Larsen & Toubro wins largest ever contract from QatarEnergy LNG
The hydrocarbon arm of Indian engineering conglomerate Larsen & Toubro (L&T) has received a contract for work on QatarEnergy LNG’s North Field production sustainability offshore compression project. According to a regulatory filing, the contract is the largest single contract ever received by the company. The scope of work encompasses the engineering, procurement, fabrication, installation, and […]
Marubeni buys 25% stake in Windward Offshore
Japanese conglomerate Marubeni has acquired a 25.1% stake in offshore wind service vessel provider Windward Offshore Windward Offshore, which has a fleet of four CSOVs under construction at VARD shipyards, entered a partnership with Marubeni several months after securing a senior loan facility of up to €182m ($196m). The company also launched its first vessel […]
Bridge to Disaster: Long ignored risks behind Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse – NTSB
It was a quiet March morning in 2024 when tragedy struck Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge. The container ship Dali, flagged under Singapore, lost power and veered off course — slamming into the structure with devastating force. Within seconds, the iconic bridge crumpled into the Patapsco River, claiming the lives of six construction workers and […]
Hong Kong flag comes under pressure from Trump
Maritime executives in Hong Kong are putting a brave face on the exodus of ships from its shipping register as shipowners take fright over the growing rift between China and the Donald Trump-led US. Another 12 ships left the Hong Kong flag last month, the register now down by more than 200 vessels over the […]
How shipping learnt to fall back in love with LNG
It seems like Maersk has gone from “All the Way to Zero” to “All the Way to Lowest Fuel Costs”. It’s zero slogan has been emblazoned on methanol dual-fuelled ships coming out of South Korea for the past couple of years, but the Danish carrier now looks to have bowed to economics, turning to a […]
March 2025 Review
Li Ka-shing’s CK Hutchison reached a blockbuster mega deal with BlackRock and Mediterranean Shipping Co (MSC) to sell 80% of its giant ports division for $22.8bn in a record-breaking ports transaction that covers 43 ports comprising 199 berths in 23 countries. The deal has been viewed very poorly in Beijing. CMB.TECH, the shipowning vehicle controlled […]
The tanker hokey-cokey
Tariffs on, tariffs off, tariffs on, tariffs off… the world’s traders are dancing the commodity hokey-cokey to the hurdy-gurdy daily churn of US trade and foreign policy. The one conclusion that everyone can agree on is that life is going to become more expensive in the coming few years as the cost of doing business […]
March rush for dry bulk
US president Donald Trump has announced that April 2 will be Liberation Day when he imposes trade tariffs on countries which have tariffs or barriers on US goods. He has said some nations or blocs might be excused but with only 10 days to go, no details are as yet available. Dry bulk commodity traders, […]
The container law of unintended consequences
The transpacific Trump bump was always going to end and so it has come to pass. With Chinese exporters in the cross-hairs, a box loading in Shanghai today no longer can arrive in the US before April 2, the date Trump has designated ‘Liberation Day’ when he will impose as yet unspecified extra tariffs on […]
Analyst Abstract
Tankers Donald Trump’s so-called maximum pressure on Iran’s oil business is squeezing the number of compliant VLCCs, pushing utilisation for supertankers into the sweet spot 90% territory. In his first two months back in power, Trump has issued four rounds of sanctions against Iran, including many tankers, a Chinese refinery in China and even a […]