The two biggest container carriers MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company and AP Moller-Maersk are ending their 2M alliance in 2025. The world’s biggest container carriers decided to go their own ways after a roller-coaster ride for box freight markets as strategies have diverged. The decision has prompted more questions than answers though, as TradeWinds looked at what might happen next.

John Fredriksen has once again increased his stake in Belgian tanker owner Euronav to become the joint-biggest shareholder. The Frontline backer acquired another 4.785m shares in the VLCC and suezmax player to equal the Saverys family’s stake of 24.99%. This level of ownership is crucial under Belgium law as it is enough to block a full legal merger with another company.

GasLog Ltd is looking to take publicly-listed counterpart GasLog Partners private. In a Securities and Exchange Commission filing made before the New York open on Wednesday, Peter Livanos-backed GasLog Ltd said it was offering $7.70 per share, including a $2.33 per share special dividend to take the company off public markets. The take-private offer is low, but market observers disagree on how low and if a competitor could emerge.

Rumours have circulated in shipbroking circles suggesting Euronav is considering selling the world’s second-biggest tanker, three months after offloading the largest. One European broker reported an agreement had been struck for the 441,600-dwt ULCC Oceania (built 2003) with an unknown buyer at $50m.

Giant US private equity player Oaktree Capital Management has cashed in more of its holding in lucrative shipowner Hafnia. The Singapore product tanker owner said the shareholder engaged investment banks Fearnley Securities, Jefferies and Pareto Securities to handle a block sale of 25.2m shares in a private placement.

The end of China’s zero-Covid policy has prompted some countries to reintroduce restrictions and test requirements for seafarers, according to the Global Maritime Forum (GMF). Ship managers say the easing of restrictions in China is simultaneously both “encouraging and concerning”, the GMF said.

And finally, if the record of his opponent was any indication, it was a fight that was likely to leave that of heavyweight boxer Goran Gogic untarnished. But US federal prosecutors are currently pursuing charges claiming that the former boxer became a “sophisticated drug trafficker”, coordinating the movement of multi-tonne loads of cocaine on containers in the fleet of MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company.

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