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Shipping through the Bab el-Mandeb strait has collapsed to its lowest level in months after Houthi attacks on Saudi oil installations, deepening a two-front squeeze on the maritime arteries that feed crude to Europe and Asia and keeping freight and insurance costs elevated for owners. Only 15 commodity vessels transited the waterway on Sunday, down 56 per cent from the 34 that crossed on 20 July, the day the Iran-aligned group first declared a maritime embargo on Saudi-linked

Audi lowered its full-year guidance on Monday and confirmed the elimination of a night shift at its Neckarsulm plant, in a stark signal that the pressures reshaping Germany's premium car industry are translating into hard capacity decisions. The Volkswagen-owned marque now expects 2026 revenue of €58 billion to €63 billion, down from a prior floor of at least €63 billion, and cut its operating-margin target by a percentage point to between 5 and 7 per cent. Net cash flow guid

Airbus heads into first-half results on Wednesday with its delivery machine visibly back in rhythm, even as the supplier bottlenecks that dogged the year's opening months continue to shape how far the European planemaker can push its production ambitions. The Toulouse group delivered 351 commercial aircraft in the first half, up around 15 per cent on the 306 handed over a year earlier and its strongest January-to-June showing since 2019. Momentum built through the period, wit

Irish Rail has launched a billion-euro programme to expand the country's most congested railway line, in a plan that widens one of Europe's tightest passenger bottlenecks and deepens cross-border integration on the Dublin-Belfast axis. The FourNorth project, announced by Iarnród Éireann on Friday, will add two tracks alongside the existing pair over a 14-kilometre stretch between Dublin Connolly and Malahide. The corridor currently squeezes DART, Northern Commuter, Belfast En

The European Commission has proposed drawing vessels between 400 and 5,000 gross tonnage into the EU Emissions Trading System, a targeted expansion that shipowners have broadly welcomed while pressing Brussels for firmer commitments on where the money goes. The draft forms part of a wider climate policy overhaul and would close several avenues for cost avoidance. Offshore worksites in EU waters would be treated as ports of call, preventing offshore vessels from sidestepping E

Ford has agreed a Europe-focused manufacturing joint venture with Geely Auto at its Valencia plant, in a deal that hands a Chinese carmaker its first European production base and underscores how far the competitive balance has shifted against legacy Western manufacturers. The venture, announced in Valencia on Thursday, will be 66 per cent owned by Ford and 34 per cent by Geely, subject to regulatory approval, with operations beginning in the first half of 2027 and vehicles ro

Hungary has unveiled one of the largest railway investment programmes in its history, committing HUF 3,550 billion to modernising the national network by 2035, in a signal that European governments are treating rail infrastructure as strategic capital expenditure rather than discretionary transport spending. Prime Minister Péter Magyar and Transport and Investment Minister Dávid Vitézy presented the Baross Gábor Railway Development Plan at Rákospalota-Újpest station in Budape

Brussels is preparing to tighten scrutiny of who really controls Europe's airlines, a move that has wiped billions from easyJet's valuation and injected fresh uncertainty into the largest private equity approach the sector has seen. An EU official confirmed the European Commission will conduct a review, likely in the autumn, clarifying which corporate structures satisfy rules requiring carriers holding EU operating licences to be majority owned and effectively controlled by E

Volkswagen is preparing what could be the largest restructuring in automotive history, with chief executive Oliver Blume said to be assessing the closure of four German plants and the elimination of as many as 100,000 jobs as Europe's biggest carmaker struggles against Chinese rivals and shrinking margins. The proposals, presented to senior management last week and to be discussed by the supervisory board on 9 July, would shutter sites at Hanover, Zwickau, Emden and Audi's Ne

Europe's drive to double high-speed rail traffic by 2040 is colliding with an uncomfortable arithmetic problem, and the industry is increasingly looking to private finance to close the gap. The European Commission has estimated that completing the trans-European high-speed network by 2040 will cost around €345 billion, a figure that climbs towards €546 billion under more ambitious scenarios involving speeds of 250 km/h or higher. Set against constrained national budgets and c

British forces boarded and detained a sanctioned Russian shadow fleet oil tanker in the English Channel on Sunday, in what the Ministry of Defence described as the first operation of its kind led by the UK, marking a significant escalation in European efforts to choke off the Kremlin's sanctions-evading oil trade. Royal Marine commandos and specially trained law enforcement officers from the National Crime Agency boarded the vessel during a six-hour operation, supported by Ch

A coalition of European Union transport ministers has urged the European Commission to draw up a dedicated industrial strategy for the bloc's rail supply sector, sharpening the contest over how Brussels protects strategic manufacturing from foreign competition. The initiative, led by Austria and backed by Croatia, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Luxembourg, Poland, Portugal and Romania, was tabled during this week's Transport Council. Ministers called for a comprehensive Euro