News

The Norwegian government announced today, September 12, that after months of trying to get a Russian-owned fishing vessel to leave its port, it has resorted to seizing the vessel. The government reports it will take into consideration outstanding claims from the Port of Batsfjord, but it wants the vessel out of the port immediately.

Just hours after leaving the pier in Miami on Monday night, the Royal Caribbean cruise ship Wonder of the Seas returned to her berth to deal with an onboard fight, passengers reported and the line confirmed. 

Taiwan’s Yang Ming Marine Transport is continuing to pursue its strategic fleet optimization plan, reporting the order of seven additional new vessels from Korea’s Hanwha Ocean, which will be the largest in its fleet and employ a new LNG technology.

The Philippines’ monthly supply mission to the disputed area in the South China Sea near the Scarborough Shoal resulted in another incident between the two countries, with accusations of illegal activity from both sides.

Momentum is building in the shipping industry with a growing number of initiatives to address decarbonization, concludes DNV. The group launched the ninth edition of its Maritime Forecast to 2050 with the Energy Transition Outlook 2025 during the London International Shipping Week.

The governments of both Germany and the Netherlands are examining how they structure renewable energy subsidies, looking to spur the industry while managing costs for the end users. Both countries faced disappointments earlier this year when planned auctions for offshore wind failed to generate interest, and they have been working on new plans for their industries.

A collision between two fishing boats left five people missing off the coast of Mauritania last week, prompting a large-scale search. 

Drew Marine, a global leader in maritime solutions, has acquired all rights, intellectual property, and technical documentation related to CD92 Mycronizer from Schiffs & Industrietechnik GMBH (SIT).

Prosecutors and defense lawyers made their final statements on Friday, September 12, in Helsinki District Court in the trial of the captain and two officers from the product tanker Eagle S on charges that their negligence caused the damage on December 25, 2024, of five subsea cables running between Finland and Estonia.

A U.S Coast Guard cutter built in 1927 that has been part of the USS Silversides Submarine Museum exhibits in Muskegon, Michigan, for years, has been towed away and will be scrapped. The decision came following what the museum said was significant deterioration that made efforts towards continuous preservation unfeasible.

As the UK plans to hand over Chagos Islands to Mauritius, India is eyeing to exert its influence on the archipelago. Last week, Mauritian Prime Minister Navin Ramgoolam made a state visit to India, where together with Prime Minister Narendra Modi agreed on several bilateral pacts spanning power sector, port development and maritime security.

Adani Group, which is India’s largest private terminal and port operator, has sent out a circular to all operators advising that it is banning all sanctioned vessels from all its operations, according to reports in the Indian media.

Japan's navy has persisted in the pursuit of a usable, durable electromagnetic railgun, continuing a hunt that the U.S. Navy has (for public purposes) abandoned. Its Acquisition Technology & Logistics Agency (ATLA) has recently conducted what it believes to be the first successful test firing of a railgun at a target vessel in the world, and has released images of the trial shots.

The U.S. Department of Justice filed a motion in an ongoing case challenging the licensing for the construction of the Empire Wind offshore energy project, citing the lack of merit in the opposition’s claims and defending the licensing process.

The Port of Long Beach, California, is reporting that all its terminals have resumed operations a day after the dramatic container collapse on a berthed vessel. Pier G, where the vessel Mississippi is berthed, is open and operating except for the immediate area around the vessel.

Officials gathered in the Port of Rijeka, Croatia, to mark the arrival of the first commercial container vessel as the port transitioned from trial operations. Rijeka Gateway, they reported, represents the largest private investment in logistics in Croatia, and it becomes the most modern and technologically advanced container terminal in the region.

German police in the northern state of Schleswig-Holstein confirmed media reports that they boarded a cargo ship on the suspicion that it was being used for launching drones and spying on critical infrastructure.

The containership Marie Maersk is still making its way to Malaysia after fighting a box fire, and now the carrier reports it has declared General Average. Maersk is using the well-established law to share the cost of the firefight, which required bringing in additional resources but appears to have limited the scope of damage to the vessel and its cargo.

There are renewed quality concerns for the most popular marine fuels, and especially for very low sulfur fuel oil (VLSFO) used by many vessels to meet emission requirements. A range of sediments and impurities raises concerns not only of accelerated wear but also clogs and failures of critical components in the fuel system that can cause unplanned stoppages or blackouts.

The issues of mis-declared or improperly packed cargo in containers are again being highlighted in new data from the World Shipping Council. The trade group reports based on port state inspection data that the number of containers found with potential safety issues has risen to more than 11 percent, which extrapolates to approximately 27.5 million containers annually based on an estimate that the industry transports 250 million boxes a year.