Frontline’s 28 Open VLCCs Are the Real Story Behind FRO Stock Right Now
I keep coming back to the same number after my last piece on Frontline ( $FRO ). Not the $76,900 day rate. The other one. Twenty-eight. The number that keeps…
Shipping News
Original news articles written by TxZen — analysis, insights, and perspectives on markets, investing, and the world from The Engineer’s Compass.
Market Signals, Shipping News
Which Tanker Stocks Win in a Prolonged Hormuz Crisis: An Investor’s Framework
Brent just cracked $141. VLCCs are pulling in north of $420,000 a day on peak Middle East fixtures. Suezmax and Aframax charters? Over $300,000. Six months ago those same ships…
Hormuz Stays Closed as Islamabad Accord Stalls and Iraq Starts Moving Oil
I have been staring at this map for three days and the math keeps getting worse. Trump gave Iran until today to open Hormuz or face what he called living…
China Is Trapping Ships to Win a Port Fight at the Panama Canal
China and the United States are fighting over who controls ports at the Panama Canal. Real ships are getting caught in the middle. 🚢 How It Started A Hong Kong…
Shipping News
Iran’s $2M Hormuz Toll Road and What It Means for Tanker Stocks
I’ve been staring at vessel tracking data all week and honestly it’s a little surreal. The Strait of Hormuz – the strait that one fifth of the world’s oil passes…
Market Signals, Shipping News
VLCC Rates Hit All-Time Records. The Hormuz Closure Is Unlike Anything Since 2005
The Biggest Freight Story in Two Decades The Strait of Hormuz has been effectively closed since February 28 following US and Israeli strikes on Iran. War risk P&I insurance for…
Shipping News
The Cape of Good Hope Reroute Is Creating a Secondary Rate Surge
Cape of Good Hope Reroute Adds Weeks to Voyages With Hormuz closed and the Houthis having resumed Red Sea attacks since February 28, vessels are piling onto the Cape of…
Market Signals, Shipping News
Tanker Earnings Hit All-Time Record as Strait of Hormuz Disruption Fuels Rate Supercycle
Clarksons Just Put Numbers to It This is the dominant story. Clarksons’ March 2026 Oil & Tanker Trades Outlook shows weighted-average tanker earnings reached $133,735 per day in March. That…
Why the U.S. Just Exported More Natural Gas Than Ever Before
U.S. LNG Exports Record: A Milestone Nobody Expected The United States shattered the U.S. LNG exports record in March 2026 by shipping more liquefied natural gas to the rest of…
Market Signals, Shipping News
Rates Up. Stocks Down. Here Is Why.
The Peace Trade Is Hitting Tanker Equities Hard Spot rates are at multi-year highs. Tanker stocks are under pressure. That contradiction has a specific explanation. Investors are pricing in three…
Shipping News
The Shadow Fleet Is Breaking
Roughly 200 VLCCs Are Out of Mainstream Trade The compliant VLCC fleet is smaller than the headline numbers suggest. About 100 VLCCs carry active sanctions . Another 100 have hauled…
Shipping News
One Buyer. A Third of the Fleet.
One Buyer. One-Third of the Fleet. South Korea’s Sinokor Merchant Marine and buyers linked to MSC Mediterranean Shipping bought and chartered their way to control of roughly 120 non-sanctioned VLCCs…