Maritime Industry Briefing: Hormuz Safety Warning, Panama Canal Recovery, Maersk Cyber Breach, and More

## Maritime Industry Briefing ### IMO Chief Demands Stricter Enforcement in Strait of Hormuz IMO Secretary-General Arsenio Dominguez has issued a strong call for governments to intensify enforcement of international maritime regulations in the Strait of Hormuz, according to gCaptain. Dominguez warned that unsafe shipping practices in one of the world's most strategically critical waterways pose an unacceptable risk to seafarers and global trade. The Strait of Hormuz handles a significant share of global oil and LNG flows, making compliance with SOLAS conventions essential to both crew safety and energy supply chain stability. ### Panama Canal Eases Restrictions as Water Levels Recover In a welcome development for global supply chains, the Panama Canal Authority has raised daily transit capacity to 34 vessels and restored the maximum allowable draft at its Neopanamax locks to 50 feet, gCaptain reports. The move follows improved freshwater conditions in Gatun Lake, which had forced the Canal to impose severe draft and booking restrictions throughout much of 2023 and into 2024. The recovery will provide meaningful relief to shippers who had been rerouting cargo around Cape Horn or absorbing higher freight costs due to constrained capacity. ### Maersk Confirms Fresh Cybersecurity Breach Danish shipping giant AP Moller-Maersk has disclosed a new cybersecurity incident after hackers accessed an older IT system and extracted data, Splash247 reports. The breach comes nearly a decade after the catastrophic NotPetya ransomware attack that cost the company up to $300 million and disrupted global container shipping operations. Maersk confirmed the incident but has not yet disclosed the full scope of the data compromised. The breach serves as a stark reminder that legacy IT infrastructure remains a significant vulnerability across the shipping industry. ### UK Invests £90 Million in 'Atlantic Net' Submarine Surveillance The United Kingdom is pressing ahead with a £90 million programme to deploy autonomous underwater systems, advanced sensors, and artificial intelligence under the banner of 'Atlantic Net', aimed at tracking Russian submarine activity and protecting critical undersea cable infrastructure, according to gCaptain. The initiative reflects growing concern among NATO allies about the vulnerability of subsea communications and energy cables following a series of suspected sabotage incidents in European waters. ### Flex LNG Secures $145.5 Million Sale-and-Leaseback Deal John Fredriksen-controlled Flex LNG has agreed a $145.5 million sale-and-leaseback arrangement for one of its LNG carriers with an unnamed Asian leasing company, Splash247 reports. The New York-listed owner said the transaction is part of a broader fleet refinancing programme expected to release approximately $34 million in additional liquidity. The deal underscores continued appetite from Asian financial institutions for LNG tonnage exposure as the global energy transition sustains long-term demand for liquefied natural gas shipping.