Cargo News

Venezuela on Thursday authorized two very large crude carriers (VLCC) to set sail for China, according to two sources familiar with Venezuela's oil export operations, which would be only the second and third supertankers to depart the country since the U.S. seized a ship carrying Venezuelan oil last week.The U.S. has said it would not allow vessels under sanction to leave Venezuelan waters. The departing tankers, each carrying around 1.9 million barrels of Venezuelan Merey heavy crude according to internal documents from state company PDVSA, are not on the U.S.

"Assuming a significant increase in recycling of older ships and a reduction in average sailing speeds, we forecast that average market conditions in 2026 will be like those in 2025 but 2027 could see slightly weaker market conditions. We forecast ship demand growth of 2.5%-3.5% in both 2026 and 2027 while supply is estimated to grow 3% in 2026 and 3.5% in 2027,” says Niels Rasmussen, Chief Shipping Analyst at BIMCO. The return to normal Red Sea and Suez Canal routings in the not-too-distant future, however, seems increasingly likely, which could result in a 10% reduction in ship demand.

Venezuela's state-run oil company PDVSA on Wednesday was resuming oil cargo deliveries at its terminals following a cyberattack that affected its centralized administrative systems, according to the company and sources.PDVSA, which is grappling with the U.S. announcement on Tuesday of a blockade of all sanctioned tankers approaching or planning to leave Venezuelan waters, was able to isolate oilfields, refineries, ports and other facilities from its central system to resume work…

The world’s largest wind-powered, industrial-scale, roll on/roll off vessel Neoliner Origin has returned for its second visit to the only U.S. port it is calling, the Helen Delich Bentley Port of Baltimore.The ship, which uses sails as main propulsion, is operating a monthly service between Saint Nazaire (France) and Baltimore, with stops along the way to Saint-Pierre et Miquelon and Halifax.“It’s a great honor to be the first and only U.S. port for Neoliner Origin,” said Maryland Port Administration Executive Director Jonathan Daniels.

The third quarter of this year has broken all records when it comes to the most loaded containers transported to or from major Danish ports.Containerized goods equivalent to 137,000 TEU containers arrived at a Danish port in the third quarter, while in the other direction, containerized goods equivalent to 122,000 TEU were shipped out of Danish ports.The majority of containers to and from Denmark go via APM Terminals' container terminal in Aarhus, where there has also been a significant increase during 2025.The increase in volumes is due…

Bunker barge United LNG I was christened in the port of Antwerp, an important moment for shipping company Somtrans, main shipbuilding contractor RensenDriessen and outfitting partners TeamCo Shipyard and Gas & Heat.The vessel will enter service in early 2026, reinforcing the growing role of LNG bunkering in the Belgian and Dutch seaports.It is an estuary-class LNG bunker barge designed for both inland waterways and coastal service up to Zeebrugge. Measuring 135 x21.46 m, the barge carries eight cylindrical Type C cargo tanks of 1…

A global network of 36 animal welfare and protection organizations around the world has issued an urgent call to the IMO to introduce binding international regulations for livestock carriers, warning that the ageing fleet poses serious and escalating risks to human life, animal welfare, public health, and the marine environment.In an open letter sent to the IMO Secretary-General, the organizations outlined systemic safety failures across the global live export shipping fleet, which is now the oldest of any ocean shipping sector…

Heidelberg Materials Northern Europe has taken a decisive step toward low-emission coastal logistics with the development of a next-generation methanol-powered cement carrier, an 80% emissions-cutting vessel that could redefine short-sea bulk operations in Scandinavia. Planned to enter service in early 2028, the newbuild is the product of a multi-stakeholder public-private partnership involving the Hartmann Group, the Green Shipping Programme (GSP) and the Norwegian NOx Fund,…

Yara and Air Products have advanced negotiations to partner on low-emission ammonia projects.Yara has matured a project portfolio for potential investment in cost competitive US ammonia to diversify its energy position and increase competitiveness of its European nitrate production.Air Products is developing the world’s largest low-carbon energy complex in the state of Louisiana. The complex is designed to produce >750 million standard cubic feet per day of low-carbon hydrogen…

Major carrier CMA CGM has announced its INDAMEX service will transit Suez Canal on fronthaul and backhaul voyages between India/Pakistan and US East Coast in a notable step towards a largescale return of container ships to the Red Sea region.The first vessel to complete a full service loop via Suez Canal will be CMA CGM Verdi, sailing from Karachi to New York on 15 January. eeSea by Xeneta data shows voyages via Suez Canal rather than Cape of Good Hope reduces full loop transit time on this service by two weeks…

Shipments of iron ore on the Great Lakes decreased 19.1 percent from 2024 to 3.4 million tons in November. Shipments were below the month’s 5-year average by 20.3 percent.Year-to-date, the iron ore trade stands at 39.2 million tons, a decrease of 13.2 percent compared to the same point in 2024.Through November, iron ore loadings are 8.1 percent below their 5-year average.Since 1880, Lake Carriers’ has represented the U.S.-flag Great Lakes fleet, which today can move more than 90 million tons of cargos annually that are the foundation of American industry…

StormGeo, a weather intelligence and decision-support solutions company part of Alfa Laval, has announced a strengthened strategic focus on its energy analytics and is welcoming industry expert Espen Zachariassen as SVP Energy Analytics in January 2026.The move represents a long-term commitment to expanding StormGeo’s relevance in the energy market, with a particular focus on European growth.The strengthened focus builds on StormGeo’s existing energy market forecasting capabilities (formerly known as StormGeo Nena)…

Danish shipping company NORDEN has acquired the Southern African cargo activities of Taylor Maritime, previously operated under the IVS brand, adding to its growing parceling and project cargo business.As part of the deal, NORDEN will take over the specialist parceling team based in Durban, South Africa, led by Brandon Paul, who will continue serving customers on parcel trades from South Africa.“We are delighted that Brandon and his team join NORDEN as we are committed to further…

The UK Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) has published its preliminary assessment of a cargo fire on the bulk carrier Atlay on June 27, 2025.The Marshall Islands registered vessel was loading scrap metal into its aft cargo hold at Albert Dock, Hull, England.At 0948, the master observed smoke rising from the cargo and immediately activated the general alarm and called for the shore grab operator to discharge cargo to remove or expose the source of the fire. Meanwhile…

“We estimate that coal shipments to advanced economies will fall 2% y/y in 2025, reaching a 23-year low. This will be the third consecutive annual drop although the pace of decline has slowed compared to previous years. The contraction is primarily driven by weaker coking coal demand due to reduced steel production,” says Filipe Gouveia, Shipping Analysis Manager at BIMCO.Between January and October, global steel production fell 2.1% y/y according to the World Steel Association.

The livestock carrier Spiridon II has unloaded cattle in the Libyan city of Benghazi after being stranded off the Turkish coast for more than a month after a month-long voyage from Uruguay with nearly 3,000 cattle on board.The Spiridon II is now back at sea.It is unclear what happened to the dead animals and sewage onboard. Dozens of animals had already died, and many calves had been born, lost, or perished. The dead animals and excrement cannot legally be disposed of in the Mediterranean Sea due to MARPOL regulations.

Two cargo vessels were headed for grain port terminals near New Orleans on Monday to load with the first U.S. soybean shipments to China since May, according to a shipping schedule seen by Reuters.A third vessel was en route to a Texas Gulf Coast grain terminal to be loaded with China-bound U.S. sorghum in the coming days in what will be the first American shipment of the feed grain to China since mid-March, the shipping schedule showed.U.S. farmers and grain traders have been awaiting shipments to China to resume after Beijing shunned U.S.

Australian Border Force (ABF) officers posted overseas in Beijing have prevented over 600,000 illegal vapes from hitting Australia’s streets after information sharing led to the referral of almost 70 high risk containers.The majority of the seized vapes - which had a street value of approximately $30 million, arrived into NSW between September and October 2025.The information allowed ABF officers to identify several other shipments related to the initial referrals, with majority of the containers falsely described as items such as glass bottles…

Firefighters and federal authorities continued working Saturday to contain a hazardous-materials fire aboard the container ship ONE Henry Hudson after an explosion and onboard fire forced the evacuation of all crew members at the Port of Los Angeles, according to the Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD) and port officials. By 6:30pm local time, the fire had been substantially contained.The incident occurred Friday at the Yusen Container Terminal in San Pedro. LAFD said the ship experienced an explosion that disrupted the vessel’s power and crane operations…

Afghanistan's Taliban government urged India on Thursday to scale up trade and open cargo hubs in its territory, as it strengthens ties with New Delhi and seeks alternatives to Pakistan after repeated border clashes and closures.During talks, Al-Haj Nooruddin Azizi, the Taliban's commerce minister, also asked India to help set up scheduled shipping services to move Afghan goods through the Indian-operated Chabahar Port in Iran, his ministry said.Landlocked Afghanistan has redirected more goods to Iran and Central Asia in recent months after armed clashes shut key crossings with Pakistan.Azizi

Odfjell SE and Japan’s Nissen Kaiun Co., Ltd. have formed a new Bergen-based joint venture, Odfjell Hakata Maritime AS, marking a significant expansion of their long-standing partnership and adding substantial capacity to the global chemical tanker market.The JV will launch with a fleet of 10 stainless-steel chemical tankers, equally contributed by the two companies. Nine of the vessels are already operating under Odfjell Tankers via existing charter agreements, while the tenth is set to join the fleet in early December.

ZIM Integrated Shipping Services reported third-quarter 2025 earnings that, while sharply lower year-on-year, demonstrate the carrier’s ability to generate meaningful profit and cash flow in an increasingly volatile global container market. Revenues fell 36% to $1.78 billion as freight rates continued to normalize from 2024 highs, and net income dropped to $123 million, compared with $1.13 billion a year ago. Still, ZIM delivered an Adjusted EBITDA of $593 million—underscoring the value of its cost-efficient…

Star Bulk Carriers reported a weaker third quarter amid softening dry bulk markets, lower charter rates and a smaller operating fleet, while continuing to reshape its fleet through vessel sales, refinancing and newbuilding acquisitions.The company posted net income of $18.5 million for Q3 2025, down sharply from $81.3 million in the same period last year. Voyage revenues also fell to $263.9 million, versus $344.3 million a year ago, reflecting reduced TCE rates and a drop in the number of vessels on the water.