JUPITER SEA & AIR
SERVICES PVT. LTD, EGMORE – CHENNAI, INDIA.
E-MAIL : Robert.sands@jupiterseaair.co.in Mobile : +91 98407 85202
Corporate News Letter for Thursday April 09, 2026
Today’s
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/// Sea Cargo News ///
Middle East war damage to energy
assets mounts to $25bn
In Qatar’s Ras Laffan Industrial City, the destruction of LNG trains S4 and S6 has triggered force majeure and a 17% capacity reduction, equivalent to about 12.8 mtpa. Rystad believes that a full recovery will take up to five years.
This is
because the large-frame gas turbines required to power LNG main refrigeration
compressors are supplied by only three original equipment manufacturers
globally, all of which entered 2026 with production backlogs of around two to
four years, driven by demand from data centre electrification and coal plant
retirements.
“The Gulf
region’s recovery will be defined less by financial capital and more by
structural constraints. While some assets may be restored within months, others
could remain offline for years,” said Audun Martinsen, head of supply chain
research at Rystad Energy.
In Bahrain,
the BAPCO Sitra Refinery was struck twice, resulting in confirmed damage to two
crude distillation units and a tank farm, with force majeure declared across
group operations. Here, the constraint is not equipment shortages or sanctions,
but the timing of the damage relative to the asset’s investment cycle.
The facility
had just reached mechanical completion under its $7bn modernisation program in
December last year, with engineering, procurement and construction (EPC)
contractors still onsite finalising ramp-up obligations when the attacks
occurred.
There were
also moderate-to-minor disruptions in other countries, including the UAE,
Kuwait, Iraq and Saudi Arabia. Across all impacted facilities, the factor that
most consistently shapes recovery trajectories is the density and proximity of
the domestic EPC ecosystem surrounding each asset – an often-underestimated
variable in conventional damage assessments.
The speed of
recovery in the region will depend on execution capacity and the timing of
capital deployment as repair spending ramps up. Operators are likely to
prioritise restoring existing fields instead of new development s, creating
demand for EPC contractors and OEMs, especially those with regional experience
and existing agreements with national oil companies.
According to
Rystad, near-term work will most likely focus on inspection, engineering and
site preparation, followed by equipment replacement and construction as
procurement constraints ease.
In Iran,
continued sanctions would limit access to Western contractors and technology,
leaving domestic and East Asian players to capture most recovery-related
activity.
Anchorage queues swell in Asia as war
enters week five
Ships are
holding, rerouting, or bunching at alternative ports while operators wait for
clarity with contradicting lines coming out of Washington and Tehran on the
state of the war, which enters its fifth week tomorrow.
The
seven-day average number of vessels waiting at anchorage in Singapore has risen
to 30.3 as of March 25, compared with 20 before February 28, when the conflict
started, according to data from maritime analytics platform Portcast.
The
worst-hit ports include Busan in South Korea, where the average reached 12.9
versus 5.4 before February 28, data from Portcast showed.
In the
offshore sector, roughly one in five of the world’s offshore vessels are now
based in a region that has effectively stopped operating: 1,440 OSVs, 432
OCVs, and 156 jack-up rigs — representing 19%, 18%, and 27% of their respective
global fleets — are currently stranded in the Gulf with no clear
timeline for resumption, according to new data from Veson
Nautcal.
Following on
from yesterday’s (Mar 26) Splash lead about Chinese
state-backed COSCO reentering the region, Linerytica data shows COSCO’s 18,982
teu CSCL Arctic Ocean made the first outbound transit from the
Strait of Hormuz today, marking the first containership that is not linked to
Iran to make it out from the Persian Gulf since the Iran war started on four
weeks ago.
On VLCCs,
one of the sectors most affected by the military action, broker Fearnleys noted:
“The Strait of Hormuz remains shut for all practical purposes. However, the
likes of Yanbu and Oman is attracting more attention from owners as more ships
are released from previous commitments from inside the MEG. There is a feeling
out there that a (false?) sense of security is sneaking in on the back of
reports that US and Iran are set to talk, and the perception is growing that
these alternative load options have become less exposed – and with that rates
have come under pressure.”
Meanwhile,
France said yesterday that 35 countries joined a discussion on working to
reopen shipping through the strait. The
videoconference of defence staff chiefs focused on how to reopen shipping “once
the intensity of hostilities has sufficiently decreased,” France’s Defence
Ministry said.
That could
entail a “strictly defensive” mission to escort commercial vessels and restore
freedom of navigation, the ministry added.
Giving an
idea of the financial hit caused by the ongoing Hormuz paralysis,
German liner Hapag-Lloyd said yesterday it is incurring
additional costs of $40m to $50m per week due to the ongoing conflict in
the Middle East. Six Hapag-Lloyd vessels, with 150 crewmembers, remain stranded
in the Persian Gulf.
JNPA’s Container Terminal, PSA Mumbai
welcomes Global Feeder Shipping’s JJS Service
The newly introduced service features a comprehensive port rotation: Mundra – Nhava Sheva – Jeddah – King Abdullah – Sokhna – Aqaba – King Abdullah – Jeddah – Mundra, strengthening maritime connectivity between India and key ports across the Middle East region.
The introduction of the JJS
service is expected to enhance service reliability and provide greater
stability to trade flows, particularly in the context of the evolving situation
in the Middle East. The service will support Indian exporters and importers by
ensuring continued access to critical markets and improving supply chain
resilience.
Earlier this month, PSA Mumbai
also welcomed the German-flagged Ultra Large Container Vessel (ULCV) Damietta
Express with a capacity of approximately 23,664 TEUs and measuring about
399–400 metres in length and 61 metres in beam. This was the first time such a
large vessel has berthed at a terminal at JN Port.
The Port Authority acknowledges
the efforts and commitment of its world-class terminal operators, whose
operational excellence enables JNPA to scale new heights.
In a statement, as reported by
Press TV, the Army said it launched a “massive drone attack” against
a number of strategic and sensitive sites in the northern port city of
Haifa.
The aerial operation was carried
out in response to what Tehran termed the US-Israeli enemy’s claim that Iran’s
missile and drone capabilities have been significantly degraded.
“The center for manufacturing and
maintenance of various military vessels of the Zionist regime in the eastern
Mediterranean Sea that played a key and sensitive role in logistics for the
regime’s Navy as well as the huge fuel storage facilities for warplanes in
Haifa port were, among others, targeted in the recent drone attack by the
Islamic Republic’s Armed forces,” the statement read, as quoted by Press TV.
Separately, Iran’s Islamic
Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) announced the launch of the 82nd wave of
retaliatory operations against the US and Israel, employing various types of
missiles and drones in the region.
In a Thursday (26 Mar) statement,
as reported by Press TV, the IRGC said this latest wave was launched in
retaliation for earlier airstrikes on critical infrastructure and civilian
facilities within Iran. It noted that the operations began early Thursday and
would continue throughout the day.
According to the statement,
designated US interests in the Arifjan and al-Kharj districts of Saudi Arabia,
the US Defence Logistics Site (kGL), Patriot radar systems in Bahrain’s Sheikh
Isa region, support fuel depots for US forces, a hangar for P8 surveillance
aircraft, a hangar for MQ-9 Reaper combat drones, and a satellite
communications dish for drones at Ali al-Salem airbase were “devastated with a
large swarm of kamikaze drones”, Press TV reported.
The IRGC said the retaliatory
strikes were dedicated to fallen Iranians in the northern provinces of East
Azarbaijan, Ardabil, Gilan, Mazandaran and
Golestan. It also stated that a military command
centre in “the occupied territories”, as well as industries linked to the
Israeli regime’s nuclear program near the Dead Sea, were struck in an
“impact-driven” attack.
The developments mark the latest
escalation in the widening conflict between Tehran and the US-Israeli
coalition, with both sides conducting sustained offensive operations across
multiple theatres amid ongoing diplomatic talks.
Last week, an Iranian ballistic
missile struck the Haifa oil refinery complex, a major oil refinery complex in
Northern Israel, with Israeli sources confirming the strike, as reported by
CNN.
Hapag-Lloyd publishes 2025 annual
report and proposes dividend of EUR 3.00 per share
“2025 was a good year for
Hapag-Lloyd with solid results. We have grown our volumes and outperformed
the market. Our Gemini network delivered
90% schedule reliability and customer satisfaction reached another
record high. We invested significantly in fleet efficiency
and modernization to further decarbonize
our operations. Additionally, our growing terminals portfolio
increasingly contributed to the success of our liner business,” said Rolf
Habben Jansen, CEO of Hapag-Lloyd AG.
In the Liner Shipping
segment, revenues increased to USD 20.6 billion (EUR 18.3 billion) in
2025. EBITDA declined to USD 3.5 billion (EUR 3.1 billion) and EBIT to USD 1.0
billion (EUR 0.9 billion). While transport volumes rose by 8% to 13.5
million TEU, backed by the successful implementation of the Gemini
network.
The average freight rate was
down 8% to 1,376 USD/TEU due to
growing capacity and increasing trade
imbalances. Additionally, higher costs resulting from
operational disruptions caused by new tariff policies, ongoing security
tensions in the Red Sea, start-up expenses for the Gemini
Network, and port congestion had a
negative earnings impact.
On the other
hand, Gemini related cost savings started kicking in
during the second half of 2025 and will be fully realized in
2026. One-time non-cash effects in the fourth quarter had a positive
impact.
The Terminal &
Infrastructure segment increased revenues to USD 514
million (EUR 455 million) in 2025, due to the acquisition
and ramp-up of new terminals as well
as strong growth in throughput as a result
of rising synergies with
the liner business. At USD 152 million, EBITDA was on
the level of the previous year while EBIT, declined to USD 66 Million, owing to
operational challenges and segment ramp-up costs.
Based on the
solid earnings, the Executive Board and Supervisory Board of Hapag-Lloyd
AG will propose to the Annual General Meeting a dividend of EUR 3.00 per
share for the 2025 fiscal year – this corresponds to a total payout
of EUR 0.5 billion.
For 2026, the Executive Board
expects the Group EBITDA to be in the range of
USD 1.1 to 3.1 billion
(EUR 0.9 to 2.6 billion) and the Group EBIT to be in the
range of USD -1.5 to 0.5 billion (EUR -1.3 to 0.4 billion).
This outlook remains subject to considerable uncertainty due to the
highly volatile development of freight rates and the conflict in the
Middle East.
“At the beginning of
2026, adverse weather conditions weighed on our
performance and the conflict in the Middle East is now causing
consider- able network. disruptions and sharplyincreasing operational costs.
Against this backdrop, we expect
earnings in 2026 to be lower than in 2025. We
will leverage increasing synergies from our Gemini network and
accelerate our cost savings initiatives to counter
these headwinds.
Our customers can rest assured
that we will do everything in our power to keep their supply chains
intact. At the same time, we will maintain our growth trajectory
by expanding our terminals portfolio under the Hanseatic Global Terminals
brand and working decisively toward a successful completion of our
merger agreement with ZIM,” said Rolf Habben Jansen.
The detailed full-year
2025 figures, including explanatory notes relating to the performance
measures EBITDA and EBIT referred to herein, can be found in the download
section of the digital annual report...
I hope you have
enjoyed reading the above news letter.
Robert Sands
Joint Managing Director
Jupiter Sea & Air Services Pvt Ltd
Casa Blanca, 3rd Floor
11, Casa Major Road, Egmore
Chennai – 600 008. India.
GST Number : 33AAACJ2686E1ZS.
Tel : + 91 44 2819 0171 / 3734 / 4041
Fax : + 91 44 2819 0735
Mobile : + 91 98407 85202
E-mail : robert.sands@jupiterseaair.co.in
Website : www.jupiterseaair.com 1Branches : Chennai, Bangalore,
Mumbai, Coimbatore, Tirupur and Tuticorin.
Associate Offices : New Delhi, Kolkatta, Cochin &
Hyderabad.
Thanks to :
Container News, Indian Seatrade, Cargo Forwarder Global &
Air Cargo News.
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