Philippine News

November 10 ------ The tanker market has been on a roll in the last few months due to a combination of factors. Increased sanctions (enforcement), resilient oil demand, partly due to stock building in China, and growing OPEC+ supply all contributed to create a rate environment we have not seen since the freight rate boom in the early days of the pandemic. Very limited fleet supply growth, both in 2024 and 2025 has contributed as well. A tightening supply-demand balance has ma

November 10 ------ The Greek-owned tanker Hellas Aphrodite was liberated on the afternoon of November 7, more than 24 hours after the vessel was boarded by pirates off the coast of Somalia. EUNAVFOR Atalanta reports that the 24 crewmembers are safe, having been able to remain in the vessel’s citadel, and that the Spanish frigate ESPS Victoria was standing by the tanker as it prepared to get back underway. The vessel was boarded November 6, while approximately 560 nautical mil

November 10 ------ When the Trump administration agreed to suspend its Section 301 port fees on Chinese shipping late last month, America's shipbuilding unions interpreted the deal as a betrayal. U.S. shipyards did not comment on the suspension formally, but their employees were vocal in their displeasure. The fee suspension has been interpreted as a sign of the leverage that Beijing has in Washington, thanks to a combination of China's importance to American soy farmers and

November 10 ------ South Korea’s Busan Port Authority (BPA) and the Ulsan Port Authority and the United States’ Northwest Seaport Alliance (NWSA), the Port of Tacoma (PoT) and the Port of Seattle have penned a formal agreement aiming to strengthen efforts in establishing a green shipping corridor. As officials from environmental organization Pacific Environment have shared, the NWSA has been working with a number of partners over the past three years on the U.S.-South Korea g

November 9 ------ The U.S. Coast Guard has achieved a new record for cocaine seizures in a fiscal year, capturing more than 225 tons in the U.S. Southern Command area of operations between October 2024 and October 2025. The achievement is a testament to heightened patrol operations in the region, as well as the continued boom in cocaine production in Columbia and other countries of origin. Colombia alone manufactured an estimated 1,800 tons of cocaine in 2022, and output has

November 9 ------ A new study among the providers of shore services for seafarers confirmed the concerns over the decline in access to shore leave and the time spent ashore by seafarers. Shore leave has been repeatedly identified as one of the concerns for seafarers, as experts cite the importance of shore time to crew welfare. A survey of seafarers in May 2024 published by the World Maritime University highlighted the concern, one that has been repeated in the recent edition

November 8 ------ The Suez Canal Authority is continuing its outreach to the shipping industry as it reported its first significant increases in transit volume since the start of the regional crisis in late 2023. They reported the highest monthly rate of returning vessels in October since the beginning of the war in the Middle East. News of the improvement was shared as the Chairman of the Suez Canal Authority, Admiral Ossama Rabiee, hosted a meeting of the representatives fr

November 8 ------ Foreign relief efforts are beginning to flood into Jamaica in the wake of Hurricane Melissa, bringing aid for thousands of people affected by the category five storm. The powerful storm has shut down the nation's tourism industry, and the cost of the physical damage alone is believed to equal about one-third of Jamaica's annual domestic product. The Royal Navy patrol vessel HMS Trent arrived off Falmouth, Jamaica on November 4 to deliver a company of disast

November 7 ------ A piracy incident is ongoing off the coast of Somalia after the Greek-owned product tanker Hellas Aphrodite reported it had been attacked and boarded. The incident comes just days after a failed boarding on another tanker and is raising concerns over a resurgence of the pirates after 18 months since they boarded another large cargo ship. The manager of the vessel, Latsco Shipping, confirmed the incident and said the crew was accounted for and that they remai

November 7 ------ Hydrogen Solutions (HYDS) has reached final investment decisions (FIDs) for its two green hydrogen production projects, HyFuel and Kaupanes Hydrogen, advancing them into the construction phase. HYDS revealed FIDs on November 5, stating that this development represents “significant progress in scaling competitive green hydrogen supply and enabling zero emission solutions in segments where direct electrification is not sufficient”. The HyFuel project is owned

November 7 ------ Despite reporting better than expected third quarter results and narrowing the range for its yearly income estimate, investor concerns continue to grow on the container shipping segment as Maersk pointed to continuing issues. While it reported strong quarterly results, it was the underlying issues around freight rates that raised the greatest concern for Maersk and the industry more broadly. Among the first of the large, publicly traded container carriers to

November 7 ------ Lloyd’s Register (LR), in collaboration with COSCO Shipping Group, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, and the University of Southampton, has launched a new center for developing and testing zero-carbon and intelligent-ship technologies. Named the International Maritime Future Technologies Innovation Centre, this virtual center aims to advance research and development in low- and zero-carbon maritime technologies, intelligent ship systems, and digital innovation.

November 6 ------ The annual report of the Panel of Experts on Yemen has an established reputation for producing carefully researched and well-substantiated information, and this latest report identifies that sanctions imposed on the Houthis have been relatively ineffective in constraining their ability to purchase equipment needed to mount their attacks on shipping. The report identifies an increase in arms shipment seizures, which it attributes mostly to the closure of port

November 6 ------ The European Commission has adopted the Sustainable Transport Investment Plan (STIP) which sets out a common approach to boost investments in renewable and low-carbon fuels focusing on waterborne and aviation transport. The plan responds to the urgent need of Europe’s transport and fuels industry to unlock investments and scale up production of renewable and low-carbon fuels and is part of a comprehensive transport package introduced on November 5, 2025. Wha

November 6 ------ Officials in the Philippines are trying to understand how containers with radioactive dust were exported and now what to do with them since they have been sent back to the country. The Philippines is demanding that one of the country’s steel producers take responsibility for the cargo, while the company denies involvement and says only the government has the ability to handle the contaminated cargo. The case has intensified, according to a report from Bloomb

November 6 ------ Eight months after going public with plans to launch a resident cruise line called Crescent Seas, the company has relinquished charter agreements with Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings (NCLH) for two cruise ships, instead saying it is focusing on plans for a newbuild. It becomes the latest in a series of efforts that tried but failed in concepts to convert existing cruise ships into residences at sea. “In the six months since launching Crescent Seas, the brand

November 5 ------ Last week at the annual IISS Manama Dialogues in Bahrain, Cyprus' foreign minister warned that the security situation around the waters bordering Yemen is on the brink of worsening significantly. Foreign Minister Konstantinos Kombos observed that Cyprus, besides being located astride major global shipping routes and being closer to Yemen than to Brussels, Cyprus "has the eleventh largest commercial fleet in the world and the third biggest in the EU . . . [an

November 5 ------ The International Bunker Industry Association (IBIA) and the International Association of Dry Cargo Shipowners (INTERCARGO) have formed a partnership to reinforce collaboration between the dry bulk shipping and marine fuels communities, with a focus on decarbonization, safety, and quality. The two organizations entered into a reciprocal membership agreement to formalize their working relationship, underscoring the shared commitment to advancing safe, efficie

November 5 ------ Philippine officials are reporting that there were no injuries as two ferries made contact early on Tuesday, November 4, in an apparent docking accident. The Coast Guard believes it was due to the rough weather, as one of the strongest typhoons of the season was passing through the central Philippines. The passenger car RoRo ferry Maria Rebecca was arriving at Jolo, an island in the southern Philippines, on Tuesday morning. Built in 1972, the 748 gross ton f

November 5 ------ Vietnamese officials report efforts are underway to secure a larger dry bulk carrier that was damaged in a grounding a week ago. The goal is to secure the vessel ahead of a strong approach typhoon. The Star Bueno (178,978 dwt) was arriving from South Africa, carrying a load of iron ore and waiting for its berth on October 25. The area was overtaken by a strong monsoon with winds and waves which washed through the anchorage. The vessel dragged anchor and, eve