Iranian Foreign Minister Araghchi said that under the mediation of Qatar, Tehran shortened the original plan to "reopen the strait within seven days": the United States took corresponding steps on the first day, and shipping resumed on the second day. Iranian negotiators held talks with the Qatari mediator for the third consecutive day on Sunday. Trump said that the negotiations were "progressing smoothly" and Iran wanted to reach an agreement, but the United States was "not in a hurry"; Secretary of State Rubio said that it has not yet been decided whether to restart the attack. Iran's conditions include lifting sanctions, unfreezing funds, and restoring oil exemptions. Recognizing the waterway jointly designated with Oman and demanding a reduction in the U.S. military presence. At the same time, the Iranian Navy said an oil tanker struck a mine and caught fire east of the strait, and the U.S. Central Command said its blockade of Iranian ports had diverted 144 commercial ships.
According to people familiar with the matter, Pakistan had negotiated safe passage with Iran before the LNG ship "Al Mayeda" passed through, and Iran gave the clearance a few hours ago. The Marshall Islands-flagged ship was still under fire when it was heading towards the strait loaded with Qatari LNG, and then turned around and returned to the Persian Gulf. Qatar's Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement on Sunday condemning the attack and saying it was investigating; Indian Shipping Minister Sonowal said it was a missile attack and 25 crew members (including 6 Indians) were killed. All are safe; shipowner Nakilat said the ship is still operational and is being evaluated.
Hanwha Marine disclosed that it had signed a 356.8 billion won (approximately US$267 million) contract with an unnamed Bermuda shipowner. Sources in the shipbuilding industry classified it as a maritime investment platform under JPMorgan Chase. The single ship is approximately US$133.5 million and is expected to be delivered in the second half of 2030. Previously in July, the bank had ordered two 320,000-ton VLCCs (394.3 billion won) from Hanwha. Earlier, Dalian Shipbuilding Industry Company ordered two 307,000-ton ships and held options for two ships. The total VLCC new-build commitment is about US$1.55 billion. Hanwha Marine has received 21 VLCC orders this year, with a total of 44 ships for the year, about US$8.11 billion, including 8 LNG ships, 6 container ships, 3 very large ammonia carriers and 3 VLGCs.
TOTE Services announced that it has selected Hanwha Defense America (HDUSA) as the first contractor under its US$2.2 billion "Vessel Construction Management" (VCM) contract to build one medium-sized landing ship (LSM) in Philadelphia, with options for three more. Construction is expected to start in the fourth quarter of 2027, with the first ship delivered in 2030. The U.S. Navy and Marine Corps plan to build a total of 35 ships of this type. TOTE's first contract covers up to eight ships; Bollinger and Fincantieri Marinette are expected to participate in subsequent construction. This is the first U.S. Navy shipbuilding contract obtained by HDUSA, and it is also a step in the transformation of this former commercial shipyard into a dual-use military and civilian shipyard.
Samsung Heavy Industries' revenue in the third quarter was 3.1504 trillion won (a year-on-year increase of 19.6%), operating profit was 338.4 billion won (an increase of 42.1%), and operating profit margin was 10.7%, with a total of 936.5 billion won in the first three quarters; HD Korea Shipbuilding and Marine's operating profit increased by 37.3% year-on-year to 1.4472 trillion won, with a total of 4.4483 trillion won in the first three quarters. It has exceeded last year's record of 3.9045 trillion won, but fell by about 12% month-on-month, of which the fall in exchange rates affected 70 billion won, and the reduction in working days affected 50 billion won; Hanwha Marine increased 67.6% to 485.7 billion won. In terms of labor, HD Hyundai Heavy Industries reached a final agreement on October 27, Hanwha Marine reached a provisional agreement on a basic salary increase of 140,000 won after 30 rounds of negotiations, and Samsung Heavy Industries completed salary negotiations last month.
Blue Water Group signed a construction contract with a Singaporean shipowner for 15 LR2 and MR2 product oil tankers, which will be delivered successively from 2028 to 2030. The report did not mention the contract amount. The group has been involved in shipbuilding since 1996. Its business once covered offshore oil and gas equipment, offshore wind power equipment and marine ranch equipment, and now it has returned to its main business of ship repair and building. It has deployed six manufacturing bases in Jiangsu, Guangdong, Guangxi, and Hainan. The Hainan base is used as the final assembly and delivery center, equipped with two shipyards of 300,000 tons and 200,000 tons. Each factory in Guangdong and Guangxi is equipped with gantry cranes of more than 2,400 tons, adopting the method of modular division of labor construction and professional final assembly.
Norway's national energy agency Enova has allocated NOK 3.94 billion (approximately US$430 million) to two floating wind power projects to install four next-generation units offshore Karmøy. Fortius Offshore Wind, owned by Deep Wind Offshore, received NOK 2 billion, and Fram Wind Solutions, backed by BW Offshore and Grieg Kapital, received NOK 1.94 billion. Each project contains two floating units of 18.5 trillion watts. The total installed capacity is 74 trillion watts, and it is expected to generate about 300 gigawatt hours of electricity annually, which is equivalent to the electricity consumption of about 15,000 households. The two projects are planned to be installed within five years, and the funds will be disbursed subject to the final implementation of the project. The testing direction includes the floating foundation of large-scale units, mooring systems and new offshore construction and installation methods.
Maersk announced that London Gateway will stop receiving empty containers starting from 202612 hours on November 2, and the recovery time will be notified separately. The interruption is expected to last for most of this week. Customers must follow the latest return instructions given by MATS Online before transporting empty containers. Alternative return points are subject to weather and yard space conditions.