This Is a Really Strange World!

The Editorial Board of our journal decided to help our colleague, who has been pondering the strangeness of the world we live in for five years. He believes this strangeness is growing exponentially, and the world will not return to normal anytime soon. We have been alarmed to see our colleague begin to ramble, and collectively decided to bring this column back down to Earth, or more precisely, to the Sea – to dwell less on geopolitical challenges and more on analyzing the problems of the maritime industry. 

Although, it is simply impossible to completely ignore the non-economic factors influencing global shipping.

So, what strange, good or bad, has happened in the maritime industry over the past 15 months?

Things were generally going well until early 2026. Global foreign trade container shipping volumes grew at a rapid pace, reaching a historic high of 193 million TEU, 4.7% above the 2024 level. Surely, that was good. At the same time, new orders in shipbuilding declined sharply, down 27% year-on-year, which was definitely bad.

Industry dynamics in the Asia-Pacific region were impressive. The five largest container ports in Northeast Asia, three of which are Chinese, collectively handled nearly 200 million TEU, up 5% to 11% from the previous year. Malaysia’s Tanjung Pelepas became the fastest-growing port in the world, increasing its throughput by 15.4% year-on-year. Only Hong Kong suffered a setback, declining its performance by 3.4% and handling “only” 15 million TEU.
It is not the raw numbers that matter, but the trends.

In 2025, the container shipping market between Asia-Pacific countries exceeded 60 million TEUs, or a third of the global total, more than double the volume of container traffic on the Trans-Pacific and the Asia-Europe routes.

The gap in the pace of implementation of modern smart port technologies between East Asia and Europe has widened even further; it is simply inappropriate to even discuss US ports in this context.
This is understandable, however. In 2025, the US and its ‘subordinate’ European allies were actively combating a mysterious “shadow fleet,” hundreds of whose tankers were plying the oceans, successfully evading the formidable sanctions restrictions that were systematically produced by the West.
The real, telling trends in the industry were lost against this media backdrop. For example, the decision of two of the worlds largest European shipping companies, Hapag-Lloyd and Maersk, to create a strategic logistics alliance, Gemini Cooperation, is telling. Their combined fleet of 340 vessels is already operating on the Southeast Asian-Europe route, bypassing the Cape of Good Hope. It does not matter that the route has been extended by two thousand nautical miles. At least the alliance has managed to ensure that shipping schedules are met, a priority for cargo owners.
The creators of the Gemini Cooperation sought to avoid problems navigating the Red Sea, where the “terrible” Houthis, armed with Kalashnikovs and cruise missiles, had entrenched themselves.

Houthis had challenged the US Navy and, at the very least, had drawn a draw.


As it turned out a year later, Gemini had not only hit the target, but the bull’s eye. Of course, we are talking about the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz and the events that preceded it.
This commentary appeared on the Journal website on June 4. As of this writing, shipping in the Strait of Hormuz has been virtually shut for over three months. What this means for the industry, and consequently for the global economy, is clear even to non-experts.
The problem is that there is no easy way out of the situation in sight. Even if, say, the US and Iran manage to reach an agreement to unblock the strait on mutually acceptable terms, there will be no return to the previous idyll. At a minimum, freight rates and compensation payments to crewmembers for risk will increase significantly.

It is possible that ship owners will have to pay for passage through the Strait – to Iran, Oman, and perhaps even to the US as the “guarantor” of navigational safety.


The latter is quite in keeping with President Trump’s business style!
But if this happens, there’s no doubt that pirate networks off the coast of Somalia, in the Gulf of Guinea, and the Strait of Malacca, as well as the Houthis in the Red Sea, will be reactivated—after all, a precedent for collecting tribute from seafarers in international waters will be set. We also should not rule out a possible shift in criminal activity to the seas by South African criminal empires, rightfully considered the number one on the African continent.
Global supply chains and shipping routes will likely need to be significantly restructured to maintain the integrity of the globalized economy. It is quite possible that Arctic shipping routes will attract some of the global trade flows. After all, cold Ice is safer and more predictable than “hot” mines, drones, missiles or trained marine mammals…
Against the backdrop of Hormuz, other industry challenges have been somewhat overshadowed. In particular, our expert colleagues note that

the world’s largest container ports appear to have reached their productivity limits.


Despite employing the most advanced digital and other technological solutions available today, and minimizing berth-handling times, the ports of Shanghai and Singapore were often unable to meet even 60% of their planned vessel handling schedules in 2025. Therefore, they believe the future of the container industry lies with smaller port terminals, such as Busan, which operate more flexibly and reliably.
Another industry trend, although it is not yet entirely clear whether it is a positive or a negative, is a shift in the evaluation of promising projects from fully autonomous, unmanned vessels to ‘smarter’ vessels with reduced crews than today, but using AI technologies for navigation and cargo handling. Assessments figure that this ‘evolutionary’ approach will be more cost-effective and easier to implement.
Time to stop for the day. Let us wait for new strangeness and oddities, the potential of which, apparently, is far from exhausted.