🟦 Blue Tide Roundup | August 05, 2026
Hanwha Ocean posts 98% profit surge, $100M fund for island blue economies, Japan's first ocean carbon capture pilot
Welcome back! This week we're looking at strong earnings from one of South Korea's biggest shipbuilders, a new blended finance fund targeting blue economies in small island nations, and a pilot test in Japan that could turn ocean-captured carbon into aviation fuel.
🚢 Hanwha Ocean posts a 98% surge in operating profit driven by high-value ship orders
Hanwha Ocean reported second quarter sales of 5.43 trillion Korean won and operating profit of 736.1 billion won, representing year-on-year growth of 65.2% and 98% respectively, beating market expectations. The strong result was driven by improved shipyard efficiency, rising ship prices linked in part to the Middle East conflict, a favorable dollar-to-won exchange rate, and the delivery of a floating production, storage, and offloading facility worth approximately 1.5 trillion won to a South American client. The company’s order backlog now stands at 33.77 billion dollars, with LNG carriers, its highest-margin vessel type, making up 43% of that total, alongside recent orders for very large crude carriers, ammonia carriers, and a wind turbine installation vessel.
🏝️ A new $100M fund is directing blended finance toward blue economy businesses in small island nations
Outrigger Impact has launched a $100 million fund targeting blue economy investments in Small Island Developing States, nations that steward roughly 30% of the world’s ocean, host more than 20% of global biodiversity, and depend on the ocean for more than 40% of GDP in many cases, yet receive a disproportionately small share of global development finance. The fund combines a junior tranche backed by development institutions and philanthropic partners with a senior tranche for private investors, and covers sustainable fisheries, ecosystem restoration, coastal resilience, and climate-smart infrastructure. A companion technical assistance facility supported by the UK, the Global Environment Facility, and the Nordic Development Fund provides grants to help early-stage projects become investment-ready before entering the fund.
🌊 MOL, Hitachi, and Japan Airlines are teaming up to test a new way of pulling carbon dioxide out of the ocean
Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL), Hitachi, and Japan Airlines (JAL) have signed an agreement to run Japan’s first pilot test of Direct Ocean Capture on Kume Island, a technology that draws in surrounding seawater and extracts the carbon dioxide already dissolved in it using containerized equipment on land. All three companies have previously invested in Captura, a US-based developer of the same technology, and plan to use the captured carbon as feedstock to produce synthetic aviation fuel, giving Japan Airlines a potential domestic supply of sustainable fuel and an alternative to relying on imported carbon credits. The island was chosen for its existing marine research facilities and clean energy infrastructure.
That’s it for this week. If you have a story, company, or initiative you’d like to see featured, reach out.