US-Sanctioned Tanker Tests Trump Blockade With Hormuz Exit

Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Frank E. (DDG 121) sails in the Arabian Sea during Operation Epic Fury, March 18, 2026. Navy photo)
US-Sanctioned Tanker Tests Trump Blockade With Hormuz Exit
Bloomberg
Total Views: 1
April 14, 2026
By Weilun Soon
Apr 14, 2026 (Bloomberg) –A US-sanctioned tanker linked to China is sailing out of the Strait of Hormuz and into the Gulf of Oman, testing President Donald Trump’s naval blockade.
Rich Starry
, a medium-range tanker earlier known as
Full Star
, was
blacklisted
by Washington in 2023 for helping Tehran evade energy sanctions.
Russian Drones hit Ukrainian Port, Damage Panama-Flagged Vessel, Officials Say

Credit: watcher fox / Shutterstock.com
Russian Drones hit Ukrainian Port, Damage Panama-Flagged Vessel, Officials Say
Reuters
Total Views: 0
April 14, 2026
April 14 (Reuters) – Russian drones attacked Ukraine’s Izmail port in the southern Odesa region overnight and damaged a civilian Panama-flagged vessel, Ukrainian officials said on Tuesday.
Several strikes were recorded at the port area, Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister Oleksiy Kuleba said, adding that separate infrastructure elements and equipment were also damaged.
“The enemy is once again deliberately striking critical infrastructure and logistics in the Odesa region,” Kuleba said on the Telegram messaging app.
One of the strikes caused a fire, which was quickly extinguished, he said.
The Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority said the port continued to operate.
Izmail lies on the Danube at the southwestern tip of Ukraine and faces Romanian territory on the other riverbank. It has become an important and frequently hit logistical area for
w
MMI Daily Iron Ore Index Report April 13 2026
MMI Daily Iron Ore Index Report April 13 2026
in
Chinese iron ore and steelmaking prices
13/04/2026
Today DCE Iron ore futures experienced notable activity in the aŌernoon session, with the primary contract I2609
closing at 763 yuan per tonne, representing a 1.26% increase from the previous trading session. Spot prices rose by 5 to 8 yuan per tonne compared to the previous day. Traders engaged actively in quoting prices; however, steel mills approached purchasing with caution, resulting in generally sluggish spot trading.
Bunkering at $1,000/MT: What I’m Telling Clients Right Now

Bunkering at $1,000/MT: What I’m Telling Clients Right Now
in
International Shipping News
14/04/2026
I spend a lot of time inside clients’ IMOS environments — implementations, optimizations, training sessions. In the past three weeks, almost every conversation has started the same way: what do we do about bunkers?
It is not a surprising question. Singapore VLSFO surged from 574.5 USD/MT on the 2nd March to 1119.5 USD/MT on the 16th March, a near doubling of price in just two weeks — rendering a significant portion of open voyage P&L assumptions functionally obsolete overnight.
Fuel Switch Snapshot: LSMGO plunges in Singapore but remains above B100
Fuel Switch Snapshot: LSMGO plunges in Singapore but remains above B100
in
International Shipping News
14/04/2026
Singapore’s B100 discount to LSMGO has narrrowed by $178/mt to $544/mt in the past week for voyages into the EU. The price gap has narrowed as LSMGO is down by almost $300/mt.
To recap, Singapore’s B100 price flipped from a premium to a rare discount to LSMGO in the second week of March, when gasoil prices surged after vessel traffic through the Strait of Hormuz was choked off.
For dual-fuel vessels bunkering in Singapore and sailing to the EU, B100 premiums over LNG have narrowed by $82-83/mt in the past week to $45-145/mt, depending on the vessel’s engine.
LNG discounts to LSMGO in Singapore have also narrowed in the past week, by more drastic $260-262/mt to $588-689/mt.
Rotterdam B100’s discount to its VLSFO has widened by $16/mt to $224/mt, and B100’s discount to LSMGO has widened by $20/mt to $755/mt in the past week.
LNG price premiums over liquefied biomethane (LBM)
Trump says 34 ships passed through Hormuz strait after blockade comes into effect
Trump says 34 ships passed through Hormuz strait after blockade comes into effect
in
International Shipping News
14/04/2026
President Donald Trump on Monday touted the “highest number” of ships transiting through the critical Strait of Hormuz, after earlier confirming that a U.S. blockade of the vital waterway had gone into effect.
Still, confusion reigned over the details of the blockade, with Trump warning Iranian ships not to attempt to cross the shipping bottleneck.
“34 Ships went through the Strait of Hormuz yesterday, which is by far the highest number since this foolish closure began,” Trump said on social media.
In a post before that, Trump said any Iranian vessels that come close to the blockade would be “immediately ELIMINATED, using the same system of kill that we use against the drug dealers on boats at Sea.”
The U.S. military previously said that it would start a blockade of the Strait of Hormuz at 10 a.m.
GMS Week 15 – WAR PREMIUM CRACKS!
GMS Week 15 – WAR PREMIUM CRACKS!
in
Weekly Demolition Reports
14/04/2026
The single most consequential development of Week 15 came out of Washington, not the recycling yards. President Trump’s
decision to delay planned strikes on Iranian energy infrastructure by five days, alongside comments describing talks with Iran as “productive,” triggered the sharpest oil reversal since the conflict began. Brent, which had held above USD 109/barrel through Q1 and into early Q2, fell to near USD 101/barrel by week’s end, an almost 8% drop in a matter of hours.
Genco Shipping & Trading Issues Statement Regarding Diana Shipping’s Letter to Shareholders
Genco Shipping & Trading Issues Statement Regarding Diana Shipping’s Letter to Shareholders
in
Hellenic Shipping News
14/04/2026
Genco Shipping & Trading Limited, the largest U.S.-headquartered drybulk shipowner focused on the global transportation of commodities, today issued the following statement regarding Diana Shipping Inc.’s (“Diana”) letter to Genco shareholders:
The Genco Board of Directors and management team are committed to maximizing value for Genco shareholders. Today, Diana issued a letter as part of its efforts to take control of Genco through an inadequate acquisition proposal and through replacing the entire Genco Board with its handpicked nominees. We encourage shareholders to ignore Diana’s letter and not be distracted by its inflammatory and misleading statements.
Instead, Genco shareholders should keep in mind the following:
Genco’s comprehensive value strategy continues to deliver strong operating results and superior shareholder returns.
Diana Shipping Inc. Sends Open Letter to Genco Shipping & Trading Shareholders
Sends Open Letter to Genco Shipping & Trading Shareholders
in
Hellenic Shipping News
14/04/2026
Diana Shipping Inc. (NYSE: DSX) (“Diana” or “the Company”), a global shipping company specializing in the ownership and bareboat charter-in of dry bulk vessels that owns approximately 14.8% of the outstanding shares of common stock of Genco Shipping & Trading Limited (NYSE: GNK) (“Genco”), today sent a letter to Genco shareholders in connection with its campaign to elect six independent director nominees to Genco’s Board of Directors (the “Genco Board”) at the Genco’s 2026 Annual Meeting of Shareholders, the date of which Genco has yet to announce.
The letter details the compelling value of Diana’s fully financed, all-cash $23.50 per share offer, rebuts a series of factually unfounded claims the Genco Board has made in its recent public communications, and exposes the Genco Board’s deliberate pattern of entrenchment — including the unilateral adoption of a poison pill, the formation of an un
Global Oil Flows Plunge as Hormuz Disruption Chokes Tanker Trade

Stock Photo: SOMKIET POOMSIRIPAIBOON / Shutterstock
Global Oil Flows Plunge as Hormuz Disruption Chokes Tanker Trade
Mike Schuler
Total Views: 0
April 14, 2026
Global seaborne crude oil shipments have fallen 16% since the start of the Iran war, according to the BIMCO, highlighting the scale of disruption rippling through energy and tanker markets as traffic through the
Strait of Hormuz
remains severely constrained.
“This represents a reduction of 7.6 million barrels per day… to 38.4 mbpd,” said
BIMCO
Chief Shipping Analyst Niels Rasmussen, noting that flows over the past six weeks have likewise remained 16% below last year’s levels.
That drop means roughly 9.5% of expected global crude production is currently not reaching markets, based on earlier projections from the U.S. Energy Information Administration prior to start of the conflict.
“The reduction in shipments has naturally been driven by the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz,” Rasmussen added.
Gulf Exports Collapse Despit