Cargo News

The United States issued sanctions against Cuban state oil company Union Cuba Petroleo (CUPET), the Treasury Department website showed on Thursday, adding more obstacles for the island's government to import much-needed fuel.Washington has imposed sanctions on an array of Cuban entities and people, including the island nation's president, as it seeks to intensify pressure on Cuba's communist leaders.The sanctions follow the U.S. declaration of a national emergency this year that would impose tariffs on any country that supplies oil to the island…

The Austrian livestock dealer allegedly responsible for the weeks of livestock suffering and death on the Spiridon II is to appear before the Krems Regional Court in Austria on Friday as part of a civil lawsuit. The importers of the animals accuse him of fraud.The cattle from Uruguay—half of which were pregnant heifers—were originally destined for Turkey. Upon arrival, however, they were not allowed to be unloaded from Spiridon II because, according to the authorities, nearly 500 of them were not listed on the import list.

China's trade in major commodities in May underscored that price moves are the primary driver of changes in flows in the world's biggest buyer of natural resources.The headline-grabbing number from customs data was the collapse in crude oil imports to an eight-year low of just 7.79 million barrels per day (bpd). The fallout from the war in Iran was blamed for the 29% slump in crude imports. In the months prior to the start of the conflict on February 28, levels of around 11 million bpd were common.The war resulted in the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz…

"During April to May, Western Africa’s clean petroleum product (CPP) imports fell 44% year on year, from 1,144 thousand barrels per day (kbpd) to 642 kbpd,” says Niels Rasmussen, Chief Shipping Analyst at BIMCO.The drop in import volumes cut tonne miles by 47% year on year, lowering the region’s share of global CPP tonne miles from 5.3% to 3.6%. LR1 and LR2 product tankers recorded the largest declines, down 88% and 78% respectively, and together accounted for 55% of the total tonne miles loss.MR product tanker tonne miles fell only 4% year on year during April to May…

Escalating geopolitical tensions and regional conflicts are having a profound impact on international trade, subjecting supply chains to intense operational volatility, rigid compliance demands, and significant financial pressures. Out of necessity, logistics providers are taking a more selective, risk-averse approach when preparing and executing their business plans.For The Heavy Lift Group (THLG), a global alliance of specialized heavy transport companies, caution and pragmatism…

Shipments of limestone from U.S. quarries on the Great Lakes decreased 8.1 percent from May of last year to 2.7 million tons. May’s loadings were also below the month’s 5-year average by 5.4 percent.Year-to-date, the Lakes U.S. limestone trade totals 3.9 million tons, a decrease of 14.9 percent compared to 2025 and 15.7 percent below the 5-year average.

Classification society DNV released version 2 of its Steel Load Planner (SLP V2.0) self-service application at the Posidonia trade fair this week. Steel coils are one of the staple minor-bulk cargoes, yet remain among the most demanding to plan, with wide variations in coil size, weight and behavior during stowage. At the same time, tight tonnage supply, a shortage of newbuild slots, and growing regulatory costs for emissions, mean owners and operators need to maximize the loading capacity of their existing vessels to remain competitive.Building on the original Steel Load Planner…

Venezuela's oil exports rose slightly to 1.25 million barrels per day in May, its third consecutive month of increase, fueled by more cargoes to the U.S., India and Europe, shipping data showed on Monday.Under the U.S.-supported government of interim President Delcy Rodriguez, Venezuelan crude production and exports have bounced this year as Washington eased sanctions and foreign companies expanded oil and gas projects in the OPEC nation.The oil ministry has forecast a crude output of 1.37 million bpd by year-end…

The MISC Group revenue of RM2,891.4 million ($729 million) was 2.7% higher than the revenue for the period ended March 31, 2025.The increase was mainly due to higher revenue from the company’s Petroleum and Product Shipping segment, primarily driven by higher freight rates and earning days, and higher revenue from Marine and Heavy Engineering segment, primarily from the ongoing projects advancing into higher construction phases partially offset by lower revenue from post sail-away projects.The increase in Group’s revenue was…

Oil prices fell nearly 7% on Monday as optimism grew that the United States and Iran were moving closer to a peace deal that would reopen the Strait of Hormuz, even though Washington and Tehran played down hopes for an imminent breakthrough.Brent crude futures LCOc1 were down $7.24, or almost 7%, at $96.30 a barrel at 2:29 p.m. ET (1843 GMT) and U.S. West Texas Intermediate CLc1 futures were down $6.30, or 6.5%, at $90.88.Trading volumes were light due to the U.S. Memorial Day…

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Sunday he had told his representatives not to rush into any deal with Iran, as his administration played down hopes of an imminent breakthrough in the three-month-old war that had been raised a day earlier.The U.S. blockade on Iranian ships in the Strait of Hormuz would "remain in full force and effect until an agreement is reached, certified, and signed," Trump wrote on Truth Social. "Both sides must take their time and get it right," he added.There was no immediate response from Iran's government.

CMA CGM delivered a resilient first quarter, but the numbers underscore the increasingly complex environment facing the global container shipping and logistics giant.The Marseille-based group reported first-quarter revenue of $13.23 billion, essentially flat year-over-year, while EBITDA fell 31.6% to $2.11 billion and net income dropped sharply to $250 million, down from $1.12 billion a year earlier.For the shipping division, the picture was mixed. Volumes rose 1.5% to 5.93 million TEU, but maritime revenue declined 8.5% to $8.02 billion as average revenue per container weakened nearly 10%.

"So far this year, ship transits via the Panama Canal have increased 8% y/y to a daily average of 38, driven by the tanker sector. Transits have been especially high during the past five weeks, rising 16% y/y, as US energy exports to the Pacific jumped,” says Filipe Gouveia, Shipping Analysis Manager at BIMCO.The Iran War and the subsequent reduction in Strait of Hormuz transits have disrupted exports from the Persian Gulf, tightening the global energy supply and boosting prices for energy commodities.

Rio Tinto has celebrated the shipment of 8 billion tonnes1 of iron ore to global markets from the Pilbara region, 60 years after the company’s first shipment set sail from Western Australia for Japan.The milestone shipment departed from Cape Lambert port aboard the Juno Horizon on May 19, bound for Nippon Steel Corporation, one of Rio Tinto’s longstanding partners.Rio Tinto’s first Pilbara iron ore shipment departed in August 1966 for Japan.Eight billion tonnes of iron ore is enough to produce the steel needed for more than 161…

Three supertankers were crossing the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday carrying oil bound for Asian markets, after waiting in the Gulf for more than two months with 6 million barrels of Middle East crude on board, while another was entering, shipping data on LSEG and Kpler showed.The ships are among a handful of supertankers exiting the Gulf this month via a transit route that Iran has ordered ships to use.The U.S.-Israeli war on Iran which began on February 28 has severely curtailed shipping through the Strait of Hormuz…

Dassault Systèmes announced the real-world deployment of its virtual twin technology for autonomous cargo operations with Singapore-based deep-tech startup iHawk Global. The system is currently being piloted at an active 50,000 sqm container yard in Singapore, where autonomous aerial drones and ground rovers work together to capture live inventory data and provide operators with real-time asset visibility. The deployment is among the first of its kind in ASEAN for cargo operations in dense…

Diamond Gas Jade, a 174,000-cu.-m. Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) carrier invested by a joint venture under U-Ming Marine Transport Corp., held its grand naming ceremony on May 19 at the Samsung Heavy Industries Geoje Shipyard. Built by Samsung Heavy Industries, Diamond Gas Jade is equipped with the latest energy-saving environmental technologies and a dual-fuel propulsion engine. Upon delivery, it will commence long-term LNG transportation operations supporting global energy logistics.U-Ming Marine's Board of Directors recently approved the construction of four 210…

Two Chinese supertankers carrying 4 million barrels of Middle East crude oil exited the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday after waiting in the Gulf for more than two months, shipping data on LSEG and Kpler showed.The ships are among a handful of supertankers carrying Iraqi crude exiting the Gulf this month via a transit route that Iran has ordered ships to use.Chinese-flagged very large crude carrier (VLCC) Yuan Gui Yang loaded 2 million barrels of Iraqi Basrah crude on February 27, a day before the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran started, the data showed.The vessel, chartered by Unipec, the trading arm

The South African Veterinary Association’s (SAVA) has released a formal position statement opposing the export of live animals by sea for slaughter at destination.SAVA joins many other international veterinary associations in condemning this practice. SAVA’s statement draws on extensive peer-reviewed scientific research to conclude that the welfare of animals transported by sea is unavoidably compromised. It identifies a range of inherent harms, among them thermal stress, dangerous ammonia accumulation, the physical impact of ship motion, and risk of infectious disease.

I watched the first episode of The Madison, a Michelle Pfeiffer TV Drama on Paramount.In short, it deals with a rich NY family, where the patriarch dies while fishing in Montana and the daughter of the matriarch played, by Michelle Pfeiffer, gets mugged in New York City. Very quickly it is conveyed that New York City is fake and that truth can be found fly fishing on the Madison River in Montana.The mugging as depicted in the show symbolizes the evilness and moral loneliness of New York City…

Shipping giants CMA CGM and Hapag-Lloyd said on Sunday they had suspended all bookings to and from Cuba until further notice, with both citing a U.S. executive order issued on May 1, in the latest blow to the crisis-wracked island's economy.The temporary suspension of new orders by two of the world’s largest shipping companies could jeopardize as much as 60% of Cuba's shipping traffic by volume, two sources with direct knowledge of the situation said - a fresh hit to a country already nearing collapse amid a U.S. oil blockade that has throttled the island's fuel supply.“Following the U.S.

The Iran war is starting to shape China's imports of major commodities, with April data showing a sharp decline in crude oil but rising trade in metals.The headline-grabbing number from the figures released last week by customs was the slide in arrivals of crude oil, with the world's biggest importer taking in 9.37 million barrels per day (bpd), the lowest in almost four years.April's imports were down 20% from the same month in 2025 as seaborne imports from the Middle East declined sharply amid the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz since the U.S.

Vesselindex has released its annual Performance Report, providing an independent assessment of how listed dry bulk companies perform relative to peers and the broader market in terms of Time Charter Equivalent (TCE) earnings.The report covers 19 publicly listed companies representing approximately 825 vessels across more than 150 vessel designs. It is based on a normalized benchmarking framework that enables comparisons across fleets with differing specifications.While industry performance is traditionally measured against Baltic Exchange indices…