Barry Parker

1 week ago | seatrade-maritime.com | Barry Parker

The ups and downs in cargo flows following the on and off again imposition of tariffs was quite evident in the monthly media briefing hosted by the Port of Los Angeles (POLA). The month of May, 2025 was clearly an “off” month at the port.

2 weeks ago | seatrade-maritime.com | Barry Parker

Mid-June saw a dramatic escalation of the long simmering conflict between Israel and Iran, with Israel’s air attacks on Iran nuclear facilities and targeting of Iran’s high-ranking military and scientific personnel. On Saturday Iran reported Israel had attacked two gas fields widening the scope of targets. Israel was reported to have attacked the Phase 14 of South Pars Gas field and Fajr Jam Gas Refining Company Bushehr province.

3 weeks ago | marinelink.com | Barry Parker

“Shipping is a people business”, so the saying goes. Jim Lawrence, who passed away at the beginning of June, truly embodied that. Certainly, he was a great participant at maritime events. When not up on the podium serving as the moderator, he would be walking around, shaking hands, talking about a particular transaction or development (and, sometimes, the intrigue behind it), along with everything that goes along with networking.

3 weeks ago | seatrade-maritime.com | Barry Parker

Looking back on the life of Jim Lawrence, who died this week, and a legacy in maritime networking and events. The shipping world lost a true legend with death of Jim Lawrence, who passed away at the beginning of June after a battle against cancer that began in late winter. He was 70 years old. His successes in the business were based on bringing industry participants together. He got an early start organising business events and became involved in maritime conferences in the mid-1980s.

4 weeks ago | seatrade-maritime.com | Barry Parker

The US regulatory body covering liner shipping is undertaking an investigation into flag-state practices. The Federal Maritime Commission (FMC), is well known for its regulations concerning liner shipping, most recently enforcement of the Ocean Shipping Reform Act (OSRA), enacted in 2022, which put liner carriers under more scrutiny than had been the case previously.