Decks and Deals Weekly #37
The week of March 22–28, 2026 reshaped global shipping as Hormuz turned into a toll-controlled chokepoint, tanker markets split sharply, and geopolitical shocks from Ukraine to Yemen redrew the map of risk
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GEOPOLITICS
IMEC and the war no one designed to last this long
Patrick Wood argues Trump’s war on Iran is about the IMEC corridor. The commercial logic holds. The idea that anyone is actually in control does not
Storm on Europe’s horizon: geopolitics and the looming migration pressure on Greece
Escalating conflicts across the Middle East and beyond threaten to trigger new migration waves toward Europe, placing Greece once again at the frontline of a potential humanitarian and geopolitical crisis
Ultramax & Handysize global market review: fragmented equilibrium across regional dry bulk trade
Global dry bulk markets remain fragmented and directionless, as regional imbalances dominate trading patterns during the week ending 20 March 2026, with owners and charterers navigating short-term volatility and localized equilibrium shifts
Debt, not war: the logic of hegemonic transition
In 1956, a phone call ended an empire. Not with bombs, but with bonds. Today’s hegemonic transition follows the same logic: power shifts not on battlefields, but through debt, currency and control of financial infrastructure
The petrodollar’s longest day: how Tehran turned a chokepoint into a currency war
For the first time in half a century, the world’s most critical oil chokepoint is being weaponised not with missiles, but with money — forcing markets to confront a future where the dollar is no longer the default price of energy
China’s Global Rest of World strategy: the table has moved
China’s Global Rest of World strategy abandons American volatility, forging a Sinocentric trade corridor through Riyadh, London, and Africa. This structural realignment creates an economic ecosystem increasingly insulated from Washington’s coercive leverage
Hormuz shock and the shipping gamble
The duration of the crisis in the Strait of Hormuz will determine whether shipping markets see a temporary freight-rate boom or face the early signal of a broader global economic slowdown
The Hormuz courier: how one tanker’s audacity defines Greek shipping dominance
In a move of calculated audacity, Greek shipowner George Prokopiou sent five tankers through the Strait of Hormuz. This high-stakes operation reveals the very DNA of Greek shipping dominance
The shroud of steel falls: the brutal economic audit of the Iran–Israel conflict
As Operation Epic Fury enters its tenth day, the $1 trillion monument to U.S. dominance faces a brutal audit. Beyond the missiles, a systemic energy collapse and depleted stockpiles signal a fracturing hegemony