Decks and Deals Weekly #45
Between 24 and 31 May 2026, global shipping markets ran on contradiction: a peace deal nobody signed, a VLCC war premium in freefall, a BDI rebound nobody expected, and asset prices that simply refused to care
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Hormuz closed. Frankfurt tightens. Who pays the ECB rate hike bill?
Yannis Stournaras says he wishes the ECB did not have to act. It probably will anyway — and European shipping will absorb costs it neither created nor controls
Q1 2026 container shipping Part II: ZIM and CMA CGM close the structural case
ZIM lost $86 million. CMA CGM lost three-quarters of its net income. The Q1 2026 container shipping season has closed, and the two final reports confirm Part I’s diagnosis
Decks and Deals Weekly #44
Between 17 and 23 May 2026, global shipping ran on four clocks: Trump halted Iran strikes, Brent dropped 5%, the BDI rally reversed, tankers softened, and containers climbed into an early peak
The future has no flag: the U.S.–China rivalry beyond the hype
Every few years, a confident essay declares the U.S.–China rivalry already settled in America’s favor. The claim feels reassuring. It also misreads where real power now grows
The Eastern Mediterranean’s new map: the corridors are slow, the claims are not
A bipartisan U.S. bill naming Greece, Cyprus, Israel, and Egypt has gained momentum as Türkiye answers with rival corridors, maritime claims, and a Blue Homeland bill — while infrastructure remains unfinished and legal geography hardens across the Eastern Mediterranean
Decks and Deals Weekly #43
Between 10 and 16 May 2026, the BDI broke 3,195 mid-week before a Friday correction, MR Atlantic earnings collapsed 60–75%, two more ships were attacked at Hormuz, Hapag-Lloyd swung to a Q1 loss, and Trump landed in Beijing to ask… Read More »Decks and Deals Weekly #43
Thucydides’ Trap and why trade fuels U.S.–China rivalry
Economic interdependence, once seen as a guarantor of peace, has become a vector of U.S.–China competition. This analysis traces the systemic anxieties driving the rivalry — and locates Europe within them
Q1 2026 container shipping: volumes return, pricing power does not
The Q1 2026 container shipping season produced one verdict. Volumes returned. Pricing power did not. The Strait of Hormuz has been quietly turned into a line item
Decks and Deals Weekly #42
Between 3 and 9 May 2026, global shipping markets digested a hardening Hormuz blockade, the Ocean Koi seizure, US-Iran live-fire exchanges, an Israeli counter-bid for ZIM, and a BDI rally through 3,000