Atlantic Basin gasoline: tightest balance in years
Atlantic Basin gasoline: tightest balance in years
in
International Shipping News
15/05/2026
The east-west gasoline spread has flipped after 1.5 months of Atlantic Basin barrels heading east, prompting western markets to pull back supplies. At the same time, gasoline cracks have surged to multi-year highs on both sides of the Atlantic. US pump prices are at highs last seen in 2022 (EIA) while inventories are standing lower than year-ago levels in most Atlantic Basin markets.
Korea Invests 525 Billion Won in Ship Tech
Korea Invests 525 Billion Won in Ship Tech
in
Shipbuilding News
15/05/2026
The government will invest up to 525 billion won over five years to strengthen shipbuilding competitiveness and secure core technologies for seven types of vessels, including LNG carriers and ammonia carriers. Additionally, it will invest 1 trillion won by 2030 to secure an Artificial Intelligence (AI) shipyard capable of operating 24 hours a day. Furthermore, measures to maintain essential vessel production capacity will be pursued, such as having the public sector place orders for resource and energy vessels that have a significant impact on industrial security.
The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy held the ‘K-Shipbuilding Future Vision Forum’ on the afternoon of May 13 at the Hyundai Hotel in Ulsan to discuss strategies for leading the future shipbuilding market through strengthening the core of K-Shipbuilding and building a co-prosperity ecosystem.
At the forum, all members of the shipbuilding ecosyste
Samsung bonus fight spurs Korea shipbuilders to seek 30% profit-sharing
Samsung bonus fight spurs Korea shipbuilders to seek 30% profit-sharing
in
Shipbuilding News
15/05/2026
The debate over bonus distribution sparked by labor and management at Samsung Electronics is spreading to the shipbuilding industry. As the recovery in shipbuilding drives a full-fledged improvement in earnings at major shipbuilders, unions have begun including demands to allocate a set percentage of operating profit as bonuses in their wage and collective bargaining proposals.
According to the shipbuilding industry on the 14th, the labor union at HD Hyundai Heavy Industries included “sharing 30% of operating profit” as bonuses in this year’s wage and collective bargaining demands. This is the first time the union has proposed a specific percentage of operating profit as the source of bonuses.
Odfjell: Solid performance continues despite tension
Odfjell: Solid performance continues despite tension
in
International Shipping News
15/05/2026
Odfjell’s 1Q26 results were weaker YoY and QoQ and somewhat below our and consensus estimates, still quite solid in the exceptionally fluid geopolitical environment. We have made minor adjustments to our figures, reflecting higher uncertainty and inefficiencies that aroused due to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. Nonetheless, we reiterated our Hold recommendation at a lower TP of NOK 125/sh.
China Wants Strait of Hormuz Open Free of Curbs, USTR Greer Tells Bloomberg News
Trade Representative Jamieson Greer attends the opening ceremony of APEC Ministers Responsible for Trade Meeting at International Convention Center in Seogwipo on Jeju island, South Korea, May 15, 2025. REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji
China Wants Strait of Hormuz Open Free of Curbs, USTR Greer Tells Bloomberg News
Reuters
Total Views: 1
May 15, 2026
By Liz Lee and David Lawder
BEIJING/WASHINGTON, May 15 (Reuters) – China wants to see the Strait of Hormuz reopen without curbs or tolls, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer told Bloomberg News in a live interview on Friday, adding that the U.S.
UAE Will Double Oil Export Capacity Bypassing Hormuz by 2027
A cargo ship docked at the Port of Fujairah, as the U.S.-Israel conflict with Iran limits marine traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, in Fujairah, United Arab Emirates, May 6, 2026. REUTERS/Amr Alfiky
UAE Will Double Oil Export Capacity Bypassing Hormuz by 2027
Bloomberg
Total Views: 0
May 15, 2026
By Anthony Di Paola
May 15, 2026 (Bloomberg) –The United Arab Emirates will double its capacity to export crude oil bypassing the Strait of Hormuz by next year, as it seeks to reduce reliance on the shipping chokepoint.
Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. is accelerating the construction of a pipeline that runs to the port of Fujairah on the Gulf of Oman, according to a statement from the emirate’s media office posted on X.
Trump Says Patience With Iran ‘Running Out’ After Xi Talks on Hormuz
FILE PHOTO: China’s President Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump visit the Temple of Heaven in Beijing on May 14, 2026. BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo
Trump Says Patience With Iran ‘Running Out’ After Xi Talks on Hormuz
Reuters
Total Views: 0
May 15, 2026
ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE/DUBAI, May 15 (Reuters) – U.S. President
Donald Trump
said his patience with Iran was running out and that Chinese President Xi Jinping had agreed that Tehran must reopen the Strait of Hormuz, but China gave no indication it would weigh in.
As he flew back from Beijing on Friday after two days of talks with Xi, Trump said he was considering whether to lift U.S.
Panama Canal Aims to Avoid Repeat of 2023 Drought Crisis as El Niño Looms
Photo credit: Flystock/Shutterstock
Panama Canal Aims to Avoid Repeat of 2023 Drought Crisis as El Niño Looms
Reuters
Total Views: 0
May 15, 2026
PANAMA CITY, May 15 (Reuters) – The
Panama Canal
is not planning vessel passage restrictions for the remainder of 2026 even if an El Niño weather pattern begins in the second half of the year as predicted, potentially leading to another drought in the Central American country, the waterway told Reuters.
The canal linking the Pacific and Atlantic oceans is currently allowing 38 ships to pass through each day and has seen demand increase in recent months mainly due to the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, which is affecting the use of other corridors like the Suez Canal.
The El Niño climate pattern, which occurs every two to seven years, leads to warm ocean surface temperatures in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific, which typically means wetter, colder winters in portions of the U.S. and rainfall reduction in Central America, leading to drought
Fed Governor Stephen Miran resigns, cites deregulation wins
Fed Governor Stephen Miran resigns, cites deregulation wins
in
World Economy News
15/05/2026
Federal Reserve Board member Stephen Miran submitted his resignation on Thursday, with his departure set to take effect when or shortly before his successor is sworn in. Miran has served on the Board since September 16, 2025, filling an unexpired term that ended January 31, 2026.
Before joining the Fed, Miran served as chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers under President Donald J. He previously worked as a senior strategist at Hudson Bay Capital Management and as a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research.
Tensions flare near Strait of Hormuz as a ship is seized and another is sunk
Tensions flare near Strait of Hormuz as a ship is seized and another is sunk
in
International Shipping News
15/05/2026
A ship anchored off the United Arab Emirates was seized and taken toward Iran and another — a cargo ship near Oman — sank after being attacked, authorities said Thursday, as tensions escalated near the Strait of Hormuz.
It wasn’t immediately clear who was behind these incidents, but they happened as a senior Iranian official reiterated his country’s claim of control over the waterway and another said it had a right to seize oil tankers connected to the U.S.
The turmoil in the strait, which a fifth of the world’s oil passed through before the war, has been a sticking point for weeks in talks between the U.S. Iran’s grip on the vital waterway has jolted the world economy and spiked fuel prices far beyond the Middle East.
The ongoing instability in the region came as U.S. President Donald Trump met with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Beijing.