Good morning, nice people. The news cycle is still to pick up its pace in 2026, leaving us with another brisk read.

Up first: Operational friction at DP World’s London Gateway is driving a significant, but likely temporary, reshuffle in UK port calls. Hapag-Lloyd is the latest major carrier to divert a service to Tilbury, joining a list of peers that includes Maersk and MSC. We take a look at what’s driving this reshuffle and what’s next for the UK-based major hub.

ALSO- We take a deep dive into how European legacy carriers like Lufthansa are adapting to rising competition from Gulf and budget carriers.

The big logistics story abroad-

The US ups its assault on Venezuelan oil logistics: The US military has seized two tankers linked to sanctioned Venezuelan oil on Wednesday, including the Russian-flagged tanker, Bella-1. The tanker — which was being shadowed by a Russian submarine — was intercepted after a two-week-long pursuit across the Atlantic Ocean following a stand-off that saw it slip past a US maritime blockade in the Caribbean.

More to come? At least 16 oil tankers falling under US sanctions have attempted to circumvent the American Naval blockade on Venezuela’s energy exports this week by either disguising their locations or turning off transmission signals altogether.

^^ The must-read on the topic: Sanctioned Oil Tankers Flee Venezuela in Defiance of US Blockade

Meanwhile, new details have emerged clarifying the logistics of the US’ effective takeover of Venezuelan oil, with the state oil company PDVSA saying it’s in talks with Washington “to sell volumes of crude oil to the US […] under schemes similar to those currently in place with international companies, such as Chevron, and is based on a strictly commercial transaction.”

But the US Energy Secretary Chris Wright says the US would control the proceeds from oil sales “indefinitely,” and that it could “flow back into Venezuela to benefit the Venezuelan people,” according to remarks from Energy Secretary Chris Wright.

Watch this space-

Oman gets its first commercial drone-delivery service in 2026: Omani AI and drone services company Esbaar launched what it says is the region’s first drone delivery service focused on the logistics of the oil and gas industry, in partnership with Masar Petroleum, the company said in a statement. The service — powered by a fleet of aerial systems made locally by Sinan Advanced Industries — marks the year’s first leap into drone-powered logistics in our region.

Expect more drone delivery advancements in our region this year as more players run their pilot programs in Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Abu Dhabi-based drone manufacturer Lodd Autonomous plans to launch unmanned aerial vehicle parcel and cargo deliveries by 2H 2026. Emirates Post and UAE-based Autologix — a JV between 7X and Zelostech — are also planning to roll out heavy-cargo logistics pilots, but no timeline has been disclosed for the launch of tests. Saudi Arabia also greenlit US delivery drone firm Matternet last year to launch its M2 drone in KSA.

RAIL –– Algeria is set to inaugurate its awaited China-backed Western Mining Railway in the next few days. The country’s National Agency for Studies and Monitoring of the Implementation of Railway Investments launched initial operational tests on the line on Tuesday.

The details: The 950 km line connects iron ore-rich southwestern Algeria to industrial hubs and ports in the north of the country and will support the extraction of the country’s Gara Djebilet iron ore deposits. The project — built by the China Rail Construction Corporation in collaboration with local partners — is slated to run 10 trains a day once fully operational.

SUEZ CANAL –– Suez Canal traffic for the first week of 2026 is still at 60% lower than it was in 2023’s first week, even 100 days after the last Houthi attack on a vessel in the Red Sea, Bimco chief shipping analyst Niels Rasmussen said. “A normalization of ship transits now appears more likely than at any point over the past two years, but the pace remains uncertain,” Rasmussen added.

Market watch-

Oil prices reversed some of their losses this week with a surge this morning that was driven by rising US demand, Reuters reports. Brent crude futures rose by USD 0.24 to trade at USD 60.20 / bbl as of 03:43 GMT, while US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) went up USD 0.22 to USD 56.21 / bbl.

Over in our region: The Middle East crude market is flashing signs of stress, with Dubai’s differential to Brent — the Brent-Dubai EFS — blowing out to its widest since August, Bloomberg reports. At the same time, the Dubai swaps curve has slipped back into contango, a textbook marker of an incoming surplus as near barrels are priced more cheaply than later ones.

Weakness is spilling into spot pricing: Oman crude (a core feedstock for Chinese refiners) has fallen to near parity with the Dubai benchmark after trading at a nearly USD 1 / bbl premium late last month, while Upper Zakum is now priced at a USD 0.35 markdown — its weakest since late 2023, the business news information service reports, citing General Index data. In the Dubai pricing windows, selling has dominated while bids have been sparse, traders told the outlet. With few participants willing to step in and support prices, benchmarks have drifted lower by default.

The backlog is the tell: Roughly 8 mn barrels of February-loading Middle East crude are still unsold, including Upper Zakum. That’s late by regional standards — February programs usually clear by the end of December. It’s now the fourth straight month of barrels struggling to find homes in a market that normally clears clean.

Concerns of an oil glut this year have been pervasive, with the International Energy Agency (IEA) forecasting a 3.8 mn bbl / d surplus for 2026, while a Reuters poll of analysts expects the market to be in surplus by around 0.5-3.5 mn barrels per day.

Baltic index is on a downward streak: The Baltic Exchange’s dry bulk sea freight index — which tracks rates for the capesize, panamax, and supramax vessel segments — was down 3% to 1,776 points on Wednesday, its lowest since July 2025. The capesize fell for the tenth day by 4.6% to 2,878 points, while the panamax index increased 1% to 1,317 points, and the smaller supramax index eased 18 points to 993 points.

Data point-

50.0 — That’s the seasonally adjusted purchasing managers’ index figure for Qatar in December, according to the S&P Global Qatar PMI (pdf). The figure signals a stagnation in business conditions for the country’s non-energy private sector, ending 2025 at the lowest level in two years. The reading fell from 51.8 in November, dropping below the index’s long-run average of 52.2.

The breakdown: Business conditions were weighed down by a renewed contraction of new orders. Output also fell to its sharpest point since March, and construction was cited as the primary source of weakness. Despite the dip in demand, employment and wages continued to rise strongly, as firms focused on sales efforts and the retention of experienced staff. This labor pressure drove a marked increase in staff costs, even as overall input and purchasing prices remained broadly unchanged.

Looking ahead, operators remain optimistic. The outlook for 2026 improved to a four-month high, bolstered by expectations of government investment and population growth.

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