Good morning, lovely people , and welcome to a busy start to the week with updates on everything from railways to ports — and a lot more movement coming from Oman than usual.

THE BIG LOGISTICS STORY- A committee in Pakistan’s c abinet has approved AD Ports Group’s bid for a concession at Karachi’s port , days after it had rejected the bid for being below expectations.

HAPPENING TODAY-

BUT FIRST, SOME GOOD NEWS- Red Sea oil spill averted: It’s a wrap on the UN-led salvage operation to remove over 1 mn barrels of crude oil from a rusting supertanker off Yemen at a cost of USD 140 mn, the UN said on Friday. The FSO Safer was abandoned off Yemen’s coast following the start of the country’s civil war in 2015, and has been at risk of leaking, breaking apart, or exploding in what the UN said would have had “catastrophic environmental and humanitarian consequences.” A UN salvage team has been unloading the oil from the container since late July.

…or at least 98% averted: Less than 2% remains of the 1.1 mn barrels of oil that were on the tanker. Some USD 20 mn is required to complete the operation, the UN said.

LESS GOOD NEWS- MORE FIRES: Fires broke out on a Panama-flagged tanker off the coast of Iran and at grain export facilities in France’s Atlantic port of La Rochelle. Iran evacuated 22 crewmembers from aboard the gas tanker White Pearl, which was carrying 40k tons of liquified petroleum, after receiving a distress call from the ship. (TradeWinds | Reuters) Meanwhile, operations continued at La Rochelle, one of France’s biggest grain terminals, without interruptions to loading as the fire was brought under control, Reuters reports.The fire started on Thursday morning on a conveyor belt on top of the silos, with some 120 firefighters working to bring the blaze under control.

And Panama Canal limits traffic even further: The Panama Canal is limiting new reserved slots to 14 vessels per day (from 16 vessels previously) until 21 August to make room for unbooked ships and ease the bottleneck of ships waiting to transit without reservation, according to a Panama Canal Authority statement. Booked transit through the canal’s largest locks will remain unaltered, the statement adds. Some 161 vessels have been stuck near the canal as of last Thursday, an increase from the about 90 ships typically seen during rainy seasons, officials told Reuters.

Background: Traffic at the Panama Canal has been seeing delays of 15-19 days per vessel due to a drought that has affected water levels in the waterway. The canal’s administrator is expecting a USD 200 mn revenue decline to USD 4.9 bn in FY 2023-24 due to the canal’s water-saving measures. The delays have been pushing shipowners to take alternative routes, like the Atlantic Basin, despite having to reduce rates and incur cancellation fees, according to Platts.

Steer clear of Iranian waters, Western-backed maritime forces warn: Ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz are being urged to stay far from Iranian waters to avoid seizures amid rising tensions with the US following the latter’s recent deployment of 3k sailors and marines to the area, the Associated Press reported. The Bahrain-based US International Maritime Security Construct is “notifying regional mariners of appropriate precautions to minimize the risk of seizure based on current regional tensions, which we seek to de-escalate,” US Navy Commander Timothy Hawkins is quoted as saying by the outlet. Another EU-led maritime organization has also warned of a potential attack on a merchant vessel taking place in the next 12 to 72 hours, the AP adds.

MEANWHILE- Iran has warned that it is prepared to respond in kind if the US seizes any Iranian vessels , Fars News Agency reports.

Ukraine has introduced a “humanitarian corridor” for ships stuck in Black Sea ports , which will be used “primarily for civilian ships which have been in the Ukrainian ports of Chornomorsk, Odessa, and Pivdenny” since the Russian invasion, Ukrainian Navy spokesperson Oleh Chalyk told Reuters. The corridor will be “transparent,” with cameras installed on ships to demonstrate that this is a humanitarian mission with no military purpose, Chalyk said.

This corridor will be a major test of Ukraine’s ability to reopen its sea lanes in the face of Russia’s de-facto blockade , Reuters explains. Vessels whose owners officially confirm they are ready to sail will be able to pass through the routes, the Ukrainian Navy said, according to Reuters. However, the vessels could still face military threat from Russia, with shipping and ins. sources expressing concerns about safety.

A Russian patrol vessel fired automatic weapons at a cargo ship in the Black Sea on Sunday , Reuters reported. Russia is currently treating any ships approaching Ukrainian ports as potential military threats. Russia said its ship fired on the Palau-flagged Sukru Okan vessel after it failed to respond to a request for inspection, the outlet writes. While Russia says the vessel was on its way to Ukraine’s Izmail port, Refinitiv shipping data picked up by the outlet indicates it was heading to the port of Sulina in Romania.

Background: Some 60 commercial vessels have been trapped in Ukraine’s ports since the Russian invasion, with their fates made even further unclear by Russia’s abandonment of the Black Sea grain pact.

WATCH THIS SPACE #1- Kuwait allocates KWD 2 mn for consultancy on rail link with KSA: Kuwait's Public Works Ministry has approved KWD 2 mn in the FY 2023-24 budget for a consultancy agreement on the Kuwait-Saudi Arabia railway, Al Rai reports, citing ministry sources in the know. The agreement will cover logistical infrastructure and enhancing transport and logistics services.

WATCH THIS SPACE #2- Iraq’s Transport Ministry plans to resume operations for its Kirkuk-Baghdad railway , according to a ministry statement. Iraq’s General Company for Railways General Manager Younes Khaled Jawad and Kirkuk Governor Rakan Saeed Al Jubouri met to discuss overcoming obstacles to resuming the service.

WATCH THIS SPACE #3- SriLankan Airlines is looking to GCC buyers as it eyes privatization , after the airline turned to the black for the first tie in 15 years, CEO Richard Nutall told The National. Emirates — which had owned a 40% stake in the airline before it was bought out by Sri Lanka’s government in 2008 — could be interested, Nutall suggested. The airline saw consistent losses following its nationalization but is now making returns for the first time in years. The government will “look for expressions of interest in the coming months and they want to do that fast,” Nutall said. Posing a potential threat to Gulf buyers, conglomerate Tata Enterprises is also a potential investor in the airline, Simple Flying reported.

MARKET WATCH-

The global freight forwarding market is set to shrink by 3.9% in 2023 on the back of challenging market conditions , Hellenic Shipping News reports, citing data from a global freight forwarding 2023 report from Ti Insight. Air freight forwarding contracted by 7.3% in 2022, while sea freight forwarding shrank 1.5%, as freight rates began to normalize following the pandemic-induced boom. Supply now continues to exceed demand, reducing freight rates and hampering forwarders’ returns Ti Insight says.

Most Russian fuel export products are now trading above G7 price caps amid a global rally in oil prices , Reuters reports, citing price tracking data by Argus Media. Russia’s flagship Urals crude has been trading above its USD 60 cap for months, while diesel, gasoil, naphtha, and fuel oil loading in the Black Sea and Baltic regions have exceeded caps for their categories in recent weeks, Argus data showed. The Biden administration is expected to use “soft” tactics to enforce the cap, as it is wary that harsher methods could destabilize energy markets. G7 countries introduced the cap, which bans Western firms from handling Russian cargoes priced above it, to curb Moscow’s oil revenues after its invasion of Ukraine.

NON-LOGISTICS REGIONAL HEADLINES:

• UAE: The Emirates refuted media reports suggesting it sent arms shipments to one of the warring parties of Sudan’s war. (Al Bayan)
• Saudi Arabia: KSA has appointed its first ever ambassador to Palestine as the US pushes with efforts on Saudi-Israel normalization. (Asharq Al Awsat)
• Egypt: Inflation accelerated at a record pace for the second month running in July, as surging food costs and the impact of a series of devaluations maintained upward pressure on prices. (Enterprise)

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IN THIS WEEK’S EPISODE- It’s the very first panel of the Enterprise Climate Forum: Egypt brought home major victories from COP27, signing framework agreements for about USD 85 bn worth of green hydrogen projects, and announcing more than USD 10 bn in funding for the Nexus for Food, Water and Energy (NWFE) program. While we have a long way to go before much of the wins from COP27 will be tangible to the private sector, the opportunities in green hydrogen and NWFE are “now.” Our panelists helped explain how these two can be made actionable. We were joined by Jorgo Chatzimarkakis, CEO of Hydrogen Europe, Khalid Hamza, Director and head of Egypt at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and Khaled Naguib, CEO of Hydrogen Egypt.

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