Monthly Archives: May 2024

Houthi Attack Damages Shadow Fleet Tanker Carrying Russian Oil

Shortly after midnight local time May 18 reports began coming in that a tanker had been struck while heading south in the Red Sea off the coast of Yemen. They are indicating that there was a fire aboard and damage to the vessel but it received assistance and was proceeding to an unnamed port. U.S. Central Command is identifying the vessel as the Panama-flagged Wind (105,387 dwt) reporting that the crude oil tanker most recently docked in Russia and was bound for China. Databases reflect the vessel with registered owners in Cyprus and managed and operated from Greece. The ship transited the Suez Canal on May 12-13 and its last AIS signal from the midpoint in the Red Sea read “China for Orders” as its destination. The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) initially reported the vessel’s position as 76 nautical miles northwest of Al Hudaydah, Yemen but in later reports amended the position to 98 miles south of Al Hudaydah. “The impact of the anti-ship ballistic missile caused flooding which resulted in the of loss propulsion and steering,” reports CENTCOM. “A coalition vessel immediately responded to the distress call…

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Report: Indian Class Withdrawn on Sanctioned Russian Tankers

Russian shipping interests continue to shuffle around the registry details of their large crude tankers in an apparent effort to address the Western sanctions on vessels. Reuters conducted an analysis and found that 12 of the 14 tankers listed by the United States in February 2024 have been moved to the Russian Maritime Register of Shipping, some having changed class societies or flags twice in a matter of months. The U.S. and its allies in the G7 reported at the end of February they were moving against both Russian shipping company Sovcomflot and tankers that had regularly transported oil in violation of the price cap imposed by the West as a punishment for the invasion of Ukraine. The U.S. blocked 14 tankers controlled by Sovcomflot on February 28. Before that, they had listed 20 tankers being run through third-party management companies in locations such as Dubai and elsewhere.  The review of the databases conducted by Reuters shows the Indian Register of Shipping which had stepped in to class the ships now shows 12 of the tankers with the notations class withdrawn. The vessels are appearing in the Russian…

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Trafigura Orders Four Dual Fuel Ammonia Powered Vessels

Commodities trader Trafigura has placed an order to HD Hyundai Mipo Dockyard for the construction of four Medium Gas Carriers (MGC) that will be capable of using low carbon ammonia as a propulsion fuel. The vessels will carry LPG or ammonia will be built at HD Hyundai Mipo Dockyard in Ulsan, South Korea. The first ship will be delivered in 2027. Each vessel, when delivered, will be equipped with a dual fuel low-carbon ammonia engine, supporting Trafigura’s commitment to reduce the carbon intensity of its own shipping fleet by 25% by 2030. “We are excited to embark together with HD Hyundai Mipo on this ambitious project which supports our commitments to decarbonising shipping and will help us to develop the global low-carbon ammonia bunkering infrastructure needed for zero-carbon shipping to become a reality,” said Andrea Olivi, Head of Wet Freight for Trafigura. Trafigura is one of the world’s largest charterers of vessels, responsible for more than 5,000 voyages a year with around 400 ships currently under management. The company is one of the few operators to have tested a full range of alternative shipping fuels including LNG, methanol,…

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