UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said an oil tanker reported hearing an explosion about 20 nm northeast of Seeb in the Sea of Oman, near the eastern entrance to the Strait of Hormuz. UKMTO received the captain’s report at 20:37 UTC on March 2 (04:37 Beijing March 3). The vessel and crew are reported safe; the captain said the blast occurred close to the ship. Authorities are investigating and UKMTO advised transiting vessels to exercise caution.

Ministry of Natural Resources data on Aug. 3 show China’s 1H seagoing ship new contracts, completions and orderbook rose 105.2% YoY, 34.8% and 37.1% respectively; China accounted for 73.9% of global new orders, 55.4% of completions and 63.3% of backlog. Deliveries included more than 40 large vessels — including container ships above 10,000 TEU, ultra-large crude carriers and large LNG carriers. Shipyards report full production schedules, with some orders pushed into 2029 and beyond. High-end deliveries included the world’s first 10,800-car LNG dual-fuel car carrier, the world’s first 24,000-TEU methanol dual-fuel container ship and China’s first 740-TEU pure-electric smart container ship, signalling steady improvement in high-end shipbuilding supply capacity.

On Aug. 2, Energy Minister and security cabinet member Eli Cohen said Israel has not agreed to halt military strikes on the Gaza Strip and the security cabinet has not discussed any Gaza ceasefire plan in the past 72 hours. Cohen said "any armed personnel participating in attacks will be eliminated" by the Israeli military. On a proposed ceasefire package — Hamas disarmament, Israeli withdrawal and a technocratic administration taking over Gaza — Cohen said Israel would be willing to give the plan a chance but he does not believe Hamas will actually disarm.