All eyes were on Davos this week and the World Economic Forum, where Donald Trump made more claims on Greenland, while a number of other Western leaders, notably from Canada and Finland, mounted a new tack in how the global order could be maintained in the wake of the US going rogue. 

Sinokor’s remarkable hoovering up of available VLCC tonnage continued this week, the Korean name being attached to a host of tanker sales on multiple broking reports. The dramatic VLCC build-up over the past seven weeks is propelling the Korean owner to the top of the VLCC ownership charts, as well as creating a concentration of ownership among the six biggest names in the previously fragmented sector that has never been registered before. 

Shadow ships around the world were detained this week. US military forces boarded and took control of a seventh oil tanker connected with Venezuela, while France detained a Russian aframax, and Italy arrested a bulk carrier accused of carrying sanctioned Russian cargoes. 

It’s been another strong week for Contributions on the site. Most high-profile, Emanuele Grimaldi, chairman of the International Chamber of Shipping, wrote exclusively for Splash on Wednesday, detailing the evolving geopolitical and regulatory pressures facing our industry.

This week’s Splash Wrap podcast, carried below, looks at the dire numbers of ships being abandoned around the world and asks how this will impact future recruits to seafaring.