A Saudi-flagged supertanker has been struck off the kingdom's main Red Sea oil terminal, in an attack that extends the Houthi blockade to Saudi Arabia's last major export outlet and tightens the squeeze on crude flows to Europe and Asia already disrupted at both Gulf chokepoints. The Bahri-owned VLCC Amzan, a 320,926-deadweight-tonne carrier built in 2014, reported a ballistic-missile strike on 24 August while about 63 nautical miles west of Yanbu, causing a fire on the main

Germany's largest inland shipping operator has called for a €12.5 billion European programme to build 1,000 shallow-draught vessels by 2035, arguing that only a generational fleet renewal can keep the continent's industrial supply chains moving as droughts render the Rhine unnavigable with ever greater frequency. Cologne-based HGK issued the appeal on 14 August, at the peak of a drought that had pushed the benchmark Kaub gauge on the Middle Rhine to just 16 centimetres on 11

Ukraine has stopped its drone campaign against oil tankers in the Black Sea after direct intervention from Washington, in a de-escalation that promises to relieve the freight and insurance squeeze that had driven tanker rates on the crucial Kazakh export route to Gulf-crisis levels. The Financial Times reported on 12 August that Ukraine halted the strikes following a request from US Vice-President J.D. Vance, who telephoned President Volodymyr Zelensky on 31 July as a series

The Black Sea has become the latest strategic chokepoint straining global energy flows, as an intensifying campaign of drone strikes on tankers loading Russian and Kazakh crude drives freight rates to Middle East levels and pushes war-risk premiums sharply higher. Repeated attacks on vessels at the Caspian Pipeline Consortium terminal near Novorossiysk have more than doubled tanker rates since June to around $400,000 a day, according to Seatrade Maritime. The Baltic Exchange'

Sweden's Supreme Court has cleared the way for a seized cargo vessel to be transferred to Ukraine, in what officials are calling the first time a foreign court has ordered the handover of a ship linked to Russia's shadow fleet, establishing a precedent for holding accountable those accused of moving stolen goods from occupied territory. The court dismissed an appeal by the owners of the Caffa on 4 August, leaving intact earlier rulings by the Ystad District Court and the Cour

Russia is quietly assembling a shadow fleet of liquefied natural gas carriers, extending to gas the same sanctions-evasion playbook it built for crude oil, in a move designed to keep Moscow's energy revenues flowing once the European Union's import ban takes effect. The Financial Times reported on Monday, citing data from maritime analytics firm Windward, that Russia's specialised covert gas fleet has grown to 25 vessels over the past six months. The expansion includes at lea