The Houthis continued their strikes on merchant ships, often targeting vessels much further away from their coastline than in the past with threats made to spread their attacks into the eastern Mediterranean. May also Houthi strikes at merchant shipping surpass the 100-vessel mark. The Dali, the containership that caused the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse on March 26, returned to the port of Baltimore last week with normal traffic subsequently resuming to normal levels at America’s ninth largest port. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) released a preliminary report into the ship’s fatal allision, noting how it experienced electrical blackouts about 10 hours before leaving the Port of Baltimore and again shortly before it slammed into the bridge. Privately owned Saltchuk Resources agreed to take over the New York-listed operator of Jones Act tankers and oil tug barges, Overseas Shipholding Group (OSG). The deal gives OSG an aggregate equity value of about $653m and a total transaction value of $950m. Singapore maritime conglomerate BW Group announced it is separating its offshore oil and gas company, BW Energy, from its shipping businesses as part of a corporate restructuring. The Andreas Sohmen-Pao-led group owns nearly 75% of BW Energy following a mandatory offer to purchase shares from its FPSO specialist BW Offshore. The president of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos, hailed the arrival of South Korea’s largest shipbuilder, HD Hyundai, to the archipelago as a chance to get the Southeast Asian nation back to its “glory days” of shipbuilding. The Korean yard’s decision to expand comes at global shipbuilding output has hit seven-year highs and orderbooks at established Asian giants stretch deep into 2027. Canals made plenty of headlines this month. Panama increased transits at its own waterway to 31 a day, getting closer to normal operations after a year of drought-induced cuts, while to the north, Nicaragua finally ditched its own canal construction plans after more than a decade of discussions. In Asia, meanwhile, Cambodia pressed ahead with a canal that will cut its reliance on Vietnamese ports. The 180 km Funan Techo Canal has Chinese backing and will connect Phnom Penh Autonomous Port with Kep and the Gulf of Thailand. TagsSplash Extra Archive Splash Extra May 2024