The Suez Canal News

A Turkish seismic research vessel plans to arrive off the coast of Somalia at the end of October and begin searching for oil and natural gas, after the countries agreed on energy cooperation, Turkey's energy ministry said on Thursday.The March agreement envisaged oil exploration and production and allowed Turkish Petroleum to obtain licenses for three areas in the Somali seas.The ship Oruc Reis will explore in areas covering approximately 5,000 square km (1,930 square miles), the ministry said…

On a warm spring night in Athens, shortly before midnight, a senior executive at a Greek shipping company noticed an unusual email had landed in his personal inbox.The message, which was also sent to the manager's business email address, warned that one of the company's vessels travelling through the Red Sea was at risk of being attacked by Yemen's Iranian-backed Houthi militia.The Greek-managed ship had violated a Houthi-imposed transit ban by docking at an Israeli port and would be "directly targeted by the Yemeni Armed Forces in any area they deem appropriate…

The Pioneer tanker, sanctioned by the United States over its links to Russia-sourced liquefied natural gas (LNG), has passed through the Suez Canal with an LNG cargo, LSEG data showed on Monday.The source of the LNG and Palau-flagged Pioneer's destination were not immediately clear. The tanker is registered to Zara Shipholding Co, which has offices in Dubai and India's Mumbai.Shippers have largely shunned the Suez route since late last year to avoid attacks by Iran-aligned Houthis in the Red Sea.The canal is a key trade link between Europe and Asia, channeling nearly 12% of global cargo.

U.S. companies that rely on East and Gulf Coast seaports have been importing early, shifting goods to the West Coast, and even putting cargo on pricey flights to hedge against a threatened Oct. 1 strike that could jam supply chains and reignite inflation ahead of the U.S. presidential election."This is just another headache after everything else we've been dealing with," said Kenneth Sanchez, CEO of Chesapeake Specialty Products, which sends goods like metallic abrasives and foundry…

Broker Marsh and Lloyd's underwriter Tokio Marine Kiln (TMK) have set up business interruption insurance for ports to provide cover against growing trade disruption risks such as threats to shipping in the Red Sea, executives involved said.Ports across the globe are dealing with multiple issues that are disrupting flows of goods, including attacks by Yemen's Houthis on commercial shipping as well as the risk of strikes at terminals in the United States."Recent geopolitical turmoil has exposed a clear gap in the standard cover available to ports and other cargo facilities.

U.S. presidential contender Donald Trump's plan to hike tariffs on imports if he is elected back to the White House in November would send cargo rates soaring and accelerate inflation, just like it did during his 2017-21 term, shipping and retail experts said.Trump, who is running against Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris in the Nov. 5 election, has floated second-term plans for blanket tariffs of 10% to 20% on virtually all imports as well as tariffs of 60% or more on goods from China, in a bid to boost U.S.

Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd could add more container vessels to an alliance announced earlier this year if shipping disruptions in the Red Sea continue, the companies said on Tuesday.Attacks in the Red Sea by Iran-aligned Houthi militants have since late last year forced shipping companies to reroute traffic away from the Suez Canal and instead sail around Africa, a longer journey that ties up more capacity.Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd in January said they had agreed on a new collaboration, starting in February of 2025, to transport a combined 3.4 million containers annually with a fleet of 290 vessels,

Container liner shipping company ZIM Integrated Shipping Services Ltd., announced it has entered into a new long-term operational cooperation with Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) on the Asia - U.S. East Coast and Asia - U.S. Gulf trades.The new services are scheduled to be launched in February 2025, subject to regulatory approvals and filings, ZIM said.Eli Glickman, ZIM President & CEO, said, "This important collaboration reflects ZIM's commitment to both delivering an outstanding shipping solution to its customers…

Fuel oil exports bound for the U.S. Gulf Coast slumped to their lowest level since January 2019 last month, a sign of weakened refinery demand as margins have softened, analysts said.Feedstocks like high sulfur fuel oil and other heavy residues can be refined into higher value products such as gasoline and diesel using secondary units.But loadings of those products to the Gulf Coast, America's largest refining hub, fell by a third in August from the prior month to 260,000 barrels per day (bpd)…

The negative impact on maritime shipping and global supply chains from attacks in the Red Sea continues to intensify as traffic is rerouted away from the Suez Canal, Danish shipping company A.P. Moller-Maersk said on Thursday.Attacks in the Red Sea by Iran-aligned Houthi militants have disrupted a route vital to east-west trade, with prolonged rerouting of shipments, pushing freight rates higher and causing congestion in Asian and European ports.Maersk said recent data showed…

The Greek-flagged crude oil tanker Sounion that was recently attacked by Yemen's Houthis is still on fire in the Red Sea and now appears to be leaking oil, a Pentagon spokesman said on Tuesday.The Sounion was targeted last week by multiple projectiles off Yemen's port city of Hodeidah. The Houthis, who control Yemen's most populous regions, said they attacked it in the Red Sea, as the Iran-aligned group has been attacking ships in solidarity with Palestinians in the war between…

An oil tanker managed by an Azerbaijan-based firm is travelling the Northern Sea Route to China for the first time, taking a route so far dominated by vessels managed by Russian shipping giant Sovcomflot, according to LSEG data and two traders.The vessel Prisma is managed by a private company Vista Vvave Shipmanagement based in Azerbaijan, one of the traders said, citing the vessel's documents.Moscow wants to increase traffic via the Northern Sea Route (NSR), which runs from Murmansk near Russia's border with Norway eastwards to the Bering Strait near Alaska…

A U.S.-sanctioned gas tanker that picked up a cargo from Russia's new Arctic LNG 2 plant this month has been spotted carrying out a ship-to-ship transfer, suggesting Moscow is managing to continue some exports from the project.Monitoring service TankerTrackers.com said in an X post on Monday that the Pioneer had conducted a transfer to the Palau-flagged, UAE-owned and Indian-managed New Energy tanker north of the Suez Canal.The Arctic 2 LNG plant, which was planned to be Russia's largest…

A Greek-flagged oil tanker carrying 150,000 tonnes of crude that was evacuated by its crew after being attacked in the Red Sea now poses an environmental hazard, the EU's Red Sea naval mission "Aspides" said on Thursday.Houthis, who control Yemen's most populous regions, said on Thursday that they attacked the Sounion oil tanker in the Red Sea, as the Iran-aligned group has been attacking ships in solidarity with Palestinians in the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.Sounion…

The crew of Greek-flagged oil tanker the Sounion that was attacked in the Red Sea abandoned the vessel and were taken to Djbouti by the EU's Red Sea naval mission "Aspides", an official in the mission told Reuters on Thursday.The tanker, with a listed capacity of 163,759 MT, was the third vessel operated by Athens-based Delta Tankers to be attacked in the Red Sea this month.The Iran-aligned Houthi militants have launched attacks on international shipping in the Red Sea region since November in solidarity with Palestinians in the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.Sounion…

Oil products tanker Sounion reported being attacked by two small boats and struck by three projectiles in the Red Sea off Yemen on Wednesday, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said.There were no casualties reported among the 25 crew members onboard, but the Greek-flagged vessel has lost the ability to maneuver, UKMTO added.The vessel reported being approached by two small craft with approximately 15 people onboard and said there was a brief exchange of small arms fire…

Oman's Salalah port reported a 16% decline in container volumes in the first half of the year as ships reroute around the southern tip of Africa to avoid missile and drone attacks in the Red Sea.The port, which is Oman's closest to the border with Yemen, handled 1.679 million shipping containers in the six months to June 30, compared with 1.999 million a year earlier, Salalah Port Services Co said on Thursday.Shipping lines that are avoiding the Red Sea area bypass the route where Salalah is located…

Dubai-owned DP World reported a 59% drop in first-half profit on Thursday as the ports and logistics company grappled with shipping disruptions in the Red Sea as tensions flare in the Middle East due to the ongoing Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.Missile and drone attacks in the Red Sea since October by Yemen's Houthi militants, who say they are acting in solidarity with Palestinians in the Gaza war, have forced many ocean freight firms to re-route vessels away from the Suez Canal to…

Traders are moving Russian diesel cargoes to a new ship-to-ship (STS) loadings site in the northern Aegean Sea, as Western sanctions hit vessels carrying fuel loaded in Russian ports, LSEG and market sources data show.Since a full European Union embargo on importing Russian oil products took effect in February 2023, traders have diverted diesel exports from Russian ports to Brazil, Turkey, countries in Africa, Asia and STS loadings. STS loadings make it harder for Western countries…

Two crude oil tanker ships reported coming under attack in the Red Sea off the coast of Yemen on Tuesday, although neither reported damage, maritime security agencies said.The attempted assaults on those vessels, identified as the Liberia-flagged Delta Atlantica and the Panama-flagged On Phoenix, bear the hallmarks of Iran-aligned Houthi militant attacks on international cargo shipping in solidarity with Palestinians in the war between Israel and Hamas.The Houthis have not claimed responsibility for Tuesday's attacks.

A crude oil tanker has reported four attacks off Yemen's port of Mokha during the last 24 hours, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations agency said on Friday, and the vessel's manager said the ship and its crew were safe.Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthi militants have launched attacks on international shipping in the Red Sea region since November in solidarity with Palestinians in the war between Israel and Hamas.On Thursday, the captain of the Delta Blue tanker reported that…

The captain of the Delta Blue crude oil tanker reported an attack from two small craft 45 nautical miles south of Yemen's Mokha, with a rocket-propelled grenade exploding near the vessel, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) agency said on Thursday.Iran-aligned Houthi militants have launched attacks on international shipping near Yemen since November in solidarity with Palestinians in the war between Israel and Hamas.The Liberia-flagged Delta Blue and its crew are safe…

A container vessel that was hit by Houthi militants off Yemen on Saturday in the first such attack in two weeks, has arrived safely in Djibouti and the strike caused no injuries or water ingress, its Greek manager said on Monday.Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis said on Sunday that they targeted the Liberia-flagged MV Groton in the Gulf of Aden with ballistic missiles, claiming their first attack on shipping lanes since Israel carried out a retaliatory airstrike in Hodeidah port on July 20.The MV Groton was hit by a missile 60 nautical miles off the coast of Yemen…