Ukraine
has sharply escalated its campaign against Russian shipping and oil infrastructure over the past week,
striking dozens of shadow fleet tankers in the Kerch Strait and Sea of Azov
while long-range drones knocked out another major refinery, deepening a fuel
crisis now affecting nearly every Russian region.
Taiwanese
prosecutors raided the premises of Evergreen Marine as part of an insider trading investigation
linked to one of the world’s largest containerlines. The Taipei District
Prosecutors Office said investigators searched Evergreen Marine’s offices, the
homes of nine suspects and 10 other locations on Monday. Nine people were
summoned for questioning, including a person surnamed Chang, on suspicion of
trading shares during a prohibited trading period.
The proposed sale of
ZIM Integrated Shipping Services to Hapag-Lloyd and Israeli private equity firm
FIMI is facing its most serious political challenge yet after prime minister
Benjamin Netanyahu and defence minister Israel Katz came out against the deal.
The Panama Canal is preparing to tighten draught limits
for neopanamax vessels again, in another sign that water risk is returning to
one of shipping’s most important chokepoints. The Panama Canal Authority will
reduce the maximum authorised draught at its neopanamax locks to 14.94 m, or 49
ft, in tropical fresh water from July 24. A further reduction to 14.78 m, or
48.5 ft, will follow on August 15.
Sister title SplashTech has carried a lot of interesting,
exclusive reports this week on AI and shipping. The Splash Wrap podcast, carried below, gives
listeners the key takeaways from this reporting.