Monday saw the Trump administration launch the short-lived Project Freedom, an operation to get stranded vessels out of Hormuz. It was ditched the following day with the security situation in the Middle East deteriorating, ships hit, and Iran issuing fresh navigation guidelines claiming control over a widened section of the strait.

This week’s Contributions pick came from Dustin Eno, a crisis communications consultant, who has created the Maritime Attention Index, which shows that public interest in the shipping industry is fading from the highs early in the US-Israel war on Iran.

New York-listed dry bulk owner Genco Shipping & Trading stepped up its defence against rival Diana Shipping, urging shareholders to back its existing board as the takeover battle between the two US-listed companies intensifies ahead of next month’s annual meeting.

Evangelos Efstathiou was this week’s big Maritime CEO interview. The CEO of Burmester & Vogel laid out his aspiration to create the Bloomberg of shipping. 

This week’s Splash Wrap podcast, carried below, focuses on where shipping is getting it wrong with AI based on various recent SplashTech reports as well as coverage from last week’s Geneva Dry conference.