Good morning, friends. We hope you had a relaxing weekend, and that you’re ready to dive into a meaty issue filled with updates from shipping and maritime, zones, and earnings.

THE BIG LOGISTICS STORY- QTerminals announced the launch of a new Maersk shipping service linking six MENA countries to boost regional trade. In the UAE, AD Ports’ Autoterminal Khalifa Port will store Chinese passenger vehicles under an agreement with China’s Shandong Port Group.

HAPPENING TODAY-

Syrian Foreign Affairs Minister Faisal Mekdad headed a high-level political and trade delegation to Tehran yesterday, semi-official Iranian news agency Tasnim reported. The visit looks to push forward bilateral agreements reached during a visit by Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi to Damascus in early May, which saw both countries’ leaders ink a comprehensive agreement outlining long-term and strategic partnerships. An Iran-Syria Joint Committee will meet to work out obstacles to upped economic and trade relations between the two allies, Tasnim added, citing statements by Syria’s ambassador to Tehran Shafiq Dayoub.

A TALE OF TWO FIRES-

Fire damage brings operations to a halt at Tunisia’s Port of Bizerte: A fire that broke out at Tunisia’s Port of Bizerte has caused damage to a bridge spanning the Canal de Bizerte, rendering the bridge immobile and bringing port operations to a standstill, according to West P&I. The bridge facilitates the movement of vessels between the inner port area and the open sea, making it critical to maritime movement, West P&I said. The incident also affected dry cargo berths and multipurpose terminals, disrupting vessel traffic in the inner harbor, though the STIR petroleum terminal in the outer harbor was unaffected, enabling tankers to continue operations. The bridge has been reopened for pedestrians and vehicles, but is still closed off for marine operations.

Authorities have launched an investigation into the incident, Tunisian news agency TAPreports, citing Tunisian Public Works Minister Sarah Zaafarani. The extent of the bridge’s damage is still uncertain, with no definite timeline for repairs, according to an earlier West P&I statement.

Burning cargo ship in Dutch waters can’t be towed just yet: Dutch authorities have put off plans to tow away a cargo ship carrying 3.8k cars, including 500 electric cars, that has been burning for days off the Dutch coast, DWreports. Officials said they will need to wait until the current direction of winds, which can pose a risk to the tugboat crews, corrects course, DW adds.

ICYMI- The Panama-flagged Fremantle Highway had just left Germany and was en route to Egypt when a fire erupted on board, killing one crew member and injuring several others. The fire — which has since died down significantly, officials say — could have started in the battery of an electric car,Dutch broadcaster RTL reported.

Signaling a wider problem in the maritime industry?Maritime shippers are facing a growing risk of difficult-to-control fires due to the battery technology used in EVs, according to industry, ins., and emergency response officials, Reuters reports. While logistics companies are accustomed to handling the risk of EV battery fires, the maritime industry has not kept up with the evolving technology. Fire extinguishing systems on car carriers were not designed to handle hotter EV fires — which can’t be extinguished with water — leading to increased ship fires and increased ins. costs for automakers and vessel owners, sources told Reuters.

Russian air strikes have damaged 26 Ukrainian port infrastructure facilities and five vessels over nine days, Reuters cites Ukranian Deputy Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov as saying. A port in Odessa was also struck by an overnight missile attack from a submarine in the Black Sea, damaging a cargo terminal and killing a security guard, Reuters reported separately.

Odessa’s ports have been regular targets for attacks by Russia since Moscow withdrew from the UN-brokered Black Sea grain agreement — which had ensured the safe export of Ukrainian grain — on 17 July, Reuters writes. Russia has not only been targeting Ukrainian ports, but also grain storage facilities on the River Danube, where some 60k tonnes of grain have been destroyed.

Russia promises Africa grain exports at Russia-Africa summit: Despite Western sanctions imposed on Russia — which make it hard for the country to export grain and fertilizers — African countries will be receiving tens of thousands of tons of grain, Russian President Vladimir Putin reportedly said at the Russia-Africa summit in St. Petersburg last Thursday, Reuters reports. Russia is ready to replace Ukrainian grain exports to Africa to ensure food security, Putin said, adding that the country will gift Burkina Faso, Zimbabwe, Mali, Somalia, Central African Republic, and Eritrea some 25-50k tonnes of grain each in the next three to four months.

IN OTHER COMMODITIES NEWS-The UAE has banned the export and re-export of rice for four months,according to a ministerial decree (pdf). The ban also covers the re-export of rice imported from India after 20 July, but companies may apply for exceptions. The decision comes less than a week after India — the world’s largest exporter of rice — imposed its own partial ban in a move that is expected to lead to global shortages and a hike in food prices.

WATCH THIS SPACE #1-The first phase of the development of the Ain Sokhna port will wrap before the end of 2023, Asharq Business reports, citing statements Egypt’s Transport Ministry Kamel El Wazir gave to the press on Thursday. The ministry began the redevelopment of the port in 2021 at a cost of EGP 20 bn. El Wazir’s statements came during a ceremony which saw the ministry hand over the area to the consortium of private-sector companies which will construct a new terminal. Hutchison Ports, Cosco and CMA CGM earlier this year signed an agreement with the Egyptian government for the terminal, which they will manage and operate for 30 years.

WATCH THIS SPACE #2-CMA CGM eyeing stake in Egyptian state-owned shipping company: French shipping giant CMA CGM is in early-stage talks with Egypt’s government to acquire a stake in state-owned shipping firm National Navigation Company (NNC), Al Mal reported last week, citing sources familiar with the matter. NNC is Egypt’s largest shipping company and specializes in dry cargo. Details on the rumored transaction are scarce, but Egypt’s Transport Ministry and the National Bank of Egypt (NBE) are both involved in the talks, the news outlet reported. This indicates that CMA CGM is interested in acquiring stakes held by NBE and NNC’s majority shareholder, the ministry-controlled Holding Company for Maritime and Land Transport.

CMA CGM is already established in Egypt’s ports: The company is part of a consortium that was awarded a contract by Egypt’s government to construct, operate and manage a new container terminal at Ain Sokhna port, and is bidding for the contract to construct the Tenth of Ramadan dry port.

WATCH THIS SPACE #3- India + Iran set to ink long-term agreement on Chabahar port by next month: India and Iran are expected to sign a long-term agreement for the development of Iran’s Chabahar Port by September before the Global Maritime India Summit, Indian news outlet Mint reports, citing two people in the know. The details for a long-term agreement — which will also allow India to develop the Shahid Beheshti Terminal in the port — could be finalized and signed next month, according to an official from the Indian Ports Ministry. The countries have been signing one-year contract extensions for the development and running of the terminal. Although India had been seeking a longer term agreement, disagreements over the agreement’s arbitration clause had stood in the way.

It’s been a long time coming: India Ports Global and Iran’s Arya Banader signed a contract back in 2016 for the development of the port, according to Iran’s Islamic Republic News Agency. The countries have been working towards signing a long-term contract for India’s first overseas port project with a self-renewing 10 year agreement.

MARKET WATCH- Orders for product tankers — which distribute petroleum products — in 1H 2023 have already exceeded the total orders made in 2022,reaching 8.9 mn deadweight tons (dwt) by June, according to BIMCO data cited by Splash. The product tanker orderbook to fleet ratio increased from 5.4% last December to 9.3% in June, with LR2 tankers showing the most significant increase. Shipowners are scrambling to book their orders as charter rates, previously buoyed by strong vessel earnings and asset valuations, and pandemic era support, begin to gradually fall, according to BIMCO. Increased demand has also seen a boost on the back of the Russia-Ukraine war and the EU’s ban on Russian oil products.

Things could slow down in the medium term: Analysts predict a potential slowdown in contracting by 2028, when they expect oil demand to have peaked.

Biden administration looks to soft measures to enforce price cap on Russian oil: The US is set to boost communication and outreach with Western trading houses, ins. providers, and tanker owners to remind them to abide by the G7 price cap on Russian oil as market prices begin to top the cap, Reuters reports, citing sources it says are close to the matter. US officials are poised to “enforce quietly with letters, phone calls,” a source close to Biden’s administration said. The administration is veering away from a heavy-handed approach in fear that it will disrupt markets and lead to an increase in global energy prices, the newswire wrote.

Saudi Arabia is expected to extend its voluntary oil output cut of 1 mn barrels per day (bbl / d) through September to provide additional support for the oil market, five analysts told Reuters.

CIRCLE YOUR CALENDARS- The Enterprise Finance Forum is taking place on 18-19 September at the St. Regis Hotel in Cairo. This flagship forum is the latest in our must-attend series of invitation-only, C-suite-level gatherings that allow senior members of our community to openly and frankly discuss critical issues in key sectors of the economy.

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LISTEN TO OUR PODCAST-

DID YOU MISS THE ENTERPRISE EXPORTS AND FDI FORUM? Tune in to the EnterprisePodcast and listen for yourself: The Enterprise Podcast is back with another installment of our forum series, where we bring you audio recordings of what was said on stage at the Enterprise Exports and FDI Forum,which took place in May.

IN THIS WEEK’S EPISODE- We look at whether industrial clusters — which have been used to great effect elsewhere — can be a way for SMEs to be part of a potential export-oriented economy. Our speakers shed light on where industrial zones are working for us already, how Egypt can leverage clusters to get a bigger slice of that cross-border trade, and how industrial clusters can bring together SMEs to work with larger firms. We were joined on that panel by Shady Williams, managing director of IDG, Mohamed ElGebely, team leader at USAID Trade, and Nada El Ahwal, CSO of Transmar.

WANT TO LISTEN? Head to: Apple Podcast | Spotify | Google Podcast. We’re releasing a new episode every Sunday morning.

CIRCLE YOUR CALENDAR-

Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Sheikh Salem Al Sabah will visit Iraq in the next few days,state-owned Iraqi News Agency reports, citing statements from the Kuwaiti ambassador to Iraq, Tariq Al Faraj.

The UAE’s Finance Ministry is holding a digital public consultation on its website that began last Wednesday and runs until Wednesday,as part of the UAE’s corporate tax freezone regulations,Emirati news agency WAM reports.The consultation aims to gather feedback from freezone-based companies, WAM added.

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian is planning to visit Pakistan on Thursday, Tasnim news agency reported, citing Pakistani daily The Nation. Amirabdollahian is expected to meet with his Pakistani counterpart Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and other Pakistani officials during the two-day visit.

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