washing ashore on the beaches of Suza on Qeshm Island, contrasting with the turquoise water surrounding it, in a video posted on August 11 and verified by Reuters.

“This is the biggest one that I’ve seen in recent months, really since the conflict between Iran and the U.S. began,” said John Amos, CEO of SkyTruth, which uses satellite imagery to detect oil spills, calling it a “a major incident”.

A second slick was spotted near the smaller Sirri Island in the centre of the Gulf about 100 km southwest of Qeshm and home to some Iranian offshore oil and gas production, satellite showed.

The satellite imagery of Qeshm Island was taken on August 10 and that of Sirri Island on August 13.

DRY BULK CARRIER WAS ATTACKED
The Qeshm Island slick likely stemmed from a leak from the Minoan Pioneer, a Liberia-flagged dry bulk ship, said Samir Madani, co-founder of monitoring service TankerTrackers.com.

The Minoan Pioneer was hit by an unknown projectile close to Oman’s coast in a suspected Iranian attack while sailing through the Strait of Hormuz on August 3 and one seafarer went missing, maritime security sources said.

The same leak likely also affected Qeshm Island, one maritime security source told Reuters.

A spokesperson for Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Esmaeil Baqaei, said in a post on X that oil pollution from the Gulf had reached Qeshm Island and that preliminary evidence “indicates a foreign bulk carrier as the source”.

Reuters could not independently confirm the cause of either slick nor identify the substances involved.

A source involved in the salvage operation for the Minoan Pioneer, who declined to be identified due to the sensitivity of matter, told Reuters on Friday that a tugboat dispatched to secure the grounded vessel could not approach it due to issues related to obtaining permission from Iranian authorities.

The Iranian Mission in Geneva did not respond to a Reuters request for immediate comment.

The conflict in the region had complicated efforts to assess and clean up spills in the Gulf, said Brian Barnes, a satellite oceanographer and research assistant professor at the University of South Florida.

“The longer that the oil is leaking into an environment, the more it can spread out and cause damage to ecosystems, coastlines.”

Supertanker Pays Record $4.6 Million to Skip Panama Canal Line
▻https://gcaptain.com/supertanker-pays-record-4-6-million-to-skip-panama-canal-line

By Nicholas Lua, Lucia Kassai and Weilun Soon (Bloomberg) – An empty gas supertanker paid a record $4.6 million to skip the line at the Panama Canal next week as the Iran war and an intensifying El Niño upend global trade routes.

The fee, paid via an auction process, will allow the liquefied petroleum gas tanker G. Arete to speed through to the Caribbean side of the canal from the Pacific Ocean, according to traders, brokers and a shipping report seen by Bloomberg. It’s the second large sum paid this week after a shipper earlier shelled out $4 million for a container vessel to avoid congestion in the waterway.

The El Niño weather pattern that’s strengthening in the Pacific is threatening to bring severe drought to Central America, and operators of the canal have already tightened restrictions on how much cargo ships can carry while passing through the waterway. The El Niño of 2023-2024 caused severe drought conditions in Panama, forcing ships to find alternatives to the canal.

It’s unclear who paid the fee for G. Arete, owned by South Korea’s SK Shipping Co. The company did not respond to an email seeking comment.

Through a spokeswoman, the Panama Canal Authority declined to comment on the specific transaction details, citing confidentiality of their customers. The canal said in a statement that recent median auction results have tripled, reflecting significantly higher demand, from median auction prices around $55,000 during October 2025 and February 2026.

Ships seeking to cross the waterway typically pay a flat rate via a reservation process, but the canal authority also offers an auction system to bypass the regular queue. Customers are shelling out millions to use the workaround, as the Iran war leads to more traffic through the key conduit.

This week’s $4.6 million bid surpasses a previous record of $4.2 million earlier this year, said one of the people, asking not to be named to discuss private information.

G. Arete is sailing around Panama’s south coast and signaling Balboa, a region where vessels typically wait to cross from the Pacific to the Atlantic Ocean. The US is a major supplier of LPG to buyers in East Asia and the canal is the shortest route between the regions.

At present, some Neopanamax-size vessels without booked transit slots — carrying everything from LPG to containers — have waited as many as 11 days to secure passage at auction, the highest since May for Pacific-to-Atlantic transit, according to data from Argus Media.

Oman Says Massive Oil Spill from Grounded Shadow Fleet Tanker
▻https://gcaptain.com/oil-spill-off-oman-from-tanker-under-sanctions-against-russia-spreads-over

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Aug 10 (Reuters) – Leaking crude oil from a tanker grounded off a nature reserve in Oman has created a slick covering almost 400 square kilometers, the country’s government said on Monday.

The Caroline Bezengi is loaded with close to one million barrels of Russian oil bound for Asia and first reported difficulties on June 8 off Yemen, with two maritime ?security sources saying initial assessments indicated a blast had occurred onboard.

No party has taken responsibility for attacking the vessel.

Oman, in its first public disclosure on the environmental impact, said on Monday it was seeking to tackle the oil leak near the Hallaniyat Islands.

Oman’s Sultan Haitham bin Tarik issued a royal decree last year creating a nature reserve around the islands, an area that is home to wildlife including Arabian Sea humpback whales and Socotra cormorants.

The oil slick covers some 390 square km (150 square miles), Oman’s Environment Authority said in a statement carried by the state news agency, adding that there was no concern for facilities in the area including water desalination plants and tourist facilities.

Environmental group Greenpeace last week estimated the slick at around 600 square kilometers citing analysis of satellite imagery.

It extends northeast of the islands and is within an estimated seven kilometers of the coast, the authority said.

A spill of this scale requires dispersant be sprayed across the affected area by aircraft and the use of booms and other equipment to collect the oil before it reaches the shore or sinks to the sea floor, said Tony Gutierrez, professor of environmental microbiology and biotechnology at Edinburgh’s Heriot-Watt University.

“If this oil is kept offshore, the impact will be much less than if the oil reaches shallower waters and the actual coastline,” he said, citing the impact on diverse marine life such as coral, birds and fish.

“You could find oil still there years later. And that’s what happened with Exxon Valdez. Ten years down the line, there still were remnants of oil,” he said, referring to a 1989 spill in Alaska.

An analysis by Reuters of satellite imagery and shipping specialists showed the spill from the stranded 274-meter (900-foot) tanker was still spreading at the end of last month, raising concern about possible environmental damage.

The Caroline Bezengi loaded at Russia’s Black Sea port of Novorossiysk in April and passed through the Suez Canal at the end of May, ship-tracking data shows.

Built in 2001, it is part of the so-called shadow fleet of older oil tankers used by Russia which lack Western insurance cover and sail under the flags of various nations to obscure their true ownership.

It was listed on public shipping databases as flying the Cameroon flag but was among 39 vessels de-listed from Cameroon’s ship registry in June.

The ship is subject to sanctions imposed by the European Union, Ukraine, the UK, Canada and Switzerland.

Its registered owner is Rentoor Shipmanagement Ltd and its manager is Villar Shipmanagement Ltd, according to LSEG data. Reuters could not immediately reach those firms, which appear to be based in China.