MOVING from operating terminals into operating ships may raise eyebrows, but DP World needs to find a way to diversify and make its offering more compelling to its customers. Paying $765m to buy Unifeeder may have been a pricey way to make the leap, but according to our Containers Editor James Baker the move makes sense and offers strategic opportunities to scale the approach globally.

Meanwhile, amid profit warnings and ‘difficult’ trading conditions, OOCL has been making bullish noises about a 40% increase in capacity this week, so our China Editor Cichen Shen has been looking behind the headlines and bravado to ask ‘why?’.

Outside of the box sector we have been examining how shipping can avoid the legal minefield that sanctions are creating for shipping companies. New US sanctions against Iran took effect on Tuesday, and President Donald Trump, who defied Washington’s allies to impose them, pledged that companies doing business with Tehran would be barred from doing business with the US. But what does that mean for shipping companies? We’re joined by Jeremy Robinson, a partner at the law firm Watson Farley & Williams and Lindsey Keeble, partner and head of the Global Maritime Group at Watson Farley & Williams, to discuss the risks that shipping needs to be aware of in light of the latest developments.

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