CRUDE tanker spot rates have gone parabolic this month, changing the equation for long-term charter rates and asset pricing. This, in turn, implies higher net asset values for tanker shipping equities, as well as higher future cashflows from vessel employment, wrote senior maritime reporter Greg Miller.

Needless to say, tanker share prices have responded, adding to their already enormous gains.

Shipping equities, in general, continue to outpace the broader stock market. Shipowners — whether they own tankers, bulkers, boxships or car carriers — are faring very well in times of geopolitical unrest. Disruptions boost rates.

LPG tanker calls at Ukraine’s Danube ports slump as security fears reshape import routes

Liquefied petroleum gas carrier arrivals at Ukraine’s Danube ports have fallen sharply this year as weakened demand and escalating security threats drive traders towards overland supply routes, wrote senior reporter Ece Göksedef.

Lloyd’s List Intelligence data shows foreign LPG carrier calls at the Danube ports fell 23% year on year in the first half of 2026, reversing the strong growth seen in 2025 when imports shifted away from the Black Sea terminals because of wartime security concerns.

The decline accelerated over the summer. Eleven LPG carriers arrived at Ukrainian Danube ports from foreign ports in July 2025 and 10 in August 2025. That fell to just four arrivals in both July and August this year. In tonnage terms, August volumes were down 57% compared with the same month last year.

How will shipping spend its trillions?

Shipping has never been richer, wrote senior reporter Joshua Minchin.

Since 2021, the industry has generated an estimated $3trn in earnings, renowned shipping economist Martin Stopford told Capital Link in London this week, surpassing the roughly $2trn earned during the 2004-2008 supercycle.

It is a staggering sum. It is larger than Singapore’s annual GDP and enough to buy roughly 15,000 secondhand VLCCs at today’s elevated prices.

For an industry awash with cash, the challenge is no longer generating profits. For shipping companies, it is deciding where to deploy them.

JP Morgan Global Transportation Group’s chief executive, Andrian Dacy, told Capital Link that he had heard of “small shipowners that have $600m of excess cash on their balance sheets with the entire fleet paid off”.

Chinese shipowners lead bulk carrier boom in Russian Northern Sea Route transits

Bulk carrier traffic through Russia’s Northern Sea Route surged in August, with China-controlled panamax bulkers accounting for the majority of voyages as shipowners take advantage of the Arctic’s limited seasonal navigation window, reported markets editor Rob Willmington and maritime intelligence and research director Bridget Diakun.

A total of 19 bulk carriers transited the NSR in August, according to Lloyd’s List Intelligence data, up sharply from seven vessels in the same month of 2025 and only four in August 2024.

The increase marks a significant recovery in NSR bulk carrier activity after utilisation stalled in 2022, when sanctions against Russia and heightened geopolitical tensions prompted most foreign shipowners to avoid voyages through the country’s exclusive economic zone.

Mega-boxships return as carriers broaden Red Sea revival

The return of the world’s largest containerships to the Red Sea is accelerating as major carriers expand Suez Canal transits, providing the clearest indication yet that liner operators are beginning to reintegrate the corridor into east-west networks after nearly three years of Cape routing, reported deputy editor Linton Nightingale.

Despite renewed Houthi threats in the Bab el Mandeb, container lines appear increasingly comfortable that the immediate security risk remains concentrated on Saudi-linked tanker traffic. So far, that assessment has not derailed an increasingly rapid return to the Red Sea.

Gemini Cooperation partners Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd on Monday announced that four additional services, AE5, AE11, AE12 and ME2, will revert to Suez routing. The move increases the number of Gemini services using the corridor to six and marks a significant step beyond the limited trial sailings seen earlier this year.