Posidonia 2026: the visible power and the invisible power
At Posidonia 2026 in Athens, 1–5 June 2026, China sent 200 companies, opened a shipbuilding office and signed contracts. America sent a classification society. The asymmetry was not subtle
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MARITIME GEOPOLITICS
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
The strait that taught the markets to fear shadows
The Strait of Hormuz no longer shapes markets through disruption alone. It shapes them through anticipation, hesitation, memory, and the rising global cost of uncertainty
Cape of Good Hope: the detour that became a doctrine
Three years after Houthi missiles drove the world’s container fleets southward, the Cape of Good Hope has graduated from emergency detour to default corridor. Brussels has yet to grasp the consequences
The Suez Canal recovery that never arrived
The Suez Canal recovery should be in full swing. The Houthis stopped attacking ships in November. War risk premiums collapsed. Yet container traffic remains 60% below 2023 levels
Port of Piraeus: Record revenues, a shrinking core, and the questions nobody asked at Delphi
Angelos Karakostas arrived at Delphi with record revenues and previewed unreleased quarterly data. The full-year 2025 results, read carefully, tell a rather different story
The EU Ports Strategy that targets China without naming it
Brussels adopted its EU Ports Strategy on 4 March 2026. A leaked draft, obtained weeks earlier, tells a more candid story — one in which COSCO and Piraeus feature prominently, if never by name
Decks and Deals Weekly #32
During the week of 15–21 February 2026, global shipping was reshaped by Hapag-Lloyd’s $4.2bn ZIM bid, Hormuz tensions, surging tanker rates, container overcapacity, Ukrainian port strikes, and bold Greek newbuilding orders
The invisible landlords: How container leasing became a geopolitical weapon
Half the containers on a Maersk ship do not belong to Maersk. They belong to financiers who rarely visit a port—and whose decisions now ripple across trade wars, capital markets, and Washington’s response to Beijing
Decks and Deals Weekly #30
From 31 January to 7 February 2026, global shipping markets confronted structural distortions: collapsing shadow fleets, resilient mid-size tankers, aggressive Chinese-led newbuilding orders, and a widening gap between macro narratives and physical trade reality