MaritimeShipping.org covers the business of moving goods by sea. Container lines, tankers, bulk carriers, LNG ships, the ports they call at and the narrow waterways they have to pass through.
About 80 percent of world trade by volume goes by ship. Most people only notice when something breaks. A canal runs short of water. A strait closes. A freight rate doubles in a month and shows up six weeks later in the price of diesel, fertilizer or a sofa.
2026 has been that kind of year. The Strait of Hormuz has been shut since February. The Houthis now hold the Yemeni shore of Bab el-Mandeb. Panama is cutting slots again because of El Niño. Carriers are sitting on a record orderbook while their fuel bills climb. None of these stories stay in one lane. A war in the Gulf moves tanker rates, then bunker prices, then container surcharges, then crop budgets in Brazil.
So the site works from three questions.
Where is the chokepoint? Hormuz, Suez, Bab el-Mandeb, Panama, the Cape, the Arctic. Geography still sets the price of trade, and every rerouting decision starts on a chart.
Who pays? Owners, charterers, cargo owners, insurers, taxpayers. We follow the cost to the party that ends up holding it.
What changes for good? Most disruptions pass. Some don't. A record VLCC order wave or a new toll authority tells you which kind you're looking at.
Coverage runs across:
- Chokepoints and maritime security
- Container shipping, freight rates and carrier results
- Tankers, LNG carriers and energy shipping
- Dry bulk and commodity trades
- Ports, labor and congestion
- Shipbuilding, orderbooks and industrial policy
- Regulation, from IMO carbon rules to US port fees
If a story changes how ships move or who pays for it, it belongs here.