Transport Infrastructure

According to LSEG and two industry sources, Russia's Black Sea Port of Tuapse resumed exports of oil products last week, after a suspension for two weeks due to drone attacks by Ukraine. The local refinery also re-started processing crude oil. According to sources and data from ship tracking, the Gambia flagged tanker Sandhya departed Tuapse with 30,000 metric tonnes of gasoil on November 17, and was heading towards the Suez Canal. On November 18, the Satna, a tanker with the Malawi flag, loaded around 30,000 tonnes of gasoil. The traders claimed that the fuel stored in tanks on these two...

The city's mayor reported that Russian air defences destroyed eight drones on their way to Moscow, just a day after an attack by Ukraine on a heat and power station had cut off the heating for thousands of people outside the Russian capital. According to the Russian Defence Ministry, 10 Ukrainian drones were downed in three Russian regions, including Moscow and Kaluga, as well as Bryansk which borders Ukraine, on Monday. In a press release, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin stated that emergency services are working on the site of the drones. The drone attack on the Shatura Power Station in...

The Port of Los Angeles announced on Saturday that a fire on a cargo vessel, which sent smoke billowing throughout the second-most populous U.S. City, had been "substantially confined" after several hour. The shelter-in-place order for two neighborhoods in the city has been lifted. There have been no injuries reported. A fire started on the dock of the One Henry Hudson in San Pedro, Los Angeles at around 6:30 pm local time. Officials said that fire crews and members of the ship's crew continued to suppress the fire on Saturday after the vessel had been towed from its berth in...

The Los Angeles Fire Department reported that all crew members were evacuated from container ship One Henry Hudson on Friday after an explosion and fire disrupted its power and crane operation at San Pedro Port. The port has identified hazardous materials in several bays. Firefighters are using protective gear, including self-contained respirators. LAFD reported that marine units are continuing to cool the exterior of the ship, and no personnel is allowed below deck. ABC's affiliate broadcasts footage of firefighting boats spraying water over the containers that are on fire and the sides of the ship. Port officials announced that four...

Motiva announced on Tuesday that Mexico's Grupo Aeroportuario del Sureste signed a deal to purchase the Brazilian infrastructure operator Motiva's airport portfolio for $11.5 billion (about $2.16 billion), which includes net debt. ASUR will pay ASUR 5 billion reais to acquire Motiva's airport stake, with the remainder being paid through net debt. This is according to a filing by Motiva. The sale is still subject to antitrust approvals. It includes Motiva's stakes at 17 Brazilian airports as well as international hubs located in the capital of Ecuador, Quito, Costa Rica, and Curacao. Motiva says that these airports serve about 45...

Tuesday, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) will hold a hearing to determine the probable causes of the collapse of Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge in March 2024 that was caused by the cargo vessel Dali. Six people were killed. The board was prompted by the incident to demand urgent safety assessments for 68 bridges across 19 states, including iconic crossings such as the Golden Gate Bridge. Chesapeake Bay Bridge. Brooklyn Bridge. and George Washington Bridge. The review is focused on bridges that were built before 1991, and are frequented frequently by ocean-going ships. These bridges have not been subjected...

Germany has begun putting into operation natural gas import terminals as part of its efforts to replace Russian gas piped through the country following Moscow's invasion in Ukraine in 2022. According to DET, the state-appointed terminal firm, the Elbe River Terminal at Stade will be operational at the latest in the second quarter 2026. The fifth floating storage regasification (FSRU), which will receive seaborne LNG. According to official data, 11% of German gas imports in the first quarter of 2025. The following are the latest developments on the site: MUKRAN The LNG terminal in Ruegen, Baltic Sea, is operated by...

Trafigura, a commodities trader in London, filed a $600 million lawsuit against Indian businessman Prateek gupta for fake nickel cargoes on Monday. The commodities trader claimed it was a victim of a fraudulent Ponzi scheme. Trafigura, a Geneva-based company, alleges Gupta is the mastermind behind a fraud where he and his firms agreed to deliver high-quality nickel 99.8% but delivered low-value materials or even worthless material instead. Gupta admits that he didn't deliver high-grade cargoes of nickel, but claims that Trafigura employees devised the scam. They came up with a complex web of transactions to appear as if they were...

The oil prices dropped in the early Asian trading on Monday, wiping out the gains of last week, as loadings were resumed at Novorossiysk, the major Russian export hub, after a suspension of two days at the Black Sea Port that was hit by an attack from Ukraine. Brent crude futures fell 58 cents or 0.9% to $63.81 per barrel at 0050 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures traded at $59.50 per barrel, down by 59 cents or 1.0% since Friday's closing. The benchmarks both rose by more than 2% to close the week on a modest note. Exports...

Airbus' regional aircraft fleet in the Middle East is expected to double by 2044 to 3,700 planes, a senior official revealed on Sunday. Airbus's Head of Marketing for Africa and the Middle East, Grainne Van den Berg, told a recent press conference that the European planemaker anticipates Middle East passenger traffic to grow at a rate of 4,4% per year over the next 20 years. Van den Berg said that Airbus expects services in the region will double by 2044 to $29.9 billion. The forecast was made ahead of the Dubai Airshow - the Middle East's largest aviation event, which...

Two industry sources and LSEG data show that the Russian port of Novorossiysk resumed oil loadings Sunday, after a suspension lasting two days due to a Ukrainian drone and missile attack. Novorossiysk temporarily halted oil exports on Friday, equating to 2.2 millions barrels of oil per day or 2% global supply. According to two anonymous industry sources, loadings have resumed. According to LSEG, two tankers - the Suezmax and Aframax classes Rodos - are loading oil on the port's berths. Two oil berths were damaged by a Ukrainian drone at the Russian Black Sea port Novorossiysk on Friday, which forced...

Nine Republican attorneys general raised concerns on Friday about Union Pacific's plans to purchase smaller rival Norfolk Southern for $85 billion, creating the first U.S. Coast-to-Coast freight rail operator. In a letter sent to the Surface Transportation Board by Tennessee Attorney-General Jonathan Skrmetti, and Kansas Attorney-General Kris Kobach that was seen by, the officials expressed concern about the deal, which they said would result in "undue market consolidation" and "stifle competition, resulting in higher prices, less reliability and less innovation, at the expense America's producers and consumers." If approved, the tie-up could help reshape U.S. freight railroad industry, streamline operations,...

Initial investigation has revealed that the Turkish cargo plane which skidded off of the runway in Hong Kong last month killing two airport employees experienced acceleration after landing in one of its four engine. A preliminary report released by Hong Kong's Air Accident Investigation Authority late on Tuesday stated that the flight from Dubai operated by ACT Airlines for Emirates was normal up until shortly after landing. Report: The Boeing 747 cargo aircraft was dispatched without the thrust reverser of engine 4, which is allowed under aviation regulations. After landing, thrust reversers can help to slow down the aircraft by...

The National Transportation Safety Board announced on Tuesday that loose wires caused a power outage on the cargo vessel Dali, which crashed into Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge on March 20, 2024. Six people were killed and the bridge was destroyed. The NTSB will hold an hearing in Washington, DC to determine the probable causes of the accident that resulted in the death of six construction workers. The staff of the board said that they recommend operators perform periodic inspections on high voltage switchboards, and propose changes to allow ships more quickly recover after a loss of power. The NTSB...

Trafigura filed a $600 million lawsuit against Indian businessman Prateek gupta in London's High Court over fake nickel cargoes on Monday. The commodities trading company claimed it had been the victim of an extremely large fraud. Trafigura, a Geneva-based company, alleges Gupta is the mastermind behind a fraud that it discovered in November 20,22 when it examined some containers that were meant to contain high grade nickel. Trafigura inspected the containers and found that they contained carbon steel, which was worth only a fraction of what nickel is worth. Trafigura then carried out more inspections and incurred a $590-million charge....

The major Gulf stock markets fell on Thursday morning, mainly due to persistently low oil prices and a series of disappointing corporate earnings reports. Oil prices, which are a major catalyst for Gulf financial markets, fell on Thursday. This was a continuation of the losses that were made in the previous session. A report showing increased crude inventories at the U.S. confirmed concerns that global supplies would be more than enough to meet the current fuel demand. OPEC's report on Wednesday showed that the world oil market would see a small excess in 2026, after OPEC+ production increased and other...

Local authorities reported that a part of a newly opened bridge in China's southwest province of Sichuan collapsed on a national highway connecting the heartland of China with Tibet Tuesday. However, there were no casualties. The local government reported that the police in Maerkang, China, had shut down the 758-metre long Hongqi Bridge to all traffic Monday afternoon after cracks appeared in nearby roads and slopes, and a shift in the terrain was observed on a mountain. The report said that on Tuesday afternoon, conditions on the mountainside deteriorated and triggered landslides. This led to the collapse of both the...

U.S. president Donald Trump has targeted China as his top economic rival with a cascade on tariffs that are worth billions of dollar. He is trying to reduce a trade surplus, bring back lost manufacturing and cripple fentanyl traffic. In reverse chronological order, here are the key events of this year in U.S. China trade war: China has announced that it will continue to expand access to and investment opportunities for U.S. firms, especially in the services sector. On November 10, China suspends for a full year the port fees it charges vessels with ties to the United States, as...

According to two industry sources, and LSEG ship tracking, Russia's Black Sea Port of Tuapse suspended fuel exports while the local refinery halted crude processing following the November 2 Ukrainian drone attack on its infrastructure. Ukraine announced on Sunday that its drones had struck Tuapse - one of Russia's major Black Sea oil port - causing an explosion and damage to at least one vessel. This was part of Kyiv’s effort to undermine Russia’s war economy through targeting its energy infrastructure. The regional administration confirmed that the strike caused an fire in the port. Since several months, Ukraine has been...

Taiwan's Civil Aviation Administration stated on Wednesday that China had not provided any information regarding a new airport that will open in the next year, less than 10 kilometers (6 miles) away from a Taiwanese Airport. This raises flight safety concerns. Xiamen's Xiang'an Airport is located only 3 km away from Taiwan's Kinmen Islands, the site of the Cold War's on-off battles. Construction work can also be heard and seen from Taiwan. Taiwan's Civil Aviation Administration sent a statement to saying that close airports need to be planned and coordinated in advance to ensure safety and smooth operation. It said...

Two sources familiar with this matter have confirmed that Vietjet, a Vietnamese low-cost airline, stopped operating its two COMAC C909 planes made in China on October 18, after the six-month contract to lease the planes had expired. The C909s arrived in Vietnam less that a week after Chinese president Xi Jinping's visit to Hanoi, in April. This launch was seen as a sign of the deepening of strategic and economic ties. The two sources confirmed that Vietjet had decided not to renew the lease, and did not have any immediate plans to buy aircraft from China’s state-owned planemaker COMAC. Vietjet...

According to Chinese consultants and ship tracking data, the latest U.S. sanction on a major Chinese crude terminal has forced Sinopec to divert one supertanker from its route and to ask certain plants to reduce crude processing rates. LSEG data revealed that a supertanker transporting oil to the Chinese Port of Rizhao, in Shandong Province, changed its destination at the weekend after U.S. sanctions were imposed on Friday on an import terminal located there. JLC Consultancy estimated that Sinopec’s October runs could drop by 3.36% compared to earlier plans, and may be around 5.16 million barrels a day. Sinopec has...

The supertanker rates have risen this week, and they are likely to remain high due to the U.S. and China titling-for-titling increases in port fees as well as concerns over the impact of U.S. sanction on a major Chinese crude terminal. According to traders, the Chinese port fees announced Friday would increase shipping costs by more than $7 per barrel for a Very Large Crude Carrier that is linked to the United States. This would amount to around $15 million, which would discourage anyone from chartering vessels linked to the United States. The VLCC spot rates for the Middle East-China...

United States Trade Representative said that it will modify maritime fees for foreign-built vehicles carriers and LNG vessels in advance of the port fees on China linked ships scheduled to take effect next week. USTR announced in a press release that the fees for operators of foreign-built vehicles carriers will be $46 per ton starting October 14. This is lower than the $150 per net tonne fee originally proposed by USTR in April. The industry considered this fee prohibitive. However, it is still higher than the $14 per net tonne fee proposed on June 12th. USTR will also eliminate, retroactively...