Diane Craft News

U.S. President Joe Biden's plan to build a floating U.S. military port to speed up aid to Gaza could take up to 60 days to become a reality and involve more than 1,000 American troops, the Pentagon said on Friday.The Pentagon offered the timeline a day after Biden announced the initiative in his State of the Union speech, as he seeks to cool anger in his Democratic Party over his staunch support for Israel's offensive in Gaza since Oct. 7.The United Nations has warned that widespread famine in the Gaza Strip is "almost inevitable" without urgent action.

A UK-registered cargo ship reported being under attack in the Bab al-Mandab Strait off Yemen on Sunday, said British maritime security firm Ambrey, while UK Maritime Trade Operations agency reported crew abandoning a ship off Yemen after an explosion.Ambrey said on Sunday that a Belize-flagged, UK-registered and Lebanese-operated open hatch general cargo ship had reported being under attack in Bab al-Mandab Strait.The ship was heading north during its journey from Khor Fakkan in the United Arab Emirates to Varna…

U.S. helicopters repelled an attack by Iran-backed Houthi militants on a Maersk container vessel in the Red Sea, sinking three ships and killing 10 militants, according to accounts by American, Maersk, and Houthi officials on Sunday.The naval battle occurred around 0330 GMT on Sunday as the attackers sought to board the Singapore-flagged Maersk Hangzhou, Maersk and U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) said. Helicopters from the USS Eisenhower and USS Gravely joined the ship's security team in repelling the attackers after receiving a distress call…

The Biden administration on Saturday unveiled final rules aimed at cracking down on US oil and gas industry releases of methane, part of a global plan to rein in emissions that contribute to climate change.The rules, two years in the making, were announced by US officials at the United Nations COP28 climate change conference in Dubai. The US and other nations attending the summit are expected to detail how they will achieve a 150-country pledge made two years ago to slash methane emissions by 30% from 2020 levels by 2030.Methane tends to leak into the atmosphere undetected from drill sites…

The state of California has sued major oil companies including Exxon Mobil, Shell PLC, and Chevron, accusing them of playing down the risks posed by fossil fuels, according to a court filing on Friday.The lawsuit, which also targets BP and ConocoPhillips, alleges the energy giants' actions have caused tens of billions of dollars in damages and accuses them of deceiving the public, the filing in a superior court in San Francisco showed.The American Petroleum Institute, an industry trade group…

A cargo of Iranian crude oil that was seized by the United States was unloading on Sunday after waiting two-and-a-half months off the coast of Texas to discharge, ship tracking data showed.Suez Rajan, a Marshall Islands-flagged tanker, has been anchored off Galveston, about 50 miles (80 km) outside of Houston, since May 30, unable to unload because commercial agents fear any vessel that takes it will be shunned by customers.But on Sunday, the Liberia-flagged tanker MR Euphrates was lined up next to Suez Rajan to perform a ship-to-ship transfer and remove the crude oil, according to ship tracking data on Refinitiv Eikon.The U.S. Department of Justice…

A Russian warship on Sunday fired warning shots at a cargo ship in the southwestern Black Sea as it made its way northwards, the first time Russia has fired on merchant shipping beyond Ukraine since exiting a landmark UN-brokered grain deal last month.In July, Russia halted participation in the Black Sea grain deal that allowed Ukraine to export agricultural produce via the Black Sea. Moscow said that it deemed all ships heading to Ukrainian waters to be potentially carrying weapons.On Sunday, Russia said in a statement that its Vasily Bykov patrol ship had fired automatic weapons on the Palau-flagged Sukru Okan vessel after the ship's captain failed to respond to a request to halt for an inspection.Russia said the vessel was making its way toward the Ukrainian port of Izmail.

Electric vehicles are crisscrossing the globe to reach their eager buyers, but the battery technology involved in the zero- emission automobiles is exposing under-prepared maritime shippers to the risk of hard-to-control fires, industry, insurance, and emergency response officials said.That risk has been put under the spotlight by the burning car carrier [Freemantle Highway] drifting off the Dutch coast. The Dutch coastguard said the fire's cause was unknown, but Dutch broadcaster…

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has proposed to Russian President Vladimir Putin that he extend a deal allowing the safe Black Sea export of grain from Ukraine in return for connecting a subsidiary of Russia's agricultural bank to the SWIFT international payment system, sources told Reuters.Russia has threatened to ditch the grain deal, which expires on Monday, because several demands to dispatch its own grain and fertilizer abroad have not been met. The last two ships…

The Panama Canal will postpone depth restrictions that were set to affect the largest ships crossing the key waterway, the canal authority said, after much-needed rain provided relief to the strained maritime passage.A series of measures were scheduled to go into effect on June 25 and July 9 requiring ships to float at higher depths, meaning they needed to carry less cargo or otherwise shed weight and impacting trade at one of the world's busiest commercial crossings.Panama's rainy season had been slow to give respite to a months-long drought.

PMA says US West Coast port workers shut down Port of Seattle; workers' union denies claimThe Pacific Maritime Association (PMA), which represents terminal operators, said in a tweet on Saturday that coordinated and disruptive work actions led by the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) have shut down cargo operations at the Port of Seattle."On the first shift today, the ILWU refused to dispatch any longshore workers to container terminals, the PMA said, resulting in the shutdown of the port.The ILWU…

The Biden administration on Friday launched a $4 billion effort to electrify U.S. ports and cut heavy duty truck emissions as the government looks to address disproportionate impacts on nearby communities.The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said it was seeking input in its $3 billion Clean Ports Program to reduce pollutants at U.S. ports and its $1 billion Clean Heavy-Duty Vehicle Program to reduce vehicle emissions near ports and other truck routes. EPA wants details about the availability…

A shortage of West Coast port workers has forced the busiest U.S.

Norwegian Cruise Line must pay $110 million in damages for use of a port that Cuba's government confiscated in 1960, a U.S. judge ruled on Friday, a milestone for Cuban-Americans seeking compensation for Cold-War era asset seizures.The decision by U.S. District Judge Beth Bloom in Miami follows her March ruling that the use of the Havana Cruise Port Terminal constituted trafficking in confiscated property owned by the plaintiff, Delaware-registered Havana Docks Corp."Judgment is entered in favor of Plaintiff Havana Docks Corporation and against Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings…

North and South Korea exchanged warning shots off the west coast on Monday, accusing each other of breaching their maritime borders amid heightened military tension.The South's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said it broadcast warnings and fired warning shots to see off a North Korean merchant vessel that crossed the Northern Limit Line (NLL), the de facto sea boundary, at around 3:40 a.m. (1840 GMT Sunday).The North's military said it fired 10 rocket artillery rounds after a South…

Ukraine said seven vessels sailed off from its ports on Sunday carrying grain bound for Asia and Europe, but accused Russia of blocking the full implementation of Black Sea grain deal. "Russia is deliberately blocking the full realisation of the Grain Initiative. As a result, these (Ukrainian) ports in the last few days are working only at 25-30 percent of their capacity," Ukraine's Infrastructure Ministry said in a statement via the Telegram messaging app. The agreement, brokered by the United Nations and Turkey in July…

Low water levels on the Mississippi River are likely to persist this winter as drier-than-normal weather is expected across the southern United States and Gulf Coast, U.S. government forecasters said on Thursday.Drought, which currently spans 59% of the country, is expected to continue or worsen in the middle and lower Mississippi River valley as well as in much of the West and the Great Plains, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Climate Prediction Center said in its winter (December-February) outlook.Above-average precipitation…

The Biden administration on Wednesday revealed plans to hold an auction of oil and gas drilling rights for up to 1 million acres in the Cook Inlet off the coast of Alaska in December.The sale is among the concessions to the oil and gas sector included in U.S. President Joe Biden's new climate change law, the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).Biden paused drilling auctions on federal lands and waters shortly after taking office as part of an agenda to fight climate change. But Senator Joe Manchin…

A U.S. appeals court on Wednesday vacated a lower court's decision to block the Biden administration's pause on new oil and gas leasing on federal land and waters - a key piece of the president's climate change strategy - and sent the case back to that court for further proceedings.The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals vacated the Louisiana district court decision to block the Interior Department's leasing pause after Louisiana and a dozen states sued the administration established…

A number of insurance underwriters are interested in providing cover for grain shipments from Ukraine after an agreement was reached to re-open Black Sea ports, although the first shipments are expected to be weeks away, industry sources said on Friday.Russia and Ukraine signed a landmark deal on Friday to reopen the ports for grain exports, raising hopes that an international food crisis aggravated by the Russian invasion can be eased. The accord crowned two months of talks brokered by the United Nations and Turkey…

A U.S. judge on Wednesday said the owner of an oil tanker must pay the United States $44.6 million over its role in a 2017 collision between the tanker with a U.S. Navy destroyer in southeast Asia that killed 10 sailors and injured dozens more.U.S. District Judge Paul Crotty in Manhattan found Energetic Tank Inc 20% responsible and the United States 80% responsible for the Aug. 21, 2017, collision between the 39,000 metric ton Alnic MCtanker and the USS John S. McCain.Both vessels had been cruising alongside each other when the McCain…

The Biden administration on Thursday proposed auctioning five areas off the coast of California for offshore wind development, a critical milestone in expanding the nascent U.S. industry to Pacific waters.It is the latest in a government effort to put wind turbines along every U.S. coastline, with a goal of generating 30 gigawatts of power by 2030. President Joe Biden has said the new industry will create jobs and combat climate change.The announcement comes on the heels of two successful auctions this year in Atlantic waters that, combined, generated more than $4.6 billion in high bids.

The global oil market was thrown into chaos on Thursday after Russia invaded Ukraine, with top buyers of Russian oil struggling to secure guarantees at Western banks or find ships to take crude from one of the world's largest producers.At least three major buyers of Russian oil have been unable to open letters of credit from Western banks to cover purchases on Thursday, four trading sources said, citing market uncertainty after the Russian invasion.Russia produces every 10th barrel in the world and oil prices jumped to above $105 per barrel on Thursday, their highest since 2014, due to fears of disruptions.In the Black Sea, a Turkish-owned ship was hit by a bomb off the coast of Ukraine's port city Odessa…