Government Update News

Iran has suspended a 10% charge on freight fees for foreign vessels carrying imported or exported oil, gas and liquid petroleum products to and from Iran, the semi-official Fars news agency reported on Thursday.A U.S. naval blockade has sharply disrupted the country's seaborne oil exports.(Reuters - Reporting by Dubai Newsroom; Editing by Alex Richardson)

The Middle East war intensified on Tuesday with Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen launching strikes on several Saudi cities, further embroiling a U.S. ally in the conflict, while U.S. forces hit multiple Iranian oil tankers and Iran targeted a U.S. base in Jordan.The Houthis attacked four cities in the south of Saudi Arabia, wounding 73 people and setting oil installations ablaze in what appeared to be a major expansion of the six-month-old war.As global oil markets were pricing in the Saudi attacks, the U.S.

Hapag-Lloyd is working with the Israeli government on improvements to its proposed $4.2 billion cash purchase of ZIM Integrated Shipping Services, the German shipping group said on Monday.The proposed deal has faced heavy opposition in Israel, including ZIM's workers, Defence Minister Israel Katz and other government officials, who argue that it undermines national security by transferring Israel's shipping to a foreign company."We are now developing an improved proposal designed to further strengthen Israel's maritime security and independence…

Iran threatened the United States with "economic warfare" on Tuesday and said it had fired an advanced missile at U.S. warships, underscoring the risks of further escalation in the war only days after both sides traded blows again.The six-month-old war has been marked by a cycle of pauses followed by periodic flare-ups, with the U.S. last reporting attacks on Iranian targets on Saturday, when U.S. forces struck three Iranian oil tankers. Iranian state media on Sunday reported that Iran fired the Qassem Basir missile.Despite U.S.

South Korea is reviewing options, including military measures, to support freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz, the presidential office said on Friday, while denying media reports that the government had already decided on a deployment.Several South Korean media outlets, including JTBC and MBC, reported late on Thursday that Seoul was preparing to deploy military assets before the end of the year and could seek parliamentary approval this month.The reports said options under consideration included a maritime patrol aircraft…

Argentine President Javier Milei said on Thursday he would tighten sanctions on companies involved in oil projects around the Falkland Islands, boost defense resources in the country's south and send Congress a bill aimed at strengthening Argentina's response to what he called violations of its sovereignty.In a televised address, Milei said he would sign a decree to speed sanctions under Argentine law against companies participating in oil and gas extraction in territory Argentina…

China's Ministry of Natural Resources conducted a survey of waters east of Taiwan last month that it said would help it create "one map" for territorial planning and resource management, state broadcaster CCTV said on Thursday.China has been stepping up its activities to the east of Taiwan in the Pacific Ocean to assert its claims of sovereignty and jurisdiction over the island and its waters, to the anger of the government in Taipei.Taiwan's coast guard said on August 21 that it had warned off and shadowed a Chinese research ship sailing in sensitive waters near the island…

Turkish authorities continued searching on Thursday for 10 crew members missing after a cargo ship sank off the coast of Istanbul following a collision with another vessel, state-owned Anadolu Agency reported.Two Turkish-flagged commercial vessels collided in the Sea of Marmara off Istanbul on Wednesday. Authorities said one of the ships, carrying 10 crew members, is believed to have sunk within about 11 minutes of the crash.Search operations involving the coast guard, navy, disaster management agency and other emergency services were continuing on Thursday.

Nigeria could double investment into its energy sector within five years after joining the International Energy Agency, its chief Fatih Birol said on Thursday, as nations seek partners they can "trust" after supply disruptions from the wars in Iran and Ukraine.Speaking during a visit to Abuja, Birol told Reuters that Nigeria's admission as an associate member of the Paris-based energy watchdog would help attract investment, deepen technical cooperation and give Africa's largest oil producer a stronger voice in global energy policy discussions."My goal is…

A U.S. campaign to throttle Iran's economy by blockading its oil exports and stopping sanctions evasion is growing increasingly difficult to withstand, three senior Iranian sources said.Washington has in recent weeks sought to ratchet up the economic pressure on Tehran, in an effort to extract concessions in any future negotiation that six months of conflict have so far failed to secure.Although Iran's clerical rulers managed to bypass sanctions for decades, the latest U.S. moves have left them in a far more sensitive position…

Norway announced on Wednesday that it had taken a Russian vessel at the request from Ukrainian state-owned Naftogaz to ensure the Russian Federation met its obligations.Since 2016, the Ukrainian company has taken legal action against Russia to seek compensation for Moscow expropriating Naftogaz's property during Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014.In April 2023, a tribunal at The Hague ordered Russia to pay Naftogaz a total of $4.22 billion in compensation for assets it had seized in Crimea.

Ukrainian attacks on Russian naval vessels have caused significant but not critical damage, President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday.He said Ukraine had damaged around 100 vessels over a 40-day period, with the resulting damage equivalent to 1% of gross domestic product (GDP).(Reuters - Reporting by Maxim Rodionov in London, Dmitry Antonov and Ksenia Orlova in Moscow; Editing by Andrew Osborn)

The U.S. launched a barrage of airstrikes against Iran on Tuesday, prompting Iranian retaliation, in the most serious escalation in weeks in a conflict that has driven up global energy prices and weighed on President Donald Trump's popularity at home.The U.S. military said late on Tuesday it completed its latest wave of strikes on Iran. U.S. forces struck IRGC targets "including air defense sites, radar systems, maritime assets and facilities, mine laying capabilities, and communications sites," the U.S. Central Command said on X. An Axios report, citing U.S. officials, said the U.S.

China's state-owned shipping giant COSCO uses concealed equipment on board its ships to spy on military communications near the coastlines of target nations including the U.S., two senior Trump administration officials said.The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the U.S. assessment of the Chinese program, said COSCO has a decades-long intelligence-collection partnership with Beijing. The arrangement allows China to collect communication signals from vessels and aircraft operating across Europe…

The small Pacific Island state of Vanuatu is trying to bring a decades-old dispute with France over two uninhabited islands before the International Court of Justice, the United Nations' top court said on Tuesday.The ICJ, also known as the World Court, will not immediately accept the case because France has not agreed to so-called compulsory jurisdiction of the ICJ over its disputes with other states. Vanuatu's claim has been sent to Paris to see whether France agrees to let the court take it on…

A tanker has reported being struck by three projectiles while sailing out of the Strait of Hormuz, 17 nautical miles east of Oman's Khasab, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations agency (UKMTO) said on Tuesday.No casualties or environmental impact have been reported, UKMTO said.TRANSITSThe number of vessels sailing through the Strait of Hormuz was little changed on Monday compared with the weekend, hovering around five, preliminary ship-tracking data showed on Tuesday, below the 10-day average of around 14.Four of the vessels entered the strait and one exited…

Singapore and Brazil have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to establish the Singapore-Brazil Green and Digital Shipping Corridor. The MoU was signed by Singapore’s Minister for Transport, Jeffrey Siow, and Brazil’s Minister of Ports and Airports, Tomé Franca.Brazil has significant renewable energy resources and production capabilities that could support the production of zero- and near-zero greenhouse gas emission marine fuels, while Singapore is the world’s largest…

Just two years after the worst drought in the Panama Canal's history forced ships to wait weeks for passage and triggered multi-million-dollar bidding wars for transit slots, El Niño is again threatening the rainfall that feeds the waterway.With El Niño strengthening and reservoirs shrinking, the industry is bracing for a repeat of the disruption at one of the world's most important waterways — and some ships are already taking long detours via Africa.Earlier in August, the Panama…

The number of visible commodity vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz dropped to five per day over the weekend, shipping data showed on Monday, as companies tread cautiously amid continued attacks on ships.The actual number of ships passing the strait could be higher as some vessels have switched off their automatic identification system to evade attacks.Weekend traffic was limited to small-sized vessels, data from commodities firm Kpler showed. These included two liquefied…

At least eight people died and 18 were missing after a ferry carrying around 270 passengers and crew capsized off North Cyprus on Sunday, leaving survivors clinging to its overturned hull.The privately owned ferry left the port of Kyrenia at 12:30 p.m. local time (0930 GMT) and immediately started taking on water for an unknown reason, authorities said. It was heading for the Turkish port of Tasucu in the eastern Mediterranean.Survivors reported the ferry moving erratically, with its last hard impact with the water's surface breaking the bow of the two-hulled vessel, allowing water to seep in.

Iran's energy hub of Kharg Island is being blown to smithereens, U.S. President Donald Trump said on Sunday, after forces hit two rocket launchers on another island in the first known American strikes on the Islamic republic since late July.Attacking Kharg, which handled 90% of Iran's oil exports before the war launched by U.S. and Israeli attacks on February 28, would severely disrupt its energy trade and put huge pressure on its economy."Kharg Island being blown to smithereens!!! President DJT," Trump said on social media, but gave no further details.The White House and the U.S.

Finland's Steerprop won an order to supply complete propulsion packages for four Arctic Security Cutters (ASCs) being built for the US Coast Guard by Bollinger Shipyards. Each vessel will be equipped with two Steerprop Contra-Rotating Propellers (CRP) azimuth propulsors and two tunnel thrusters. The vessels will be built to an existing Multi-Purpose Icebreaker (MPI) design. During the selection process, Steerprop demonstrated that its dual-end propeller CRP concept delivered significantly…

The following article is an op-ed piece from Andrei Barotov and Kristiina Peterson, Chief Specialists of Maritime Competitiveness at the Estonian Transport AdministrationLeveraging its ‘e-Estonia’ digital society initiative, the government of Estonia is preparing to extend the digital reach of EST Flag ship registration services, while also expanding its tonnage eligibility. Andrei Barotov and Kristiina Peterson, Chief Specialists of Maritime Competitiveness at the Estonian Transport Administration…