Tuesday, February 03, 2026
Media Kit
Hormuz incident map

Incident in the Straits of Hormuz Reflects Iranian Nervousness

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dual-fuel containership

Number of Dual-Fuel Ships Nearly Doubled in 2025, and Strong Orderbook

Published Feb 2, 2026 8:23 PM by The Maritime Executive

The amount of liner shipping using dual-fuel vessels able to take advantage of the emerging alternative lower emissions fuels nearly doubled in 2025, according to new data from the World Shipping Council. In its year-end update on the Dual-Fuel Fleet Dashboard, WSC highlights continuing strong investments as shipowners push forward with their efforts, not waiting for the IMO and other regulators. WSC launched the Dual-Fuel Fleet Dashboard as a tool to track the global liner shipping industry’s investments in new...

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The tanker M Sophia, above, has since rejoined Venezuela's oil trade (U.S. DHS)

With U.S. Embargo Lifted, Venezuelan Oil Exports Bounce Back

Published Feb 2, 2026 8:18 PM by The Maritime Executive

Oil exports from Venezuela have surged upwards since the end of the U.S. embargo and the capture of former dictator Nicolas Maduro. Under American management, oil cargoes rose to 800,000 bpd in January, up from about 500,000 bpd under U.S. Navy blockade in December. Vitol and Trafigura reportedly reached an arrangement to buy the initial surge of bottled-up oil at Venezuela's loading terminals and anchorages, and the work of shipping it is proceeding. Two additional trading houses, Mercuria and AD...

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oil tankers STS

Tankers Sail Off After Malaysia Finds Them "Cojoined" and Stops Illegal STS

Published Feb 2, 2026 7:15 PM by The Maritime Executive

The Maritime Enforcement Agency of Malaysia proudly celebrated its crackdown last week on an illegal ship-to-ship oil transfer but then quietly over the weekend released the two vessels without explanation. One of the vessels appears to have been operating in the shadows for nearly a decade while the other is Chinese-owned, and they were caught red-handed, or as the Malaysians described it, “cojoined.” The waters off Malaysia are notorious for tankers illegally anchoring and conducting illicit STS transfers. Malaysia has...

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Winter waves batter MSC Baltic III, Jan. 2026 (Canadian Coast Guard)

Winter Storms Cause Hull Buckling and Cracking on MSC Baltic III

Published Feb 2, 2026 6:45 PM by The Maritime Executive

Severe North Atlantic weather has caused additional damage to the wreck of the container ship MSC Baltic III, which grounded on the rocks near Lark Harbor, Newfoundland in February 2025. After a series of storms in late January, salvage crews carried out a site assessment of the wreck, particularly the cracking and buckling of the hull on both the port and starboard sides. The port side crack has spread towards the stern, the Canadian Coast Guard reported, and the starboard...

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Offshore

offshore wind farm

Ørsted’s Sunrise Wind Receives Injunction Against Trump Administration

A U.S. District Court Judge issued a preliminary injunction on Monday, February 2, for Sunrise Wind against the Trump administration’s December stop-work order. With today’s ruling, all five of the under-construction offshore wind farms have received permission to resume work despite the administration’s claims of new information about potential radar interference from the wind turbine blades and towers. Ørsted’s Sunrise Wind had reported in early January that it would follow the lead of the other wind farms and also file...

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Shipbuilding

dual-fuel containership

Number of Dual-Fuel Ships Nearly Doubled in 2025, and Strong Orderbook

The amount of liner shipping using dual-fuel vessels able to take advantage of the emerging alternative lower emissions fuels nearly doubled in 2025, according to new data from the World Shipping Council. In its year-end update on the Dual-Fuel Fleet Dashboard, WSC highlights continuing strong investments as shipowners push forward with their efforts, not waiting for the IMO and other regulators. WSC launched the Dual-Fuel Fleet Dashboard as a tool to track the global liner shipping industry’s investments in new...

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Environment

LCO2 transport

Northern Lights has Deals With Shipping Lines to Double CO2 Transport Fleet

The Norwegian CO2 storage initiative, which became the first commercial operation for carbon capture and storage, announced a new deal that will double the company’s fleet by 2029. This comes just months after the company completed its first injection of liquid CO2 for permanent storage. Northern Lights, which is a joint venture between Equinor, TotalEnergies, and Shell, reports it has struck a new charter deal with major shipping companies, including existing partner Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha (“K” Line), while adding MISC...

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Business

iStock tanker

Tanker Orders: Too Much, or Not Enough?

Last week, in our annual forecasting opinion ("A Fool's Game?"), we prognosticated that the tanker orderbook will decline in 2026. We are still early in the year, but the headlines from many of the trade publications seem to indicate that this may not happen. It appears that many shipowners and other investors in our industry a lining up even more newbuilding orders. In this week's tanker opinion, we will give a little more background on why we think (hope?) the...

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