Shipping came to terms this month with the fact that the Red Sea exodus is here to stay for a considerable time. Reacting to Israel’s war in Gaza, the Houthis of Yemen – backed by Iranian intelligence and hardware – have targeted around 40 merchant ships in the last three months with drone and missiles, as well as taking one carrier and its crew, the Galaxy Leader, hostage. Hapag-Lloyd shocked its liner partners by ditching THE Alliance to form the Gemini Cooperation with Maersk, effective from February 2025, a move that leaves the remaining members of THE Alliance – HMM, Ocean Network Express (ONE) and Yang Ming – as members of a much diminished grouping with much conjecture about who they might try to coax to join them in the future. Hapag-Lloyd Empire Navigation’s St Nikolas suezmax was seized by a team from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on January 11 who abseiled onto the deck of the ship via helicopter. In September last year, Empire Navigation admitted to violating US sanctions by shipping a cargo of Iranian crude oil aboard the same ship, then called Suez Rajan. Somali pirates have reappeared after a near six-year hiatus, hijacking a number of vessels such as dhows and then targeting merchant ships passing by with a view to demanding ransoms for kidnapped crews. Tired of waiting for international agreements to restrain Russian energy flows, Russia’s foe, Ukraine, has in recent weeks decided to take matters into its hands, targeting refineries and export terminals in a series of concentrated drone attacks aimed to cut exports and thus revenues for the ongoing war effort. January 1 saw the largest regional green regulations in the history of shipping come into effect with the industry included in the European Union’s emissions trading system (EU ETS). Vessels visiting EU ports will be required to offset their applicable CO2 voyage emissions through the purchase of an equivalent number of EU Allowances (EUAs). Arsenio Dominguez Velasco became the 10th secretary-general of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) as of January 1, taking over from Kitack Lim. Penfield Marine Maersk Tankers acquired US pool operator Penfield Marine for an undisclosed sum, creating a crude and product tanker player that will manage around 240 vessels. The combined company will operate under the Maersk Tankers name and brand and will be headquartered in Copenhagen, with Tina Revsbech at the helm. Maersk Broker completed a management and employee buyout from its long-standing owners, the Mc-Kinney Møller family. The Copenhagen-based ship brokerage, established in 1914, will continue to operate under its new name, MB Shipbrokers. Golden Ocean Group made Lars-Christian Svensen permanent chief executive after he stepped up from the chief commercial officer role in June last year to become interim head of the John Fredriksen-backed dry bulk player. Australian supply chains were under enormous strain all month as workers went on strike at four ports operated by the country’s second-largest port operator, DP World. No end is in sight in the pay dispute. TagsSplash Extra Archive Splash Extra January 2024