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A Russian missile strike has damaged infrastructure and an Antigua-flagged civilian vessel in the Ukrainian port of Odesa, the regional governor said on Friday.Four people were wounded in the airstrike, Governor Oleh Kiper said on the Telegram messaging app."Debris from, according to preliminary assessment, an Iskander-M missile, damaged port and civilian infrastructure, as well as a civilian ship flying the flag of Antigua," Kiper said.The Iskander-M is a ballistic missile which flies at several times the speed of sound and has a stated range of up to 500 km (310 miles).A market source, speak

Patriot State, the second vessel in a series of new training ships for the U.S.' state maritime academies, was christened during a ceremony at Philly Shipyard on Monday ahead of scheduled delivery to Massachusetts Maritime Academy in the coming weeks. The vessel is the second of five being built by Philly Shipyard under the U.S. Department of Transportation Maritime Administration’s (MARAD) National Security Multi-Mission Vessel (NSMV) program, designed to provide a purpose-built…

Wendy Laursen’s article Getting the Numbers Right, published in the August issue of Maritime Reporter, sparked debate from ballast water management experts. Here Giles Candy of Giles Environmental LLC – Independent Ballast Water Consultant, provides his feedback on the article which outlines the challenges the industry has faced trying to reduce the occurrence of invasive marine species transferred by ballast water.Ballast water is a complex multi-faceted subject with few simple…

Four seafarers have been abandoned without pay on a 60-year-old tugboat in Washington State.The vessel, Wycliffe, recently changed its flag to Vanuatu, and was scheduled to help tow two retired Washington State Ferries vessels for a 34-day transit to Ecuador – where the new owner is based – for scrap, but the contract was canceled after the tug experienced technical issues.The four crew members on board from Colombia, Panama, and Peru faced dire conditions, including inadequate food…

Varuna Marine Services, a provider of maritime solutions, has launched of a product designed to support compliance with the FuelEU Maritime initiative at the SMM Hamburg 2024 event.Varuna Marine Services' FuelEU Maritime solution is integrated into its CyberSmart platform, offering features for optimized fuel management, real-time emissions monitoring, and advanced data analytics.The company’s flagship platform, CyberSmart, leverages AI and machine learning to streamline maritime operations…

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is once again calling for safety management systems (SMS) to be required for all U.S.-flagged passenger vessels.On the fifth anniversary of the 2019 Conception dive boat fire that killed 34 people, Jennifer Homendy, chair of the federal safety watchdog, held a media availability with the families of the victims and again called on the U.S. Coast Guard to mandate SMS on passenger vessels such as ferries, tour and sightseeing vessels…

As two U.S. aircraft carrier battle groups patrolled the Indian Ocean this week in an explicit effort to deter Iran from striking Israel and sparking a major regional conflict, a very different military messaging effort was underway in a luxury conference centre in Manila.The 35th annual Military Law and Operations Conference organised by the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command – running from Aug. 27-30 – is held every year in a different country in the region – but its presence in the capital of the Philippines this week was likely far from a coincidence.Since late 2023…

As two U.S. aircraft carrier battle groups patrolled the Indian Ocean this week in an explicit effort to deter Iran from striking Israel and sparking a major regional conflict, a very different military messaging effort was underway in a luxury conference centre in Manila.The 35th annual Military Law and Operations Conference organised by the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command – running from Aug. 27-30 – is held every year in a different country in the region – but its presence in the capital of the Philippines this week was likely far from a coincidence.Since late 2023…

German ocean carrier Hapag-Lloyd announced it has taken delivery of a new ultra-large container vessel from South Korean shipbuilder Hanwha Ocean.The 399-meter-long, 23,660 TEU Hamburg Express is the seventh newbuild in a series of 12 "Hamburg Express" class containerships—the largest to ever sail under the German flag. The series' first vessel, Berlin Express, was delivered in 2023, and the remaining ships will be delivered through the end of 2025.Each ship features MAN B&W11G95ME-C10.5-GI dual fuel main engines…

An oil tanker managed by an Azerbaijan-based firm is travelling the Northern Sea Route to China for the first time, taking a route so far dominated by vessels managed by Russian shipping giant Sovcomflot, according to LSEG data and two traders.The vessel Prisma is managed by a private company Vista Vvave Shipmanagement based in Azerbaijan, one of the traders said, citing the vessel's documents.Moscow wants to increase traffic via the Northern Sea Route (NSR), which runs from Murmansk near Russia's border with Norway eastwards to the Bering Strait near Alaska…

The Maritime Technologies Forum (MTF), a forum of flag states and classification societies, has released a new report offering guidelines and key safety considerations for developing liquefied hydrogen bunkering systems and procedures.The report underlines the potential use of hydrogen as a zero-emission fuel to meet the IMO Strategy on Reduction of GHG Emissions from Ships by 2050. It acknowledges the challenges associated with bunkering hydrogen as marine fuel and as a maritime cargo…

Argentine authorities have quarantined a cargo ship in the Parana River over a suspected case of mpox onboard, the government said on Tuesday, as global public health authorities remain on alert for a new faster-spreading variant of the virus.The quarantined Liberian-flagged ship was sailing from Santos, Brazil - also a major commodities hub - to pick up soy cargo, according to the health ministry and industry body the Argentine Naval League.The World Health Organization (WHO)…

The cost to construct the United States' first domestically built wind turbine installation vessel (WTIV), Charybdis, has risen to $715 million, Dominion Energy revealed in its latest quarterly results, marking another snag for the fledgling U.S. offshore wind industry.The first-of-its-kind vessel — the only WTIV being built in the U.S. to comply with the Jones Act — was originally slated to cost about $500 million when U.S. power company Dominion ordered it from Brownsville, Texas shipbuilder Seatrium AmFELS (then Keppel AmFELS) in 2020.

Two German warships await orders from Berlin, their commander said, to determine whether next month they will be the first German naval vessels in decades to pass through the Taiwan Strait, drawing a rebuke from Beijing.While the U.S. and other nations, including Canada, have sent warships through the narrow strait in recent weeks, it would be the German navy's first passage through the strait since 2002.China claims sovereignty over democratically governed Taiwan, and says it…

Current shipping discussions at both foreign and domestic venues are overflowing with the single subject of emissions while a growing number of companies make their reach for a net zero target. As the International Maritime Organization (IMO) tightens regulations to advance that reach, efforts to address climate change are coupled with a new understanding of the challenge at hand. Net zero will require a transition away from fossil fuels, followed by a movement to alternative fuels and at some time in the future a new zero technology turning the reach into a grasp.

The lead ship of Höegh Autoliners' Aurora class, Höegh Aurora, was delivered at a naming ceremony at China Merchants Heavy Industry’s (CMHI) shipyard in Jiangsu, China, on Tuesday.The newbuild is the first of 12 Aurora Class vessels being built by CMHI. Featuring 14 decks—including five liftable decks—the ship can carry up to 9,100 CEU, making it the world's largest pure car and truck carrier (PCTC) vessel. With enhanced decks and ramps, the vessel is designed to carry electric vehicles on all decks…

Maersk expects global container shipping growth to slow from a strong start to the year, when customers soaked up goods to prevent them from being held up by Red Sea attacks and other disruptions, it said on Wednesday.The Danish company, viewed as a barometer of world trade, said global container demand increased about 7% year-on-year in the first half of the year, boosted by robust demand from Europe, emerging markets and strong Chinese exports."That is a lot and we expect the second half of the year to be less strong…

Early 2024 saw a group of financial deals that have implications, in a broad sense, for how offshore wind projects may be financed. While offshore wind projects might be thought of as being in the ‘utility finance’ basket, they are ultimately high-risk deals that might better suit the portfolios of ‘infrastructure investment’ which, in recent years, has taken a shift towards tolerating more uncertainty when it comes to cash flows.A 2022 article from consultants McKinsey, titled “Infrastructure investing will never be the same”…

Memorial University in St. Johns, Newfoundland & Labrador, Canada, is a microcosm of how this unique regional cluster has parlayed its geographic locale and harsh, unique operating conditions into world leadership in the maritime, offshore energy and subsea tech spaces. An alumni, a professional mariner and now the Director of the Center for Marine Simulation, the Fisheries & Marine Institute at Memorial University, Chris Hearn has his hand on the pulse of the tectonic changes reshaping maritime and offshore energy simulation training today.

As part of a settlement with the U.S. Department of Labor, Maersk Line Limited will change its safety reporting policies and compensate a seaman the company terminated after they reported safety concerns to the U.S. Coast Guard without first notifying their employer.The actions follow a three-day hearing in June 2024 where Maersk challenged the findings of a whistleblower investigation by the department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) which found the company…

Ecuador's navy is ready to protect the seas around the Galapagos Islands from illegal fishing by foreign ships whose annual visits threaten marine wildlife in the archipelago's waters, following training exercises with neighboring allies.Training operations around the Galapagos, which sit among a mega-diverse marine reserve, began in 2018 after authorities captured a ship in the protected area the year before.The ship, then known as the Fu Yuan Yu Leng 999, was flying the Chinese…

The renewal of the Panama merchant fleet is one of the quality objectives of the Panama Maritime Authority (PMA), which is why the entry of vessels under 15 years of age to the Panama Ship Registry is being prioritized.As a result, 57% of ships registered in 2024 have an average age of four years. These vessels come mainly from the Asian market, a region in which the Panamanian Registry has technical offices (Japan, Singapore, South Korea, China, Hong Kong and the Philippines).Among the strategies to improve the PMA indicators is also the recruitment of newly built vessels.

A Palau-flagged general cargo vessel has been detained in Israel after "inhumane" crew conditions were discovered during an onboard inspection. The International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) said the vessel Serafina is the worst its inspector Assaf Hadar has ever seen in four years of inspecting ships in Israel.When Hader boarded the ship, he found food storage freezers all at above 0°c, the stench of rotten meat, a bug infestation, broken sanitation facilities, among other inhuman conditions.