CORWITH CRAMER

The headline grabbing global attention is simple enough: a shipowner reportedly paid more than $5 million for a single Panama Canal transit slot. But that may only mark the start of an historic surge in shipping costs.The vessel was a liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) carrier operated for South Korea's SK Gas. The fee was not the canal toll itself, but an auction premium paid to secure passage through one of the world's most important maritime chokepoints.It surpassed earlier reported bids of roughly $4 million and stands as the latest symbol of how far shipping markets have been distorted by geopolitical disruptions.

The U.S. is expanding its icebreaking fleet to strengthen Arctic and domestic access, and support commercial shipping, seabed resources, subsea cables and fisheries. Current plans include 1–3 heavy Polar Security Cutters (PSCs), 11 medium Arctic Security Cutters (ASCs), seven Homeland Security Cutter (HSC) HSC-L (light) icebreakers, 11 HSC-Ms (medium) and one additional heavy HSC-H (heavy). But as delays and cost overruns on the Polar Security Cutter (PSC) Program shows, while major opportunities exist for the U.S. supply chain in icebreaking construction and sustainment, many challenges also exist with the complex projects.

Stephen M. Carmel & MarAd are aiming to make this U.S. Maritime Rebuild StickFor anyone who has spent a career in the U.S. maritime industry, the past two years have been unusual by any metric. Maritime has moved from the far margins of federal policy discussions to center stage, with rebuilding American shipbuilding, the Merchant Marine and the maritime industrial base elevated a national priority. Action to shore up the big ship, military portion of the equation has been rapid and measurable. But beyond the top echelon of defense contractors, many mid- and small-tier yards and suppliers have been left waiting.

An unprecedented level of investment in multi-deck vehicle carriers is being driven by tonnage replacement and scale economy strategies, but emphatically also by explosive growth in China’s automotive exports.Global deep-sea automotive shipments, excluding the Russian trade, were estimated at some 15.6 million units in 2025, up 5 percent on 2024, maintaining recent years’ trajectory. China’s inexorable rise as a producer and exporter is the conspicuous influence on traffic development.Notwithstanding the impacts of sometimes fraught political relations between the USA and China, and between Europe and China, and the prevailing Middle East conflict

Shipping Technology has launched ST Sailing Pro, an extension of its ST Sailing track pilot that now not only controls a vessel's steering, but also its propulsion. This is the next step in the company's roadmap towards autonomous sailing. In short, the captain enters a destination and a desired arrival time, after which the system continuously calculates the course and engine power needed to meet it, taking changes in locks, currents, water levels etc. into account. On a normal sailing pattern, ST Sailing Pro reduces fuel consumption by a further 10 per cent on top of the 5 per cent already validated for ST Sailing.