TRANSITS of cargo-carrying vessels through Red Sea chokepoints jumped last month after hitting record lows in February, despite analysts warning the risks are unchanged, wrote maritime risk analyst, Bridget Diakun.

A total of 1,017 passings, amounting to 68.9m dwt, were recorded through the Bab el Mandeb in March, up from 864, equalling 57.1m dwt, the previous month, according to Lloyd’s List Intelligence data. The last time traffic volumes hit this level was March 2024.

Sanctions and discounts fuel flurry of deceptive tactics to move Iran and Russia crude into China

A growing oversupply of increasingly discounted sanctioned Russian and Iranian crude is luring new entrants into the dark fleet to facilitate growing ship-to-ship transfer activity in the South China Sea, wrote Bridget Diakun, senior maritime reporter Tomer Raanan and editor-in-chief Richard Meade.

Intensifying competition among non-sanctioned tankers available to move Iranian imports and Russian Arctic crude into China’s Shandong teapot refineries is proving to be a profitable play for owners willing to take the risk.

But they are entering a market in flux, where the resumption of the “maximum pressure” campaign on Iran, combined with recently ramped up demand from Chinese teapot refineries, is forcing increasingly complicated circumvention tactics to evade sanctions.

These shifting dynamics come amid the resumption of a US “maximum pressure” campaign. While the actions taken to date have so far not quite lived up to the maximum pressure promises, they have at least complicated shipping supply chains even if they have not yet managed to slow down the flow of Iranian oil.

Shadow fleet tankers contribute to significant rise in first-quarter recycling volumes

Increasing numbers of tanker demolition sales, most of which involved ships engaged in shadow crude oil trades, contributed to a significant rise in recycling volumes in the first quarter, reported markets editor Rob Willmington.

According to Lloyd’s List Intelligence data, 86 ships were recycled during the first three months of 2025 of a combined 2.5m gt. This represented almost double the amount of tonnage demolished in the same period of 2024, when 1.3m gt was recycled.  

In 1Q25, 18 tankers were recycled, compared with just four in the first quarter of 2024. The majority were vessels previously trading in the shadow fleet and included two tankers listed on the Office of Foreign Asset Control sanctioned vessel list.

Newbuilding orders tumble across most sectors

Newbuilding orders dropped considerably in the first quarter as volatile freight markets, long shipyard lead times and uncertainties around US tariffs and port fees have delayed investments in new tonnage, wrote Rob Willmington.

Data tracked by Lloyd’s List shows that 219 ocean-going merchant vessels were ordered in the first three months of 2025. This is almost half the 410 ships contracted in the same period of last year.

Trump capitulates on non-Chinese tariffs, adding to shipping uncertainty

The pandemic created an emergency for container shipping in the spring of 2020, forcing US importers to abruptly cancel orders from Asia. Five years later, US president Donald Trump has manufactured an emergency for container shipping by instituting enormous tariffs, precipitating a new wave of order cancellations, senior maritime reporter Greg Miller reported.

Global Port Tracker, a joint venture of NRF and Hackett Associates, estimated that US imports will fall by at least 20% in 2H25 versus 2H24.

Charter fleet share of global boxship fleet continues to drop

The tonnage provider share of the global containership fleet is continuing to fall as container line operators snap up more secondhand boxships from non-operating owners, Rob Willmington reported.

According to Alphaliner, some 3.7m teu of tonnage provider-controlled capacity, provided by 850 ships, were sold to carriers since August 2020. 

Colombian coal warning for capesizes

Colombia’s declining coal exports should be a worry for capesize owners, according to shipbroker BRS, news reporter Joshua Minchin wrote.

The announcement by Glencore subsidiary Cerrejon in late March that it would be cutting its coal production is another bump in what has been a rocky few years for Colombian coal.

Cerrejon said it would be cutting its annual production by 5m-10m tonnes, due to “unsustainable” prices of seaborne coal, bringing its annual production estimate to 11m-16m tonnes.

While that cut may seem modest, if it reaches the upper end of 10m tonnes, that would account for around 15% of Colombian coal exports in 2024.