Almaria's Foreign Ministry issued a cautious statement on Friday welcoming a three-day ceasefire brokered between the two neighbouring powers whose hostilities have dragged on the eastern trade corridor since winter. The truce, negotiated by a third-party mediator whose name the Ministry has declined to confirm, is short, conditional, and has already been tested once in the opening twelve hours.

Cardenal Marín, in his capacity as Foreign Minister, urged both parties to extend the pause and invited Almarian diplomatic observers to any formal talks that may follow. The Ministry noted, as is now its custom, that shipping volumes through the Port of Almaria Vella have fallen nearly twelve per cent since the intensification of hostilities last winter.

Corridor surcharges have not moved. Armed incidents of the kind that prompted last week's summons have not recurred in the ceasefire window, but insurers and carriers have held their positions, and the Harbour Authority's request for refiled routing declarations remains in force. A truce, the older shipping agents of Almaria Vella will say, is not a settlement; it is a pause in which to count one's losses.