During the National Day holiday (Oct 1-7) Hangzhou port handled over 95.0k passenger movements, with a single-day peak above 17.0k. As of Oct 7, year-to-date inbound/outbound passenger traffic exceeded 4.0 mln; inbound foreign arrivals topped 390.0k, a record high.

Strong European LNG demand is expected to keep more cargoes in the North Atlantic and limit upside in winter shipping costs, even as a rebound in Asian buying could tighten tonnage and push rates. Newbuild deliveries and a re-routing of more US LNG to Europe shorten voyages and expand available vessels; Atlantic and Pacific LNG freight rates have retreated to levels seen before US and Israel opened hostilities with Iran. Spark Commodities data show Tuesday’s Atlantic rate for the common 174,000 m3 two-stroke LNG vessel at $25,750/day, versus a multi-year peak of $287,500/day in early March and $42,750/day at end-February, before the conflict.

RIA reported the European Commission's latest tranche to Ukraine is being funded from the defence portion of the €90 billion Ukraine support loan.