Container Vessel News

The Iran war has threatened Gulf ports and disrupted global trade through the Strait of Hormuz, a vital waterway through which roughly a fifth of the world's oil and liquefied natural gas normally passes.Iran's Revolutionary Guards have warned that ships passing through the narrow Strait will be targeted, after the U.S. and Israel launched strikes on the country on February 28.Below is a list of reported attacks:MARCH 1A crew member was killed on board Marshall Islands-flagged crude tanker MKD VYOM after it was hit by a projectile as the vessel sailed off the Omani coast…

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said on Monday it had received a report of an incident 22 nautical miles northeast of Saudi Arabia's Ras Tanura.A company security officer (CSO) of a container vessel reported two unknown projectiles had splashed in proximity of the vessel, each occurring within one hour of each other, UKMTO said, adding all crew members were reported as safe.(Reuters)

Iran's U.N. Ambassador said on Thursday Tehran was not going to close the Strait of Hormuz, but added that it was Iran's right to preserve the security of the key shipping route.Amir Saeid Iravani made his comments to reporters at the United Nations when asked about remarks by new Iranian supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, who said on Thursday that the "lever of blocking the Strait of Hormuz must continue to be used.""We are not going to close the Strait of Hormuz," Iravani said.

"Despite increasing trade policy uncertainty and falling freight rates, the container ship order book has continued to expand. It now totals more than 1,350 ships with a combined capacity of 11.8m TEU,” says Niels Rasmussen, Chief Shipping Analyst at BIMCO.In 2025, global average container freight rates fell an estimated 13% year-on-year while US import tariff increases raised concerns about increasing trade protectionism. Despite this, global container volumes grew 4.7% year-on-year…

DP World has acquired a 5,000+ TEU container vessel, DP World Chennai, integrating it into its Red Sea Gulf–India service to strengthen trade links between India and the Middle East.The vessel has been deployed on the route with its maiden call at Jebel Ali, lifting DP Wordl Shipping Solutions’ owned capacity to over 6 million TEU and aimed at enhancing schedule reliability across key regional markets."The acquisition of DP World Chennai enhances our capability to offer consistent…

Denmark's maritime authority said on Thursday it had detained and inspected an Iran-flagged container vessel anchored in the Nordic country's waters on the grounds that it was not properly registered.The ship, using the name "Nora" according to LSEG data, was initially sailing under a Comoros flag, but Comoros informed Denmark that the vessel was not found in its registry, the Danish authority told Reuters by email."The ship is detained until a flag state can demonstrate to the Danish maritime authority that it is registered and fully certified…

In December, Hydrex demonstrated their ability to mobilize anywhere in the world, carrying out a complex underwater propeller repair on a container vessel at anchorage off Pointe Noire, Republic of Congo.Following reports of a possible grounding incident, an underwater inspection revealed deformation to all six blades of the vessel’s fixed-pitch propeller. With no immediate access to drydock facilities in the region and schedule commitments to maintain, the company was contacted…

The Coast Guard’s Office of Investigations and Casualty Analysis recently released a Report of Investigation (ROI) regarding the fire on the Italian flagged cargo vessel GRANDE COSTA D’AVORIO and subsequent fatalities of two Newark Fire Department firefighters. The vessel was conducting cargo operations at Berth 18, Port Newark, New Jersey on July 5, 2023, at the time of the event. The ROI can be found on the following website: Marine Casualty Reports.The fire was reported to have started late in the evening of July 5, 2023, and continued for five days.

Everllence has announced the world’s first conversion of an Everllence B&W S90 two-stroke engine to dual-fuel methanol running following the successful sea-trials of COSCO Shipping Lines’ 20,000+ TEU container vessel, COSCO Shipping Libra.The vessel’s 11S90ME-C engine was retrofitted to an 11S90ME-LGIM (-Liquid Gas Injection Methanol) unit.Everllence PrimeServ – Everllence’s after-sales division – partnered with COSCO Shipping Heavy Industry from concept to execution in delivering the world’s first S90 methanol engine retrofit…

Classification society DNV has awarded HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering (HD KSOE) an Approval in Principle (AiP) for a new 15,000 TEU container vessel design powered by Small Modular Reactor (SMR) technology.The design demonstrates the application of SMR technology in a 15,000 TEU container vessel, capable of operating at 24 knots.The vessel concept incorporates a supercritical CO2-based power generation system, which can provide higher thermal efficiency and a reduced…

In a landmark step toward maritime decarbonization, Anew Climate (Anew) and Seaspan Energy (Seaspan) have successfully completed their first ship-to-ship loading operation of renewable liquefied natural gas (Bio-LNG) in the Port of Long Beach, California, marking an important moment in the transition to lower-carbon marine fuels on the North American West Coast.Following the announcement of a strategic agreement last month to deliver Bio-LNG at scale, the two companies have successfully completed their first bunkering of a commercial container vessel.

Using data from VesselsValue, a Veson Nautical solution, Rebecca Galanopoulos has analyzed the global container fleet, finding Swiss based MSC currently owns the most expensive fleet with a value of $49.6 billion.This company is also the largest in terms of vessel numbers with a total of 707 vessels, of which 584 are live and 125 on order.The vast majority of this fleet is in the container sector with Panamaxes and Post Panamaxes accounting for around half of this segment. Within the orderbook…

The owners and managers of the M/V Dali, the ship that destroyed Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge, have brought a claim in the Pennsylvania Court against the vessel’s shipbuilder, Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. Ltd. The M/V Dali was completed and delivered by HHI in 2015, so is 10 years old.The owners/managers allege strict products liability for defective design and manufacturing, breach of implied warranties, negligent misrepresentation, negligence and an indemnity and/or a contribution.

“On the strength of demand in trade lanes not bound for the US, we have increased our ship demand growth forecast for 2025 to 4.5-5.5% while maintaining it at 2.5-3.5% for 2026. We now expect a balanced supply/demand development in 2026 while expecting average market conditions in 2025 to be worse than in 2024,” says Niels Rasmussen, Chief Shipping Analyst at BIMCO.With few exceptions, the US tariff increases presented on “Liberation Day” are now implemented in full. In addition…

China Daily reports that Ningbo-Zhoushan Port has launched the world's first China-Europe Arctic Express, realizing China’s "Polar Silk Road" vision.On Monday, the container vessel Istanbul Bridge departed from Beiyi Container Terminal for Felixstowe, the UK's largest container port.The vessel is carrying over 1,000 containers and sailing the Northeast Passage. The voyage is expected to take 18 days – less than half the time it takes to sail the Suez Canal route.The vessel is operated by the Chinese-invested shipping company Sea Legend.

The National Transportation Safety Board issued a safety alert Wednesday urging greater awareness and training for land-based firefighters who may be called to fight fires aboard vessels in local ports.The safety alert follows several NTSB investigations into deaths and injuries to firefighters. The NTSB found land-based firefighters often lack the necessary training and familiarity with vessel layouts and fire protection systems to effectively fight in-port vessel fires. They…

A fire broke out onboard a Maersk container vessel off the coast of Liberia on Wednesday and the crew was still battling to put out the flames a day later, the Danish shipping group said on Thursday."The crew of the Marie Maersk detected smoke coming from containers onboard the vessel en route from Rotterdam, The Netherlands to Tanjung Pelepas, Malaysia," Maersk said.The crew was safe while it attempted to keep the situation under control. Two tugboats with firefighting equipment reached the ship late on Wednesday, Maersk said.(Reuters)

Current global economic and geopolitical landscapes are shaped by several key uncertainties. Tensions between Israel and Iran, particularly regarding the Strait of Hormuz, pose risks to regional stability and energy supply routes. Similarly, Houthi activity in the Red Sea threatens shipping through the Suez Canal. Oil sanctions continue to disrupt global energy markets, while evolving U.S. import tariffs add further complexity to international trade dynamics. Additionally, uncertainties…

Ship traffic in shallow areas, such as ports, can trigger large methane emissions by just moving through the water. The researchers in a study, led by Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden, observed 20 times higher methane emissions in the shipping lane compared to nearby undisturbed areas."Our measurements show that ship passages trigger clear pulses of high methane fluxes from the water to the atmosphere. This is caused by pressure changes and mixing of the water mass.

The World Shipping Council (WSC) has released its annual Containers Lost at Sea report, showing that 576 containers were lost at sea in 2024.While this represents an increase from the record-low 221 containers lost in 2023, it remains well below the 10-year average of 1,274 containers lost annually, underscoring continued industry progress on safety and prevention.Container losses in 2024 were influenced by ongoing disruption in the Red Sea region, which led to a significant shift in global trade routes. Vessel transits around the Cape of Good Hope increased by 191% compared to 2023.

The Global Centre for Maritime Decarbonisation successfully completed the world’s first maritime pilot demonstrating the full value chain of onboard captured carbon dioxide (CO2) in China.The pilot encompassed two phases. In the first phase, Shanghai Qiyao Environmental Technology (SMDERI-QET) conducted a ship-to-ship (STS) transfer of 25.44 metric tons (MT) of captured CO2 from the container vessel MV Ever Top to the receiving vessel Dejin 26. The CO2 was subsequently offloaded from Dejin 26 to a tank truck at a jetty in Zhoushan…

The fire fighting operation is ongoing onboard the Singapore-registered container vessel Wan Hai 503, off the coast of India, as search and rescue operation for the four missing crew continues.A fire broke out on Wan Hai Lines (Singapore) Pte Ltd.-managed container ship Wan Hai 503 on June 9 off India’s Kerala coast, following multiple explosions that forced several crew members to jump overboard.According to the latest update from the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA)…

Classification Society DNV has granted Approval in Principle (AiP) certificates to Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding for three new vessel designs.The AiPs highlight the ongoing collaboration between the two organizations and reinforce their shared commitment to supporting the continued development of Chinese shipbuilding and the maritime industry’s low-carbon transition and technical advancement.The three AiPs represent the continuing advancement of Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding in key shipping segments…