THE nascent Gambian flag registry has grown dramatically during the past two years, fuelled by an injection of tankers and gas carriers involved in sanctioned commodity trades, wrote senior US reporter Tomer Raanan.

While the gambit has seen Gambia’s fleet grow from 26,665 dwt at the end of 2023 to more than 3.6m dwt as of March 19, 2025, over half of that capacity is currently designated under US, UK, or EU sanctions, or a combination of them.

Roughly 2.8m of the new tonnage was added since the year began, with the registry ending 2024 at just over 800,000 dwt, according to Lloyd’s List Intelligence data. The massive growth spurt has seen it take on tonnage from poorly performing registries such as Cameroon and Palau, both ranked at the lowest-tier black list of both the Tokyo and Paris port state control regional authorities.

Box rates still sinking but disruptions due to port fees could spur rebound

Spot container rates have not been this low since the Red Sea crisis began in late 2023. The downward slide continued this week, with Asia-US rates yet again declining more than Asia-Europe rates, wrote senior reporter Greg Miller.

Rates should take their seasonal turn higher within the next two months. The extent they do — or do not — will be telling.

There are rising concerns that shipping is starting to feel the pinch from lower US consumer confidence due to Donald Trump’s tariffs.

“We have grown more cautious on the container sector in recent months following an exceptional 2024,” said Jefferies analyst Omar Nokta in a client note, pointing to “softer demand and higher retail/wholesale inventories”.

Syria’s online seaborne trade reaches new highs

Syria’s maritime trade made a noticeable departure from normal patterns last month, with traceable port calls hitting a record high, reported maritime risk analyst Bridget Diakun.

Lloyd’s List Intelligence data shows 34 arrivals of cargo-carrying vessels to Syrian ports.

These voyages were tracked using Automatic Identification System data, with the vessels enabling the transmission of this data throughout their entire voyage and while at berth.

Under Bashar al-Assad’s government, ships did call at Syria’s ports with AIS enabled, but much of the country’s seaborne trade happened offline. The high volume of dark activity — which continues to this day — was a direct response to the many sanctions imposed against Syria’s economy.

In 2024 and 2023, an average of 17 arrivals to Syria were captured each month using AIS data.

The number of traceable arrivals recorded in February is the highest since at least 2022, analysis of vessel-tracking data shows.

Big Chinese newbuilding orderbook to haunt vehicle carrier sector if USTR levy comes to pass

The current global vehicle carrier fleet in service was chiefly built by Japanese and South Korean shipyards. But the fleet has been evolving since last year as a record orderbook for pure car and truck carriers is starting to come on stream, and the vast majority of them are being built in China, wrote markets editor Robert Willmington.

As such, the vehicle carrier sector could become increasingly penalised by the planned United States Trade Representative levy, which could target any operators of China-built ships either in service or on order.