Editor's Choice
Hormuz Stranglehold Pushes Maersk’s Fuel Bill to $500m Monthly as Thousands of Seafarers Languish in Persian Gulf Limbo
Hormuz Stranglehold Pushes Maersk’s Fuel Bill to $500m Monthly as Thousands of Seafarers Languish in Persian Gulf Limbo
By Oghenewoke Osaweren | Waterwaysnews.ng Maritime Desk | Sunday, May 10, 2026
The relentless chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz is drawing blood from the world’s shipping industry with alarming velocity, as Danish container giant A.P. Møller-Maersk confirmed this week that the Iran-triggered maritime blockade has inflated its monthly fuel expenditure by nearly half a billion dollars — a burden the company is now offloading directly onto global shippers and cargo owners.
Speaking during Maersk’s first-quarter 2026 earnings presentation on Thursday, Chief Executive Officer Vincent Clerc laid bare the brutal arithmetic of the crisis. The Iran war has pushed the company’s fuel costs up by nearly $500 million a month, equivalent to roughly 3 billion Danish crowns, as bunker fuel prices surged from around $600 to just under $1,000 per metric ton. To cushion the blow on its own balance sheet, Maersk has implemented a temporary non-refundable Emergency Bunker Surcharge, effective globally from March 25, 2026, citing the current situation as having “significantly impacted access to fuel, its availability at key locations, with the right specifications and at a price point Maersk can absorb.”
In plain terms: global trade is footing the bill.
THE HORMUZ CRISIS: TWO MONTHS AND COUNTING
The Strait of Hormuz has been effectively closed since late February, with more than 800 ships and approximately 20,000 crew members stranded west of the narrow waterway. What began as a geopolitical flashpoint has hardened into one of the most disruptive maritime emergencies of the modern era, paralyzing a corridor through which approximately 20 per cent of global oil supply ordinarily passes.
Cargoes delayed in the region include crude oil, refined products and fertiliser, while thousands of seafarers remain aboard ships unable to move freely. According to US military estimates, more than 1,550 vessels carrying around 22,500 mariners are inside the Persian Gulf.
The human dimension of this crisis is one that rarely commands the same attention as the financial headlines. For those mariners — many of them Filipinos, Indians, Ukrainians, and Nigerians — the days have turned into weeks, and weeks into months, with no clear horizon for departure.
MAERSK’S FINANCIAL WOUNDS
Maersk’s Q1 2026 results offered little comfort to shareholders. Net profit for January to March plummeted to $100 million, approximately twelve times lower than the same period a year earlier, when earnings were supercharged by exceptionally strong sea freight demand. Revenue slipped 2.6 per cent to just under $13 billion, while earnings per share collapsed to $4, compared to $74 in Q1 2025.
Maersk’s CEO described the situation as “unprecedented, both in terms of size and the speed at which it has unfolded,” while noting that the full financial hit would emerge from the second quarter, when higher fuel costs flow fully through the company’s accounts.
The cost surge goes beyond rising crude prices. Maersk pointed to tightening bunker availability, regional price dislocations and the need to reposition fuel across its network, noting it had been “redistributing available fuel from North America and Europe” to keep vessels supplied across Asia and the Middle East.
Despite the bloodbath, Maersk maintained its full-year guidance. The company continues to guide for an underlying EBITDA of $4.5 billion to $7 billion and free cash flow of negative $3 billion or better, though it acknowledged experiencing higher working capital because of higher bunker costs, which is absorbing additional cash.
PEACE WON’T IMMEDIATELY FIX THE CRISIS
One of the starkest warnings from Maersk’s earnings call is that even a diplomatic resolution to the Iran conflict would not quickly unwind the maritime and energy damage already done. Even if a peace deal were reached tomorrow, Clerc said the impact on cargo flows would be limited in the near term. Fuel costs will not normalize the day the strait reopens, because the oil market will take time to rebalance and operators will remain cautious about routing vessels through the area until safety is genuinely established.
“The energy crisis does not go away the day peace comes,” Clerc stated, offering a sobering prognosis for an industry already battered by years of Red Sea disruption.
The CEO also raised a wider macroeconomic alarm, describing a scenario of high costs, weak demand and overcapacity as “a dangerous cocktail.”
RED SEA RETURN SHELVED INDEFINITELY
The Hormuz crisis has also dealt a fatal blow to Maersk’s carefully laid plans to gradually resume operations through the Red Sea and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. The Middle East situation is forcing Maersk to continue rerouting vessels around Africa, away from the Suez Canal, marking an abrupt stop to the company’s tentative efforts for a gradual return of some services to the Suez route — a key step towards ending years of global trade disruption caused by Houthi rebel attacks in the Red Sea.
Clerc confirmed that Maersk reversed and halted its anticipated gradual return to the Red Sea for safety reasons, noting that the one limiting factor was the limited availability of escort ships or monitoring assets from either the US Navy or any European naval force.
HAPAG-LLOYD ALSO BLEEDING
Maersk is not alone in counting the costs. German shipping group Hapag-Lloyd disclosed that the disruption around Hormuz is costing it approximately $60 million a week, driven largely by higher fuel and insurance bills. Insurance premiums for ships operating in the region have also surged sharply because of the threat of attack, adding to pressure on operators already facing rising fuel costs.
Industry analysts warn that even a swift resolution would not rapidly normalise markets. Refiners, shippers and commodity traders would remain cautious until genuine safety was established , according to risk analysts.
SELECTIVE PASSAGE: WHO GETS THROUGH
Iran has not applied the blockade universally. On March 26, the Iranian Foreign Minister announced that ships owned by five nations — China, Russia, India, Iraq and Pakistan — would be allowed to transit the Strait. Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines subsequently secured passage rights following diplomatic talks with Tehran. Western-flagged and Western-linked vessels have received no such exemptions.
A US-led military initiative to escort commercial ships through the strait was briefly activated, with one Maersk-owned vehicle carrier successfully guided through — but that initiative was paused within days.
IMPLICATIONS FOR AFRICA AND NIGERIA
For West Africa, and Nigeria in particular, the knock-on effects of the Hormuz crisis are already rippling through import costs, cargo delays and freight rates. Nigeria, which relies heavily on imported fuel products, refined goods, and manufactured cargo via container shipping, faces heightened exposure as the world’s major carriers impose multiple layers of emergency surcharges on every shipment.
Nigerian importers and exporters should brace for further rate escalations as the second quarter absorbs the full weight of Maersk’s surcharge regime — a financial storm that originated in a distant strait but is fast becoming a local economic headache.
Waterwaysnews.ng continues to monitor developments in the Strait of Hormuz and will provide updates on the implications for Nigeria’s maritime trade and port operations.
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Nigeria’s Port Boom Is Outpacing Its Capacity, Dantsoho Tells World Ports Conference
Dantsoho Pitches Nigeria’s Ports to Global Investors in London, Says Lekki’s Capacity Is Exhausted
By Emamuzou Akatugba | Waterways News | London
The Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Dr Abubakar Dantsoho, has told global port investors that Nigeria’s fast-growing cargo volumes make the country’s ports one of Africa’s most compelling investment opportunities. He said the Tinubu administration has put investor-friendly policies in place.
Dantsoho spoke on Tuesday at the IAPH World Ports Conference in London, which runs from November 3 to 6 at Olympia. He addressed a select group of maritime investors. He is Vice-President of the International Association of Ports and Harbors (IAPH) and Chairman of the Port Management Association of West and Central Africa (PMAWCA).
He said Nigeria’s population, rapid urbanisation and infrastructure gaps are what make the opportunity attractive. He argued that governments across Africa cannot alone fund bigger and deeper seaports, so private investment must move in quickly.
“The investment needed in ports to meet this expansion and growth can only happen if the requisite private investment is attracted and retained,” he said. He added that President Tinubu “has created the enabling atmosphere” for this
Dantsoho said Nigeria’s population has grown from about 45 million at independence in 1960 to over 260 million. In his words, the country needs capacity to receive bigger import vessels and to move higher export volumes.
His strongest example was the Lekki Deep Sea Port. It was funded with Chinese backing and built by China Harbour at a cost of $1.6 billion. He said it was commissioned only about three years ago, yet its capacity “has been exhausted”.
“Clearly, we need more capacity to be able to contain the volumes,” he said. He added that the NPA is pleased to be capturing more cargo, since rising volumes are what lift port revenue.
He also said most cargo arriving in West Africa, largely from China, ends up in the Nigerian market. He compared Nigeria’s population with Ghana (34 million), Côte d’Ivoire (32 million), Benin Republic (14 million) and Togo (9 million).
Other reports from the conference quote Dantsoho saying federal reforms have lifted Nigeria’s exports by about 25 per cent in two years, across oil and non-oil goods. He reportedly also cited two Nigerian ports in the World Bank’s top 20 global rankings, and a Single Window system the NPA developed in 2025 with a Singaporean firm.
NIGERIA WATCH
Capacity is now the story. A $1.6bn flagship port that is already full is the clearest sign yet that Nigeria’s problem has moved from attracting ships to handling them. It strengthens the case for the new deep seaport approvals (Badagry, Olokola, Ibom, Bakassi and Bonny) that have so far been announced faster than they have been built. Investors in London will want timelines, not just approvals.
Retaining investors is harder than attracting them. Dantsoho himself used the phrase “attracted and retained”. Concession renewal anxieties, regulatory overlap among agencies, and the Strait of Hormuz crisis’s effect on freight rates and war-risk insurance all weigh on retention. These are the questions investors will ask after the speech.
Where do the small operators fit? The pitch is about big terminals and big capital. Informal inland waterway operators, represented by WABOTAN and ATBOWATON, remain absent from the conversation.
Waterways News will keep asking how port-led growth and the NPA’s assessment of inland dry ports will translate into jetties, safety and livelihoods for the informal inland waterway operators.
Nigeria Unveils Home-Built ADX-Barra 200 Autonomous Vessel at AFRIDEX 2026
Arridex, DICON joint venture Helagon delivers country’s first indigenously developed unmanned surface vessels%
By Ighoyota Onaibre | Waterways News
Nigeria has unveiled its first indigenously developed autonomous surface vessel, the ADX-Barra 200. Arridex Group, formerly RusselSmith Group, built it through Helagon, its defence joint venture with the Defence Industries Corporation of Nigeria (DICON).
The vessel was unveiled on 26 October at the inaugural Africa International Defence Exhibition (AFRIDEX 2026) at Eko Atlantic, Lagos. The exhibition ran from 26 to 29 October.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu was represented by Senate President Godswill Akpabio. He said the administration prioritises defence industry growth because a nation is more secure when it can build and maintain its own capability. He described the vessel as that capability taking shape, designed and built by local engineers in partnership with DICON, and said it deserves government support and the confidence of the armed forces.
ADX-Barra 200
Arridex Group CEO Kayode Adeleke presented the vessel. He said Helagon was set up to design autonomous systems and that the ADX-Barra 200 is the result. For the forces that will use it, he called it a force multiplier.
The ADX-Barra 200 is one of two platforms in the ADX-Barra series launched at the exhibition. The other is the ADX-Barra 100. Arridex says both were designed, built and integrated in Nigeria by its engineers.
Adeleke tied the platforms to Gulf of Guinea security. He said the region’s waters carry its trade, support its coastal communities and hold much of its energy wealth, and that protecting them calls for capability the region can build, sustain and improve itself. He invited the armed services and other stakeholders to arrange demonstrations and to help shape later generations of the vessels.
Others at the unveiling included Lagos State Deputy Governor Dr Obafemi Hamzat and the Minister of State for Defence, Dr Bello Matawalle. DICON Director-General Major General Babatunde Ibrahim Alaya, Helagon Chief Operating Officer Engr. Precious Omo-Agege and Arridex senior management were also present.
Arridex has not published the vessel’s technical specifications, including its length, endurance, payload and sensors. Both vessels remained on display at the exhibition.
NIGERIA WATCH
A home-built answer to a long-standing maritime problem: Nigeria’s waters have long needed more patrol capacity than its platforms and budgets can supply. A locally designed vessel that “can be supported, adapted and improved by the team that made it,” as Arridex puts it, addresses one persistent weakness. Imported hulls and systems often sit idle for want of spares, support and trained hands.
The questions that matter next: Unveilings are not deployments. The Navy, NIMASA’s Deep Blue Project and other agencies will want to know the vessel’s range, endurance, sensors and sea-state limits. They will also want to know whether it can work in the Gulf of Guinea. Until Arridex publishes specifications and arranges trials, the “game-changing” claim remains the company’s own.
Beyond defence: Waterways News readers should watch whether this technology filters into civil uses such as inland waterway surveillance, anti-vandalism patrols and search and rescue. The country’s inland operators, including those represented by WABOTAN and ATBOWATON, face insecurity and safety gaps that policy announcements have not closed. Local manufacturing capacity matters to them only if it eventually reaches the waterways where they work.
The accountability test: The industrial-policy argument is sound. It is build locally and maintain locally. It will be judged by procurement, deployment and sustained operation, not by launch-day speeches.
Editor's Choice
Australia Bars Repeat-Offender Bulk Carrier for 90 Days Over Falsified Crew Rest Records
Australia Bars Repeat-Offender Bulk Carrier for 90 Days Over Falsified Crew Rest Records
By Okeoghene Onoriobe | Waterways News
Australian maritime authorities have banned the Marshall Islands-flagged bulk carrier Wooyang Venus from its ports and waters for 90 days. Inspectors found that the ship’s crew work and rest-hour records had been deliberately falsified to hide excessive working hours.
The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) boarded the vessel at the Port of Newcastle on 29 October after a complaint under the Maritime Labour Convention (MLC). Its port state control inspection found that the records did not match the hours the crew actually worked. The ship left Newcastle on 31 October for Korea, and the ban took effect afterwards.
This is the vessel’s third brush with Australian enforcement in under three years. AMSA detained it in August 2026 when crew hours were neither properly recorded nor monitored. It was first detained in December 2023, after a complaint from the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF).
That inspection found falsified hours records, poor food provisions and an allegation that the master had assaulted a crew member. AMSA’s annual MLC report says the operator then submitted a corrective action plan covering repatriation, better provisions and training on rest-hour compliance. The latest findings suggest those measures did not take hold.
AMSA Executive Director for Maritime Safety and Environmental Compliance, Greg Witherall, said falsifying records meant to protect seafarers undermines both crew welfare and ship safety. He warned that fatigue dulls judgement and slows reaction times, raising the risk of collisions, groundings and injuries, particularly during navigation and watchkeeping.
The ban was imposed under Section 246 of Australia’s Navigation Act 2012. AMSA cited the deliberate falsification, the repeated breaches and doubts over the effectiveness of the owner’s and operator’s safety management systems.
Nigeria Watch
The case matters for Nigeria for three reasons:
Records are the enforcement tool. Fatigue rules only work if rest-hour logs can be trusted. Australia treated falsification as a safety-system failure, not a paperwork lapse, and banned the ship rather than detaining it again.
Repeat offenders need escalating penalties. Two detentions and a corrective plan did not change this operator’s behaviour. Nigerian port state control should ask whether its own follow-up on repeat deficiencies has real consequences.
Seafarer welfare is a Nigerian issue. Nigerian seafarers serve on foreign-flagged ships, and those working boats and ferries on domestic waters face fatigue and welfare gaps too, often with no records at all.
The MLC regime Australia is enforcing shows what accountability looks like. It is the benchmark NIMASA and the inland regulators should be measured against, and one this publication will keep pressing.
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