CAPE ISLAND

Saronic has broken ground on Port Alpha, a new U.S. shipyard at the Port of Brownsville, Texas, representing a private capital investment of more than $3 billion and a potentially significant addition to U.S. shipbuilding capacity.Situated on 835 acres with an option to expand to nearly 4,400 acres, Port Alpha is being designed to build autonomous, autonomy-capable and manned vessels. Saronic said the project could eventually support up to 10,000 direct jobs.At opening, the yard is planned to provide 150,000 gross tons of annual shipbuilding capacity, which Saronic said would more than double current U.S. commercial shipbuilding capacity.

Samsung Heavy Industries has signed a $226 million (KRW 307.4 billion) contract to build two very large gas carriers (VLGCs) for an undisclosed shipowner in Bermuda, according to a Korean stock exchange regulatory filing.The contract was signed on September 29 and runs through February 28, 2030, with the end date based on the vessels' delivery date.Payments will be made according to construction progress, with the contract including an advance payment.The order represents 2.9% of Samsung Heavy Industries' $7.81 billion (KRW 10.65 trillion) in annual revenue based on its 2025 consolidated financial statements.

Chinese workboat and specialist vessel builder Jianglong Shipbuilding Technology has signed contracts worth $40 million to build two 78-meter multi-purpose offshore supply vessels for an undisclosed customer, with deliveries scheduled for 2028.The first vessel is due to be delivered on or before June 19, 2028, followed by the second on or before August 18, 2028. Payments will be made in installments as construction progresses.The contract value, which excludes owner-supplied items, is equivalent to about $40 million (269.5 million yuan) and represents 38.35% of Jianglong Shipbuilding's audited operating revenue for 2025.

Windward is publishing intelligence reports on the crisis in the Gulf as the situation develops. From today’s brief:Three Chinese state-linked vessels ran survey work over Pacific cable corridors, covering the Guam cable hub, the Japan to U.S. cables east of Japan, and the Luzon Strait.In northern Europe, two sanctioned tankers that loaded at Primorsk a day apart ran matching drift-and-reposition loiters over the gas pipelines feeding St Fergus, the terminal supplying 25 to 50% of Britain's gas, while two Russian-flagged tugs spent the month over Kattegat and Skagerrak cable corridors, one towing a barge fitted with a seabed excavator.

U.S. shipments of limestone on the Great Lakes increased 1.8 percent from last year to 2.7 million tons. Limestone cargos were below the month’s 5-year average by 5.8 percent. Year-to-date, the limestone trade stands at 15.9 million tons, a decrease of less than one percent compared to 2025 and 3.2 percent below the month’s 5-year average.GREAT LAKES LIMESTONE TRADE: SEPTEMBER 2021-2026 AND LONG-TERM AVERAGE (NET TONS) 202120222023202420252026Average2021-2025U.S. Ports3,022,9892,859,8532,791,9423,088,6922,670,5022,718,6422,886,796Canadian Ports684,234675,023651,520678,580663,144NA**670,500Total3,671,2233,534,8763,443,4623,767,2723,333,6462,718,6423,550