Issue of false flags continues to grow
The issue of false flags continues to grow and promises to take center stage in an upcoming meeting of the IMO Legal Committee scheduled for the last week of April. Citing the dangers and the required steps, France and the Netherlands submitted proposals which are drawing attention as they highlighted two previously unheard-of registries.
France’s note to the IMO Secretariat calls out the “Maritime Administration of Matthew Island” citing it as the latest example of fraudulent registries. It has sent everyone scurrying to the Internet and reference sources to answer the question: where is Matthew Island?
Turns out it is an uninhabited island in the southern Pacific east of New Caledonia. France claims it as its territory, but Vanuatu has sought to challenge the rights saying it belongs to the indigenous people of its country.
Finland releases tanker
Finnish authorities confirmed in a statement on Sunday, March 2, that they have released the product tanker Eagle S that it has been detaining since a December 25 incident with damage to undersea transmission cables. They determined that the seizure could be canceled in part after the cable companies withdrew their request and the detention from the Port State inspection was lifted. They also said they were releasing the cargo but continue to hold three crewmembers in the ongoing investigation.
“As the criminal investigation conducted by the National Bureau of Investigation, including the forensic investigation on board Eagle S, has progressed, there are no longer grounds for continuing the seizure of the tanker. Therefore, the seizure was canceled on Friday, February 28, 2025. As far as the criminal investigation is concerned, the tanker is not prevented from continuing its passage to leave Finland’s territorial waters,” the Helsinki police said in a statement.
Donald Trump’s tariffs imposed
US President Donald Trump has confirmed that tariffs planned for local trading partners Mexico and Canada will be imposed from March 4 at the original 25 percent level.
Tariffs were to be imposed a month ago because Trump said that the flow of illegal drugs and undocumented migrants was unacceptable, however, the two countries agreed a month’s grace to stem the flow of fentanyl from Canada and Mexico has accepted illegal migrants returned from the US. Data from the US suggests only 1 percent of fentanyl comes from Canada.
In Hong Kong port one and Maersk container ships collide
According to the local reports the Hong Kong Marine Department said a container ship heading to berth at the terminal was involved in a minor collision with another vessel already at berth in Kwai Tsung Container Terminal.
Video posted on Facebook, and that can be viewed above show a distinctive magenta coloured hull of an Ocean Network Express (ONE) in collision with a blue-hulled Maersk vessel at dock.
Energy prices decline as OPEC+ takes foot off brake
The cartel has been discussing the potential easing of up to 2.2m b/d of its voluntary output limit for some time but analysts were not expecting it to start yesterday. OPEC+ members eased production limits by about 138,000 b/d starting in April, as a cautious first step. Unconfirmed reports indicate that OPEC+ members are likely to ease production constraints over a period of months between April and September.
OPEC+ has limited oil production by 5-6 percent since 2022 to support the market. However, the producing countries are clearly rattled by developments in the global economy. These include the start of what could become a full-blown tariff war, sanctions, and the deepening Ukraine crisis.
Unreset pervades the tanker trades
Everyone saw Donald Trump on the news- in the Oval Office at last week’s White House meeting with Ukraine’s leader. Unpredictable geopolitical developments, and actions (or not) by the US Administration could materially impact the wet trades. But uncertainty pervades.
Analysts at Gibsons, in looking at developments regarding the Ukraine, had posited, in a February 2025 report, that: “It remains heavily debated whether or not trade flows might return to ‘normal’ in the event of a peace deal”
Earlier this year, a flurry of excitement surrounding the Biden administration’s tightening of the sanctions noose around “Dark Fleet” vessels has led to a recent bump upward – certainly in the longer-term outlook for crude carrying VLCCs, if one year time charter hires are a valid indicator.
Frontline underlying profit slips in ‘unusually soft’ 4th quarter
Frontline announced a $66.7m profit for the fourth quarter f 2024, a 10 percent increase in quarterly profit over Q3 2024’s $60.6m, and a 43 percent drop from Q4 2023’s $118.4m. The result brings 2024 profit to $495.6m, down from $656.4m in 2023.
On-year comparisons of the top line figures at the tanker owner give a limited view of the market’s health, as results have been driven as much by fleet financing deals and significant vessel sales and acquisitions over the past year as they were by the tanker market. Q4’s profit was supported by a $17.9m gain on a vessel sale. However, Frontline said the drop in its adjusted profit figure from $75.4m in Q3 to $45.1m in Q4 was primarily due to a decrease in time charter equivalent (TCE) earnings from $292.2m in Q3 2024 to $249.4m in Q4 as rates fell.
Little damage to MSC container ship targeted
MSC Levante F suffered little damage after being targeted by Russian missiles and is understood to have left Odessa already. The ship was attacked by the Russian military, which claimed the ship was carrying weapons onboard bound for Ukraine.
The 2006-built vessel with a capacity of 1,100 teu was fired upon on 1 March with two missiles missing their target, but damaging the 28,500 dwt Super Sarkas, a bulk carrier registered in Sierra Leone, which was loading 21,000 tonnes of corn and soya at the time, reported Ukraine’s deputy prime minister Alexiy Kuleba.