Good morning, lovely people, and merry christmas to everyone celebrating. We have a relatively busy issue for you this morning, as the global trade sector continues to reel from the impacts of Houthi attacks in the region.

It’s not all bad, though: In more positive news for trade in the region, we have news of tons of investments in shipping, economic zones, and the aviation sector.

THE BIG STORY TODAYcontinues to be the impacts of the attacks in the Red Sea strait, with most global shipping firms hiking freight rates and adding fees over the weekend to make up for rising costs associated with rerouting vessels away from the Red Sea. We have everything on this and more in the news well, below.

^^ We have everything on this story and more in the news well, below.

PSA- Partial road closures in Abu Dhabi: Abu Dhabi’s Integrated Transport Center (ITC) announced that Mohammed Bin Khalifa street in Al Ain will witness partial closures until Saturday 30 Decemeber, and Al Saada Bridge in Abu Dhabi will witness partial closures until Sunday 31 December, the ITC said on X here and here.

US slaps new sanctions on entities violating Russian oil price cap: The US Department of Treasury Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has issued a new set of sanctions targeting a Russian-owned ship manager and three oil traders, according to an OFAC statement. The sanctions take aim at UAE-based Sun Ship Management, a subsidiary of Russia’s state-owned fleet operator Sovcomflot, and three “under-the-radar” companies engaged in the trade of Russian oil, including Hong Kong-based Bellatrix Energy and Covart Energy, and UAE-based Voliton DMCC.

OFAC also tightened the rules and updated guidance for price cap sanctions, giving potential violators less leeway to maneuver, and inline with what was noted in a recent G7 statement.

ICYMI- Other UAE-based firms were also slapped with US sanctions for violating the price cap back in October. Last week saw the EU enforce its 12th package of sanctions against Russia, with many of those policies also targeting Russia’s energy exports.

HAPPENING TODAY–

Iran is expected to ink a trade agreement with the Russian-led Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU),reports PressTV. Trade Minister of the Russian-led Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) Andrey Slepnev met with Iran’s Ambassador to Russia Kazem Jalali ahead of the upcoming agreement, and said that Iran is expected to become “one of the most important trade partners of the Eurasian Economic Union,” IRNA reported.

Background: The agreement, for which Armenia’s cabinet gave its approval last week, would lift custom tariffs for around 96% of Iranian goods exported to Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Armenia. The agreement comes at a time when both Iran and Russia are facing heavy Western sanctions.

CIRCLE YOUR CALENDAR-

The UAE will host The Dubai International Pharma and Technologies Conference and Exhibition from Tuesday, 9 January through to Thursday, 11 January in Dubai.The event will bring together the entire pharma value chain, from suppliers, manufacturers, distributors to pharmacists.

The UAE will host Transport Middle East from Tuesday, 23 January through to Thursday, 25 January in Abu Dhabi. The event will see more than 30 speakers come together to tackle the current challenges in global transportation and logistics.

Check out our full calendar at the bottom of this email for a comprehensive listing of upcoming news events and news triggers.

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