News

A bitumen tanker was briefly commandeered by pirates overnight with reports of shots fired. The indication is that the crew was uninjured and that the vessel is back underway after the boarders left the vessel.

A court in Australia sided with its maritime authorities and ordered the owners of a bulker to pay a fine as well as court costs for failing to follow safety directions. The fine comes after the Australian Maritime Authority (AMSA) last year banned the vessel from sailing to Australia also related to safety issues in 2023.

The Obel-P® VPU 1600 will replace the following test units: VPU 900-3, VPU 1500-2, VPU 1500-2CAT and VPU 900 CAT

The unions representing French dockworkers at the major industrial ports said in an effort to ease tensions with the government it would suspend its plans for a “dead port” strike planned for March 18.

After two weeks and a lightering effort salvage crews were finally able to free a stranded Dutch short-sea cargo ship that was aground in the UK’s Humber Estuary. Officials had feared the vessel might be stuck till an April high tide.

Federal officials were successful in withdrawing for what is believed to be the first time an environmental permit granted by the Biden administration for an offshore wind farm. New Jersey’s proposed Atlantic Shores offshore wind farm project had been singled out by Donald Trump in his opposition to the industry and this latest development adds another hurdle to an already troubled project and potentially the industry.

Hanwha Ocean completed an extensive overhaul and repair project on the USNS Wally Schirra marking the first time a South Korean shipyard has undertaken a major refit of a U.S. government vessel.

Work is continuing to progress on Dominion Energy’s offshore wind farm located off Virginia Beach which when completed will be the largest in the United States. Additional milestones were achieved for Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind as the project prepares for its next phase of installation.

Philippine-based International Container Terminal Services (ICTSI) has announced a major program of upgrades at key terminals around the world. After posting its most profitable year ever in 2024, with earnings of $850 million, it plans to invest $580 million in capital expenditures for 2025.

Four of the officers who were aboard the Van Oord dredger Vox Maxima in June 2024 when it blacked out and hit a bunker tanker pleaded guilty in a Singapore court on Thursday for failing to properly discharge their duties.

While businesses have been closely following the Trump administration's tariff policies, the seven-figure port fee proposal from the US Trade Representative (USTR) could have even deeper effects on American shipping interests.

Hours after reports surfaced that Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was rejecting Donald Trump’s overtures for new talks, the U.S. Department of the Treasury announced a new round of sanctions targeting the oil industry and tankers.

Retailers are continuing to front-load their imports into U.S. ports due to the uncertainty over U.S. tariffs and the potential that the Trump administration will move to impose fees on Chinese-built ships reports the National Retail Federation.

The U.S. House of Representatives has passed a continuing resolution (CR) rather than a budget to fund the federal government for the rest of the year, leaving funding levels effectively flat. Without a normal appropriations bill, the Pentagon lacks funding to offset inflation and the authorities needed to start new programs.

The House Republican caucus plans to pass a continuing resolution (CR) rather than a budget to cover the remainder of the fiscal year, a procedural option that keeps federal spending at constant levels and avoids a difficult fight over spending priorities.

The owners of the riverine tankers that split up and sank in the Black Sea in December are facing multiple lawsuits as Russian government agencies try to recover the cost of cleanup from the resulting spills. 

Response efforts continued to Monday’s incident off the east coast of England in which a Portuguese-flagged containership hit a U.S.-flagged tanker that was anchored near Hull, England. The updates from HM Coastguard provided late on Tuesday, March 11, indicate that the containership Solong was still burning but that fears that the vessel would sink were diminished.

Russia’s energy shipping company Sovcomflot reported financial results on Friday, March 7, citing the continuing impact of Western sanctions on its operations and warning that the pressures on its operations were likely to increase this year.

The U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Polar Star departed the Antarctic region Tuesday, March 4, after having spent 65 days south of the Antarctic Circle in support of Operation Deep Freeze 2025 the annual research and resupply mission.

The government of Canada confirmed the order for the second of its planned large polar icebreakers with Quebec’s Chantier Davie. The contract for the other large polar icebreaker was confirmed with Seaspan in Vancouver with both vessels being part of the country’s National Shipbuilding Strategy.