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China’s biggest container carrier, Cosco Shipping Lines, today struck out at the revised plan by the United States Trade Representative (USTR) to charge steep fees to Chinese-built vessels docking at American ports. “We firmly oppose the accusations and the subsequent measures,” Cosco Shipping Lines said in a statement. “Such measures not only distort fair competition […]

The volume of world merchandise trade is expected to decline by 0.2% in 2025 under current conditions, nearly three percentage points lower than what would have been expected under a “low tariff” baseline scenario, according to the WTO Secretariat’s latest Global Trade Outlook and Statistics report released on 16 April.  This is premised on the

Following two days of negotiations during its 2025 session at the International Labour Organization (ILO) in Geneva, the Subcommittee on Wages of Seafarers of the Joint Maritime Commission (JMC), reached a bipartite agreement to update the current ILO minimum monthly basic wage for an able seafarer from US$673 to US$690 as of 1 January 2026,

The ICC International Maritime Bureau (IMB) has revealed a rise in global piracy and armed robbery incidents in the first quarter of 2025 – driven by a spike of incidents in the Singapore Straits.  A total of 45 cases of piracy and armed robbery against ships were recorded in the first three months of 2025

A groundbreaking Joint Development Agreement (JDA) has been signed to establish the world’s first liquid hydrogen import corridor, connecting the Sultanate of Oman, the Netherlands, and Germany. This corridor will link the port of Duqm in Oman, the port of Amsterdam in the Netherlands, and key logistics hubs in Germany, including the port of Duisburg

The fifth meeting of the International Labour Organization’s  Special Tripartite Committee (STC) on the Maritime Labour Convention (MLC) concluded last week with some hard-fought achievements for seafarers, led in the negotiations by ITF Seafarers’ Section Vice Chair, Mark Dickinson. Noteworthy amongst the amendments adopted was the designation and recognition of seafarers as key workers “… to

After reporting a first quarter handling 2,504,049 TEUs, 5.2% ahead of last year’s strong pace, the busiest container port in the United States is bracing for a significant drop in the second half of 2025 due to the ripple effect of the tariff war ignited by the Trump Administration.  “Our volume remained strong throughout the

The Documentary Committee of BIMCO has approved revisions to its War Risk Clauses to reflect changes in the geopolitical challenges facing the shipping industry. The Documentary Committee reviewed the existing BIMCO War Risk Clauses and agreed on the updated versions, BIMCO War Risk Clause for Voyage Charter Parties 2025 (VOYWAR 2025) and the BIMCO War