Tariffs are back at the top of the shipping news agenda once again, creating confusion just as the transpacific contracting season gets underway.  Last Friday, the US Supreme Court ruled that president Donald Trump violated federal law by using the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to unilaterally impose sweeping global tariffs. In response, Trump announced later that day that he would invoke Section 122 of US trade law to implement a 10% tariff on all goods imported into the US. On Saturday, he raised the tariff to 15%, which is scheduled to come into force on February 24. However, under Section 122, such measures are temporary and require congressional approval after 150 days to remain in place.  Yale University’s Budget Lab estimates the change reduces the overall effective US tariff rate by only 2%. “It will be next to impossible for any US shippers to commit firmly to volumes or specific origin/destination pairs over the next 12 months, given the tariff turmoil,” pointed out analysts at Danish container consultancy Sea-Intelligence. 

Maersk and Mediterranean Shipping Co (MSC) moved in to run key terminals at the entrances to the Panama Canal after Panama published a controversial Supreme Court ruling annulling long‑running concessions held by CK Hutchison’s Panama Ports Company (PPC), clearing the way for an immediate handover and an 18‑month transition. CK Hutchison denounced the takeover as unlawful, warning the state’s actions “raise serious risks to the operations, health and safety at the Balboa and Cristobal terminals.” 

One of the best-known names in container shipping announced he is stepping back from his frontline role. Jeremy Nixon, who has been CEO of Japanese liner Ocean Network Express (ONE) since it was founded in 2018, will move aside at the start of July, with Till Ole Barrelet, formerly head of Emirates Shipping Line (ESL), taking over. Nixon will stay on as a senior advisor.

This week saw the launch of SplashTech, a one-stop-shop for all your shipping technology business news, as well as tech-related updates, giving readers all their shipping technology news in one source. With dedicated social media channels, and a weekly digest, SplashTech delivers all the key news shaping the future of shipping from across the world in the incisive, concise manner Splash has instituted since its founding 11 years ago.

It’s been another strong week of Contributions on the Splash site. Pick of the bunch comes from a former well-known name at Cargill. As geopolitics reshapes trade routes and volatility becomes structural rather than cyclical, shipping’s traditional reliance on market recoveries is no longer enough. Eman Abdalla, managing partner of SeaThrew Marine, a maritime investment and advisory platform, argued that discipline, flexibility and risk positioning – not scale alone – will define the industry’s next winners.

Arguably, the biggest news of the week is the booming VLCC sector, with spot rates comfortably in excess of $200,000 a day and one-year deals done also firmly in six-figure territory. This week’s Splash Wrap podcast, carried below, looks at how supertankers became so super.