The International Energy Agency has called it “the largest supply disruption in the history of the global oil market”— and 20 days into the war between Iran and the US-Israeli coalition, the numbers bear that with massive crude and gas production shutdowns sending bunker prices and VLCC rates to record levels, and more than 20 merchant vessels struck by missiles, drones, or unknown projectiles. 

Months of market speculation were laid to rest this week with confirmation Gianluigi Aponte’s Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) is formally behind Sinokor Maritime’s stunning raid on the VLCC tanker market, with regulators in Greece and Cyprus publishing notifications confirming MSC will acquire joint control of the South Korean operator. More than one in four compliant VLCCs are now controlled by Ga-Hyun Chung-led Sinokor, according to analysis by Norwegian broker Fearnleys, following the Korean company’s dramatic supertanker raid in the S&P and charter markets over the past few months.

Mitsui OSK Lines (MOL), Japan’s largest shipowner, saw its share price leap 11% on Wednesday to a record high after the American activist investor Elliott Investment Management disclosed a significant stake in Tokyo firm.

Panamanian president José Raúl Mulino accused CK Hutchison subsidiary Panama Ports Company yesterday of lying over the country’s handling of arbitration proceedings, deepening a bitter dispute that has stripped the Hong Kong conglomerate of its long-held grip on two of the canal’s most strategic terminals

Thierry Zois, partner and CEO at Stanley Group, which oversees the up-and-coming shipping registry of landlocked Luxembourg, was this week’s big Maritime CEO interview.

Among the standout Contributions appearing on Splash this week, Anil Kumar Korupoju, a senior surveyor at the Indian Register of Shipping, stood out for this piece entitled ‘Most maritime AI failures will be data failures, not algorithmic’.

Every week, Splash seeks opinions on how AI is changing the business of shipping. This week’s Splash Wrap podcast, carried below, gives three differing points of view.