Asia 20+ yrs. It is all about cash flow and risk/reward. Nothing to prove to anyone. Hear it and forget it; Read it and be informed; Do it and understand.
@contang_o Shipbroking and market sources have linked the Greek major (Tsakos Group) to a deal for two 181,000-dwt Capesize vessels at Hengli, with deliveries scheduled for 2028. https://t.co/zWRvTucAXX
Thai Airways to Cut Flights as Fuel Costs Rise
Thai Airways International (BKK:THAI) plans to cut flight frequencies across Asian and European routes in May amid higher fuel costs, VN Express reported Monday.
In Asia, the airline plans to reduce or suspend services to destinations including Singapore, Cambodia, and several North Asian cities. European routes such as Frankfurt, Munich, Copenhagen, and Stockholm will also see fewer weekly flights.
The airline said the adjustments are aimed at aligning capacity with demand and managing rising operating expenses. (NT Newswires)
Flex LNG โ Announces contract extensions and fleet update
The Company has received notice from the charterer, a supermajor, of the vessels Flex Resolute and Flex Courageous, Flex Constellation commenced the 15-year time charter contract in March 2026.
Got the wife evacuated, so have time to drink a tea and think about the Strait of Hormuz. I've sailed through the it a few times years ago and done antipiracy operations in the Strait of Malacca.
Maps can be deceiving. The best way to think about the Strait of Hormuz is a four lane highway, with two lanes per direction for the largest ships like crude carriers, cargo vessels, and warships in the center of the channel where it is deepest and free of obstacles.
Then on the outside of those lanes, you have medium sized ships, going Jebel Ali to other regional ports like Sohar, since a lot of international cargo goes direct to Jebel Ali then is cross loaded across the region.
On the outside of those lanes, along both coasts, are dhow fishing boats and all manner of local, smaller craft. Maritime trade crisscrossing this region goes back hundreds of years. The Portugese wrote how disappointing it was to find a tight network of trade already established in the region when they arrived in the 15th century.
It is hard to describe how crowded these waters are. You sometimes wonder if you could walk to Iran across the decks of ships and not get your feet wet.
The amount of traffic makes distinguishing between normal traffic and a threat incredibly difficult.
Is that dhow fishing, transiting between coasts, laying mines, gathering intelligence, or a tender for surface drones? Hard to discern while sailing ducks in a row escorting a lumbering tanker or cargo ship.
Operation Prosperity Guardian in the Red Sea proved to be a Houthi victory when a land power with no navy to speak of fought the most powerful navy on earth to an agreement.
The Hormuz problem is harder now the Iranians have proved they have the will to fight, no matter how much pain is leveled at them from afar.
The shipping lanes in the Strait of Hormuz go around the Musandam penninsula.
This turn exposes ships to 270 degree of fire control in layered systems from Qeshm, the surrounding high ground, to further inland, with surface drones now added to the mix.
Iran doesn't need to mine the entire strait. Iran just needs to turn that main shipping lanes around Musandam into a kill box and divert approved ships past Qeshm, out of the main shipping lanes like a watery weigh station. It has started doing this.
The U.S. has created a hard problem for itself.
NATO understandably wants nothing to do with this. If the most powerful navy in the world can't solve this, what difference does European navies make.
With the watery weigh station past Qeshm, Iran isn't closing the strait to global commerce. It is simply doing what the U.S. does with the dollar, exerting power over the chokepoint it controls.
Understandably the U.S. doesn't like this, so why can't the U.S. just send warships to escort ships through?
Well, when you escort a ship through a strait, you tend to stay ducks in a row.
So if warships are sent to escort tankers, they are now just another target in the strait.
Even if the warships could maneuver through local traffic to screen ships, lets go back to the 270 degree turn around the penninsula.
The warships would be receiving layered waves of fire likely worse than they faced off with in the Red Sea against the Houthis from essentially three directions while having the longer route to run to protect the tankers around the peninsula.
As the Hormuz Crisis drags on, anything less than breaking Iran's control of the strait will be seen as a loss for the U.S., much like the Battle of the Red Sea was against the Houthis.
The biggest supply disruption in oil market history may just be starting.
Our CEO Felipe Elink Schuurman analyses:
โข A potential 5โ8 mb/d crude deficit
โข Why SPR releases only delay the problem
โข The Russia sanctions paradox
โข Why diesel, jet and LPG are the real vulnerability
Read the full breakdown:
https://t.co/YpzweZREVg
#OOTT
CEO Harald Fotland joined @ChrisVonheim's podcast and shared insights on:
โ Innovation as DNA
โ The first deep-sea green corridor
โ Market complexity
โ How liquid chemicals are vital for modern life
โ Fleet growth
โ Leadership philosophy and career advice
Tune in:
In case this was overlooked (Kallaklev new role) Eastern Pacific Shipping:
https://t.co/q62niR7sIT
โรystein will lead management and commercial strategyโฆoverseeing commercial activities across EPSโ gas platform, supportingโฆ continued growth in LNG and gas shipping markets.โ