Free Republic

Massive port backlogs continued to build for the seventh day in China at the world’s third-busiest container port. Vessels are being diverted away from Ningbo Meishan Container Terminal due to suspended operations following the COVID-19 Delta variant outbreak. This is having a profound impact on nearby ports in Shanghai and Hong Kong, according to Bloomberg. Port congestion in nearby Shanghai and Hong Kong is increasing once again due to the closure of the Meishan terminal at Ningbo port, a major port and industrial hub in east China’s Zhejiang province, which lies south of Shanghai. Last week, a dock worker at...

. Israel is prepared to attack Iran, Defense Minister Benny Gantz said, as his country lobbied for a response to a fatal drone attack on an Israeli-operated oil tanker that it blamed on the Islamic Republic. Asked in an interview broadcast on a local media website whether Israel is prepared to assault Iran, Gantz gave a one-word answer: “‘Yes." US plans to require Covid-19 shots for foreign travelers Goods imports rose 1.8% to $239.1 billion, also a record high. Exports of goods gained 0.2% to $145.9 billion in June, an all-time high Adar Poonawalla, chief executive officer of Serum...

The UK has ordered ships to exercise extreme caution in Persian Gulf waters off UAE’s coast as an unknown incident is unfolding, though few details have initially been given. A non-piracy incident is currently underway east of Fujairah, with “investigations ongoing,” an urgent alert from the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) indicates. “The warning notice, based on a third party source, advised vessels in the area to exercise extreme caution,” Reuters writes of the developing notification. Warning 001/Aug/2021 Category: Incident – Non Piracy Description: An Incident is currently underway in position 2459.5N 05728.6E (Approx. 61 NM East of Fujairah)...

Global vaccinations of seafarers are going too slowly to prevent outbreaks on ships from causing more trade disruptions, endangering maritime workers and potentially slowing economies trying to pull out of pandemic slowdowns. Infections on vessels could further harm already strained global supply chains, just as the U.S. and Europe recover and companies start stocking up for Christmas. The shipping industry is sounding the alarm as infections increase and some ports continue to restrict access to seafarers from developing countries that supply the majority of maritime workers but can’t vaccinate them. “It’s a perfect storm,” says Esben Poulsson, chairman of the...

The Port of Los Angeles announced Tuesday that it had earned the distinction as the first port in the Western Hemisphere to handle more than 1 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) in a single month. May was the busiest month in the 114-year history of the United States’ busiest port. The Port of LA moved a total of 1,012,248 TEUs, up 74% from May 2020, when COVID-19 had stalled global trade. The Port of Long Beach and South Carolina Ports Authority last week also reported record Mays. And the Georgia Ports Authority announced it had had 10 consecutive months of...

Peak shipping season is ahead — and the parking lot of container ships moored off the US West Coast continues to worsen, with the epicenter of congestion based around Los Angeles/Long Beach ports. On the other side of the Pacific, in southern China, a surge in COVID-19 has caused some of the biggest port congestion in more than one year. So now port congestion is seen on both sides of the Pacific as it’s hardly a secret that the recent collapse of trans-pacific supply chains will remain strained through the summer and one reason why prices for goods are soaring...

About a year ago, shipbreaking was in full swing as the global economy was in tatters. After Western economies injected trillions of dollars in fiscal stimulus, supercharging consumers, maritime traffic between the US and China has been off the charts, resulting in shipping lines adding new capacity. The latest spending patterns in the West show things are getting back to normal as consumers are using credit cards and debit cards (where the stimmy checks arrive) to buy items mostly made overseas. They are highly confident about the future and are spending like there is no tomorrow – triggering supply constraints...

Worldwide the cruise industry is making a restart with the strictest of health regulations in place, safety measures that ensure the health and safety of all onboard. Nonetheless, the Australian Government has extended a cruise ban in effect for over a year now. The move from the Government was met with surprise from the cruise lines and the cruise industry representative group CLIA. After many months of negotiations and promising noises from the Government, the cruise industry is still at a standstill. “Situation continues to pose an unacceptable risk.” Australian Health Minister Greg Hunt has extended the human biosecurity emergency...

Record charter rate highlights extreme vessel shortage — a major negative for cargo shippersIn a sign of just how frenzied the container market has become, a freight forwarder is reportedly paying $135,000 per day for a short-term charter of the S Santiago, a 15-year-old container ship with a capacity of 5,060 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs). “Charter rates for short employment … have gone out of control,” said Alphaliner in its new weekly report. “Depending on the sources, the ship would have obtained anything between $100,000 and $145,000 per day, an absolute historic high. The name of the charterer has not...

SUEZ, Egypt, March 27 (Reuters) – Efforts to dislodge a giant container ship blocking the Suez Canal had allowed its stern and rudder to move on Saturday, but it remained unclear when it could be refloated, the head of the canal authority said.

Have you ever wondered how all that coal got onboard an ocean liner before a voyage? It's a complex process and takes place over the course of many, many hours or even days and I don't envy those who did the work.

As you read this, around 10,420 giants are heaving their way across the world’s oceans Engineers believe it is possible to use the vast hull of oil tankers to create floating power stations that can convert the ocean swell into electricity. This is the ambitious plan to create the world’s first “waveships”. “It works like a giant piston,” says Florent Trarieux, a renewable energy engineer who led tests on the waveship concept in scale models at Cranfield University. “We would put a turbine at the top of the chamber that is driven by the air as it is pulled back...

Iran is planning to charge foreign ships a toll in exchange for "protection" across the Strait of Hormuz, a key trade route and a flashpoint in the escalating dispute between the United States and the Islamic Republic. A member of the Iranian Parliament's presidium said foreign commercial entities should compensate Iran as "the true provider of security in the region and international waters," according to the state-run Tasnim News Agency. Amirhossein Qazizadeh Hashemi claimed ships enter Iranian waters on their way through the strait and should therefore pay a toll. That assertion doesn't jibe with clearly defined international agreements, former...

DUBAI/WASHINGTON, June 13 (Reuters) - The United States blamed Iran for attacks on two oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman on Thursday that drove up oil prices and raised concerns about a new U.S.-Iranian confrontation, but Tehran bluntly denied the allegation. It was not immediately clear what befell the Norwegian-owned Front Altair or the Japanese-owned Kokuka Courageous, which both experienced explosions, forcing crews to abandon ship and leave the vessels adrift in waters between Gulf Arab states and Iran. One source said the blast on the Front Altair, which caught fire and sent a huge plume of smoke into...

Chinese warships collect baby formula in Australia Chinese warships that docked unexpectedly at an Australian port departed with a cargo of baby formula, local media discovered. The arrival of a trio of Chinese ships, including an amphibious assault vessel, set off alarm bells on Monday morning among Australian citizens who did not have advance notice of the visit and analysts who regarded it as a show of force. But the trip also highlighted China’s vulnerabilities, as Chinese sailors were photographed loading baby formula onto the ships before they departed. “What some Chinese colleagues were saying about ‘realistic socialism’ as true...

Russia’s state nuclear agency has launched a new icebreaker, Ural, as part of the country’s plans to dominate the newly warming Arctic region. The nuclear-powered ship is one of three new icebreakers commissioned by Moscow to navigate waters choked with sea ice and smash its way through if necessary. The ship, Ural, is the third in the class of three Project 22220 icebreakers. The ship was constructed by the Baltic Shipyards of St. Petersburg and will be handed over to Rosatom, Russia’s nuclear agency, in 2021. The Project 22220 ships are 173 meters (567 feet) long and 34 meters (111...

The wreck of the last slave ship ever to reach American shores has been found in a river delta near Mobile, Alabama, according to the state's historical commission. In 1860, on the eve of the American Civil War, the schooner Clotilda took aboard 110 individuals in West Africa and sailed across the Atlantic to deliver them to slaveowners in Mobile. After they were unloaded, the ship was burned outside of the port. The transatlantic slave trade had already been banned in the U.S. for decades, and at the time of the landing, importing African people for purposes of slavery was...

On May 15, 2018, under a sunny sky, Russian President Vladimir Putin drove a bright orange truck in a convoy of construction vehicles for the opening of the Kerch Bridge from Russia to Crimea. At 11 miles long, it is now the longest bridge in either Europe or Russia. As Putin drove across the bridge, something weird happened. The satellite navigation systems in the control rooms of more than 24 ships anchored nearby suddenly started displaying false information about their location. Their GPS systems told their captains they were anchored more than 65 kilometres away — on land, at the...

The world's biggest cruise ship has made its U.S. debut, with the enormous vessel casting a shadow on Miami. Royal Caribbean's newest liner Symphony of the Seas, which cost $1.35 billion to build, boasts 18 decks, 22 restaurants, and room to accommodate 6,680 guests. Newly-released images of the large vessel show it pulling into Terminal A at Port Miami at night, with it putting on a dazzling light display.

A Norwegian warship was heavily damaged in a collision with a Maltese oil tanker in the North Sea off the coast of Norway. According to Norwegian media reports Thursday, the frigate is in danger of sinking after sustaining heavy damage. The oil tanker is reportedly undamaged. Several reports confirmed that all 137 crew on the navy ship were evacuated but seven have been treated for minor injuries. "The armed forces is now reviewing all the means available in the region to assist the KNM Helge Ingstad (the damaged warship)," Lieutenant Colonel Ivar Moen told AFP. According to the website Marine...