Sunday, October 04, 2026
Media Kit
Shahed

Iran Keeps Up Pace of Strikes With Attack on Brand New LR2 Tanker

MORE TOP STORIES
Moving and selling Iranian oil has gotten far harder under U.S. pressure (NIOC file image)

Difficult Times for Iran's Sanctions-Evading Oil Brokers

Published Oct 3, 2026 8:45 PM by The Maritime Executive

With the naval blockade preventing any Iranian tankers leaving the Gulf, for the last 10 weeks Iran has been selling oil from the stocks it had built up for just such a contingency which are being held afloat primarily off Malaysia and China. Historically, Iran has sold 90% of its exports of crude to China. Chinese purchasers are still wary of being subject to US sanctions because these sanctions have global effect. To be sanctioned may entail being excluded from...

Continue Reading...
Deendayal Port Authority

India to Get Its First Port-Based E-Methanol Production Facility

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

India is making further progress in positioning itself as a global leader in the export of alternative fuels in shipping. Ports Minister Sarbananda Sonowal and Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel recently participated in laying the foundation for an e-methanol plant at Deendayal Port Authority (DPA) in Kandla, Gujarat. This is the first port-based e-methanol production facility in India. The project is part of the government’s wider campaign to promote cleaner maritime transport in the country. The facility is also poised...

Continue Reading...
Panama Canal

ITF Calls for Panama Canal to Address Fatigue Following Tug Captain’s Death

Published Oct 2, 2026 6:49 PM by The Maritime Executive

The issue of fatigue among tug operators at the Panama Canal is again attracting attention after the captain of a tugboat is said to have died due to a grueling work schedule. The International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF) is calling on the Panama Canal Authority (ACP) to take action after a 59-year-old captain died aboard the tug Cerro Santiago. The captain died on September 30 while assisting a northbound Neopanamax vessel. He was said to have been working an extended...

Continue Reading...
Former ferry Isabelle X being used for accommodations

Gaps in Awareness, Poor Communication Caused Tug, Barge, Workboat Collision

Published Oct 2, 2026 6:36 PM by The Maritime Executive

Marine investigators in Canada released a report outlining how gaps in situational awareness and a breakdown in communication caused a collision involving a tug, a barge, and a workboat in Squamish Harbor, British Columbia, in December 2024. The incident involved the tug Haisla Northwind, the barge BSG Lubricator, and the workboat Triton 1. It occurred in the marine safety zone of the Woodfibre LNG Project site. The incident on December 18, 2024, occurred while the tug was pushing the barge...

Continue Reading...
FEATURED STORIES
PODCASTS
MORE STORIES BY CATEGORY

Offshore

File image

New Zealand Invests $20 Million in New Offshore Gas Projects

New Zealand has made further progress in restarting domestic gas production with a new round of funding targeting offshore exploration projects. Resources Minister Shane Jones and Associate Finance Minister Chris Bishop this week announced $21 million financing for two offshore gas projects. The financing will be made through the Gas Security Fund (GSF), a $113 million state-owned investment facility to ramp up gas production in New Zealand. One of the projects considered for funding in this round is EnZed Energy’s...

Continue Reading...

Shipbuilding

USNS Wally Schirra after a seven-month yard period in South Korea (USN)

Op-Ed: What America Must Change to Make Korean Shipbuilding Matter

[By Dr. Marcus Jones] For the first time in decades, the United States is being forced to think seriously about naval shipbuilding as an allied industrial problem. Years of delayed programs, strained yards, maintenance backlogs, workforce losses and shortages, and the near-disappearance of commercial shipbuilding have converged with China’s extraordinary maritime-industrial expansion; old assumptions about U.S. defense-industrial sufficiency are untenable. In its May 2026 Shipbuilding Plan, the Navy formally crossed an important conceptual threshold. It describes the failure of American...

Continue Reading...

Environment

hydrogen-fueled tanker

Japan Conducts Demonstration Voyage of a Hydrogen-Fueled Tanker

Japan completed what it is calling a world’s first as it successfully demonstrated a coastal tanker using a hydrogen-fired 4-stroke high-speed engine. It is part of an ongoing research and demonstration project sponsored by The Nippon Foundation to contribute to the decarbonization of shipping. The project called for designing and demonstrating a 4,800-dwt tanker specifically designed for hydrogen propulsion. The coastal tanker Kikou Maro (IMO: 1015595) was launched on February 14, 2025, at the Nagasaki Yard of Fukuoka Shipbuilding Co.,...

Continue Reading...

Business

iStock

Poten: Sky-High Tanker Rates are Driving Refiners' Oil Buying Decisions

A review of Poten's Daily Market Report, which monitors spot freight rates on many of the key tanker trade routes, shows eyewatering numbers. Across the board, tanker rates have reached levels never seen before (see Chart 1, below). The reasons for the sky-high tanker rates are well documented. The wars in Europe and the Middle East have created significant inefficiencies in the market. On top of that, there is the threat of attacks in areas like the Strait of Hormuz,...

Continue Reading...