Shipping markets remain in positive territory, with our cross-sector ClarkSea averaging $22,566/day through late March, 17% up on the 10 year trend. There are softer conditions in some segments and heightened geo-political uncertainties. And shipping today is at the ‘frontline’ of many geo-political dynamics, with governments (including in the US) increasingly viewing shipping strategically.

The long-term outlook for the offshore wind sector remains generally positive, though the sector is currently facing some challenges.

Offshore oil and gas markets have seen some mixed trends over the last six months, though a 7% drop in our Clarksons Offshore Index still leaves it on a par with 2008. Extracted from our forthcoming Offshore Review & Outlook, this week’s Analysis profiles the short-term more cautious attitude to investment from oil companies, but also areas where there is continued strength in offshore activity.

In 2024, vessel speed trends were mixed across sectors, with containerships seeing a pick-up as a result of Red Sea re-routing while declines were seen in the tanker and bulker segments. However, in early 2025, a more consistent picture is emerging across the segments, with vessel speeds now softening across the board.

Since mid-2024, offshore dayrate trends have become more mixed, and new project final investment decisions have slowed. A factor here is a more conservative attitude by oil companies, given current high levels of complexity in global oil markets. Oil markets look well supplied, given a lacklustre demand side along with output growth, but geopolitical risks add complexity to the outlook.

US policy around trade, maritime and a range of geopolitical issues is evolving rapidly, with the container sector particularly close to many potential impacts. Tariffs have been a recent focus, and new levies on China-US trade are central to trends on the Transpacific; the situation is fluid and impacts are yet to fully evolve, but here we take a closer look at this key part of container shipping...

Indian crude oil imports have continued to increase steadily in recent years against the backdrop of strong domestic oil demand growth, while shifts towards longer-haul flows have also been supportive for crude tanker demand. This month’s Analysis takes a closer look at Indian crude oil import trends and places continued gains into a global context.

An update on the latest USTR proposals in relation to Chinese vessels and shipbuilding, including details of the proposed measures, a range of context statistics and initial discussion around potential impacts.

Global seaborne trade in raw materials for the aluminium industry continues to grow, with bauxite and alumina trade reaching a new record, exceeding 220mt in 2024 and having doubled since 2018 With aluminium output expected to grow further in the coming decades, let’s take a closer look at the dynamics of this increasingly important sector…

Ordering of alternative fuel capable ships rose to a record level in 2024, and accounted for 50% of all tonnage contracted. Drilling down into the data, there have been a range of trends apparent in fuel choices, with LNG seeing the greatest adoption (orders in GT more than doubled y-o-y in 2024), while methanol uptake eased (down 17% in 2024), though there has been variation across sectors.

Though investment trends across offshore wind are currently mixed, the long-term outlook for growth of the offshore wind sector remains generally positive.

As the world’s most populous country and fifth largest economy, India holds a growing role on the global stage. Within parts of the maritime ecosystem, development has been mixed, lagging potential. But as a key hub for operations and crewing, and now the largest seaborne importer after China, ambitions to further develop fleet, ports & shipbuilding have renewed government support.

US policy has been sharply in focus this week, with various announcements on tariffs and other geopolitical issues having the potential to significantly impact seaborne trade and the shipping industry. Policy is certainly “fluid”, making definitive analysis tricky, but in this week’s Analysis we pull out some of the key points from our latest US Policy Maritime Impact Assessment (see SIN for full briefing).

The sale and purchase market has been highly active over recent years, with the volume of tonnage recorded sold exceeding 100m dwt in each of the last four years. Drilling down into the data highlights a range of trends in the tonnage changing hands recently; here we put these shifts into context against the backdrop of ongoing evolution in the underlying fleet and market dynamics.

Chinese owners have been active participants in the S&P market for some time, but 2024 saw Chinese purchases jump to a new record high. With China’s share of purchases also rising to around a quarter of the total in dwt terms, Chinese owners were the largest buyers of secondhand tonnage globally last year, ahead of Greek owners for the first time since 2009. Here we take a closer look.

LPG carrier newbuild ordering saw a second consecutive record year in 2024, with 9.9m cbm contracted, following on from 8.0m cbm ordered in 2023. Newbuild appetite was strong across a range of sub-sectors, with demand for VLACs and VLECs particularly strong. Here we take a look at firm LPG carrier newbuild ordering trends through 2024.

A summary of the recently proposed SHIPS for America Act, which aims to increase the role of the US flagged fleet in international trade and strengthen the US's role in shipbuilding. The proposal comes against the backdrop of the US Trade Representative's recent investigation into Chinese maritime and shipbuilding practises.

US crude oil exports have been a key driver of tanker demand gains across recent years, driven by surging oil production and infrastructure developments at export terminals. However, US crude oil export growth stalled in 2024 as higher domestic refinery runs and softer import demand in key regions impacted. This month’s Analysis takes a closer look...

The bulkcarrier supply backdrop remains more ‘modest’ than in many other shipping sectors, but a steady flow of ordering in recent years has nonetheless led to expectations for continued moderate fleet expansion ahead. Against a backdrop of potentially maturing trends in demand growth in some dry bulk segments, the outlook for bulkcarrier supply growth is again in focus…

This week has seen further developments around US trade policy with a range of new tariffs and retaliatory actions announced, taking 'tariffed' trade to 1.8% of global seaborne volumes. Here we provide an update on the evolving US policy landscape and potential impacts for maritime.

There continues to be no significant change in Red Sea transit volumes since the Gaza ceasefire was announced with total arrivals in the Gulf of Aden averaging 1.34m GT in the last 7 days, down 71% on 2023 levels (2024 average: down 70%).

Following announcements by the EU (74 vessels in relation to Russia), the UK (40 vessels in relation to Russia) and by the US (13 vessels in relation to Iran), the count of vessels sanctioned has increased to 1,317 ships of 49m GT overall (2.9% of global capacity), including 569 oil tankers of 85m dwt (13% of the crude tanker fleet, 6% of the product tanker fleet).

An update on the latest USTR proposals in relation to Chinese vessels and shipbuilding, including details of the proposed measures, a range of context statistics and initial discussion around potential impacts.

Context and analysis around the current phase of containership alliance 'restructuring', which is likely to have a range of implications for container shipping markets...

Continuing our monitoring of the latest datapoints around the ongoing disruption in the Red Sea, with no material change in vessel deployment patterns apparent since the Israel/Hamas ceasefire was announced in mid-January.

Vessel speed trends were mixed across the major shipping sectors in 2024. Average speeds increased in the container and LNG carrier markets, while speeds declined in the tanker, bulker and LPG carrier segments. However, vessel speeds have declined in early 2025, with 2025 to date average speeds below full year 2024 levels across most shipping sectors.

The US introduction of tariffs on imports from China (and threats to tariff imports from Canada, Mexico and the EU) have sparked concerns around another escalating ‘trade war’. Recent weeks have also seen other announcements of policy changes and suggestions from the new US administration with various impacts on maritime. The situation remains incredibly fluid both in terms of tariffs and other geo-political dynamics. Here we update our assessment framework tracking impacts on maritime from the evolving US policy landscape.

Container shipping markets have remained strong into early 2025 after seeing firm gains through 2024 on the back of major impacts from the rerouting of ships away from the Red Sea. Despite some softening from the historic highs seen in the summer, container freight rates remain well above ‘pre-rerouting’ levels in early 2025, while charter rates stand at the highest levels seen outside of the Covid era.

A summary of the recently proposed SHIPS for America Act, which aims to increase the role of the US flagged fleet in international trade and strengthen the US's role in shipbuilding. The proposal comes against the backdrop of the US Trade Representative's recent investigation into Chinese maritime and shipbuilding practises.

Following Donald Trump's inauguration as US President on Monday 20th January, the new US administration has announced a number of US policy changes. Here for reference, we summarise the key announcements relating to maritime, and will continue to update our broader impact assessment framework over the coming weeks as further clarity and international reaction evolves.

Sanctions activity has escalated in recent weeks, with the US adding 186 ships (mostly trading Russian oil) to its sanctions list last week. New timeseries available provide an easy way to track in aggregate terms additions to sanction lists over time with 3% of total fleet tonnage currently sanctioned including 10% of oil tanker tonnage

Following the announcement of a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas, the prospects for a continuation of disruption to shipping through the Red Sea is again in focus. Here we summarise the current impact of vessel rerouting on shipping demand and review latest datapoints on deployment patterns (disruption levels remain consistent at present).

A summary of the key offshore wind market trends and statistics in 2024.

A summary of the key offshore market trends and statistics in 2024.

A summary of the key shipping market trends and statistics in 2024.

A further update of our framework tracking potential maritime impacts of the US election result, after comments by Donald Trump proposing the introduction of additional tariffs on imports from China, Canada and Mexico...

The 29th United Nations Climate Change Conference or Conference of the Parties of the UNFCCC, commonly referred to as COP 29, was held from 11th to 24th November 2024 in Baku, Azerbaijan.

Bringing together initial comments on potential maritime impacts of the US election result, a range of data points tracking recent trends in US and US-China seaborne trade, and revisiting developments in the US-China 2018/19 'trade war' for context.

Continuing our monitoring of market impacts of the ongoing disruption in the Red Sea on global trade and individual shipping segments.

伴随着汽车运输船加速交付、汽车贸易量增长放缓以及地缘政治情况不断变化，汽车运输船市场正从2021-2024年间特殊市场条件下的高位逐渐回落。

3月成品油轮市场大幅反弹，即期市场日收益平均值环比上升26%至25,900美元/天，较过去10年平均水平高34%。

受租船活动增加支撑，3月下旬开始VLGC船市场逐步走强。

进入3月LNG运输船市场出现小幅改善，但整体依然承压。

3月原油油轮市场延续年初以来的上涨趋势，即期市场日收益平均值环比上升7%至42,500美元/天。

集装箱即期运价整体持续回落，3月上海集装箱出口运价指数（SCFI）均值较2月下跌20%至1,351点，基本跌出疫情期外的历史最高区间。

散货船市场在经历1-2月的疲软后，2025年3月市场情绪已明显回暖，其即期市场日收益平均值环比大幅上涨41%至12,937美元/天。

克拉克森研究新造船价格指数已连续7周小幅下降，上周五录得187.63

3月21日克拉克森海运指数环比上涨4%至26,466美元/天，较今年年初上涨24%且创下近9个月新高。年初至今均值同比仍下跌8%，但较过去10年平均水平高出18%。

2025年至今克拉克森研究新造船价格指数整体偏下行，已连续六周小幅下降，上周五录得188.14

3月14日克拉克森海运指数环比上涨6%至25,345美元/天，为近5个月最高值。年初至今均值同比仍下跌8%，但较过去10年平均水平高17%。

2025年至今克拉克森研究新造船价格指数高位波动偏下行，上周五录得188.30

3月7日克拉克森海运指数环比上涨1%至23,843美元/天，是今年年初以来的最高值，年初至今均值同比仍下跌8%，不过较过去10年平均水平高16%。

全球汽车海运贸易增速同比大幅下降，汽车运输船市场正在从先前的极高水平逐渐回归正常化。

2月成品油轮即期市场日收益加权平均值环比小幅上升5%至20,600美元/天，但仍较2024年平均水平低32%。

由于市场进入淡季，租船活动有限，2月VLGC船市场收益进一步走低。

2月LNG运输船即期收益继续回落，不过月底市场情绪有所恢复。

2025年年初至今原油油轮市场波动明显。2月原油油轮即期市场日收益平均值环比上升 21%至39,640美元/天，较过去10年平均水平高20%。

运价&租船市场： 2月集装箱即期运价延续跌势，2月28日上海集装箱出口运价指数（SCFI）均值较今年年初已大幅下跌40%至1,515点。

随着中国春节假期结束，散货船市场需求小幅回升，2025年2月散货船即期市场日收益平均值环比上涨18%至9,185美元/天。

An update on the latest uptake of 'green' technology across the shipping sector

The latest update on environmental and regulatory news across the shipping industry

An update on the latest uptake of 'green' technology across the shipping sector

The latest update on environmental and regulatory news across the shipping industry

An update on the latest uptake of 'green' technology across the shipping sector

The latest update on environmental and regulatory news across the shipping industry

An update on the latest uptake of 'green' technology across the shipping sector

The latest update on environmental and regulatory news across the shipping industry

An update on the latest uptake of 'green' technology across the shipping sector

The latest update on environmental and regulatory news across the shipping industry

The 29th United Nations Climate Change Conference or Conference of the Parties of the UNFCCC, commonly referred to as COP 29, was held from 11th to 24th November 2024 in Baku, Azerbaijan.

An update on the latest uptake of 'green' technology across the shipping sector

The latest update on environmental and regulatory news across the shipping industry

Our latest update of Fuelling Transition continues our framework for monitoring the huge regulatory, technological and investment challenges facing stakeholders across maritime

Summary of the latest IMO environmental regulatory developments

An update on the latest uptake of 'green' technology across the shipping sector

The latest update on environmental and regulatory news across the shipping industry

An update on the latest uptake of 'green' technology across the shipping sector

The latest update on environmental and regulatory news across the shipping industry

An update on the latest uptake of 'green' technology across the shipping sector

A summary of the latest content, new data and new features recently added to Shipping Intelligence Network.

A summary of the latest content, new data and new features recently added to Shipping Intelligence Network.

A summary of the latest content, new data and new features recently added to Shipping Intelligence Network.

A summary of the latest content, new data and new features recently added to Shipping Intelligence Network.

A summary of the latest content, new data and new features recently added to Shipping Intelligence Network.

A summary of the latest content, new data and new features recently added to Shipping Intelligence Network.