Solomon News

Panama's maritime authority on Thursday said it had canceled in January of last year the flag of the M Sophia, a Venezuela-linked oil tanker seized by the U.S. military this week.The U.S. military's Southern Command on Wednesday said it had intercepted the M Sophia before dawn, and described it as a "stateless, sanctioned dark fleet motor tanker." Panamanian authorities canceled the supertanker's flag on January 23, 2025, the AMP authority said in a statement.The maritime authority also said the Bella-1, a Russian-flagged tanker the U.S.

A powerful magnitude 8.8 earthquake off Russia's Far Eastern Kamchatka Peninsula triggered tsunami waves of up to 5 metres (16 feet) and sparked evacuation orders in Hawaii and across the Pacific on Wednesday.The shallow earthquake damaged buildings and injured several people in the remote Russian region, while much of Japan's eastern seaboard - devastated by a 9.0 magnitude earthquake and tsunami in 2011 - was ordered to evacuate.In Hawaii, coastal residents were told to get to high ground or the fourth floor or above of buildings, and the U.S.

Leaders of the four biggest Pacific Islands nations have delayed adopting a joint security strategy that could provide an opening for Beijing, against a backdrop of increasing rivalry between China, Australia and the United States in the Pacific Ocean.The Melanesian Spearhead Group, which includes Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu and Fiji, had been negotiating its first joint security framework, focused on maritime security.A meeting of the group's leaders on Monday in Fiji delayed a decision…

The International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) has joined 47 governments in a joint submission to the final round of negotiations at the IMO on a GHG emissions pricing mechanism for international shipping.The joint text is supported by major shipping nations such as Greece, Japan, Korea and the United Kingdom, the world’s largest flag States including Bahamas, Liberia, Marshall Islands and Panama, all EU States (and the European Commission), other African countries such as Nigeria and Kenya…

The U.S. Navy commissioned Independence-variant littoral combat ship USS Kingsville (LCS 36) at the Solomon P. Ortiz Center, on August 24.Kingsville, the 18th Independence-variant LCS, is the first to bear this name and pays homage to the city of Kingsville and the King Ranch. The ship’s sponsor is a member of the sixth generation of the King Ranch family, descendants of steamboat captain Richard King who founded in the King Ranch in Kingsville in 1853. The King Ranch continues…

Mobile, Ala. shipbuilder Austal USA announced it has started construction on the future USNS James D. Fairbanks (T-ATS 13), the third of five steel U.S. Navy Navajo Class Towing, Salvage, and Rescue Ships Austal USA has under contract with the U.S. Navy.Construction is well underway on both the future USNS Billy Frank Jr. (T-ATS 11) and USNS Solomon Atkinson (T-ATS 12), the shipbuilder said.“It’s exciting to see another ship begin traveling down the steel production line which has been busy since we opened it just a little over two years ago…

The U.S. Coast Guard has rejected comments by a Chinese diplomat that its recent boardings of Chinese fishing boats in the Pacific Islands alongside local police are illegal, saying the joint patrols are at the behest of Pacific nations to protect coastal fisheries.Reuters reported last month that six Chinese fishing boats were found to be violating Vanuatu's fisheries law after being inspected by local police who were on board the first U.S. Coast Guard boat to patrol the waters of the Pacific Islands nation.China's Ambassador to New Zealand Wang Xiaolong…

New Zealand said on Monday it will dispatch defense personnel, helicopters and a naval ship to the Solomon Islands to assist in a national election due next month, where relations with China will be a key issue.The deployment is part of a NZ$10.8 million ($6.48 million) support program for the Solomon Islands Electoral Commission announced in January and that will help transport election officers and materials around Pacific Island nations.New Zealand's foreign ministry said the vessel HMNZS Canterbury will leave Auckland on Tuesday to transport two helicopters and crew…

Fiji will strike a deal with Australia to upgrade ports and shipbuilding infrastructure, months after its prime minister said it was likely to partner with China on the project, the government of the Pacific Islands nation said on Thursday.Fiji's government said its cabinet had agreed to enter into a memorandum of understanding with Australia for the project, after Australia committed to financing."The revival of the shipbuilding industry in Fiji has been articulated as a key priority…

The IMO will open its seventh Regional Presence Office (RPO), in Suva, Fiji, after IMO Secretary-General, Arsenio Dominguez, and Fiji Minister for Transport, Ro Filipe Tuisawau, signed a Memorandum of Understanding on March 18.The Regional Presence Office will support the maritime needs and priorities of countries in the Pacific Islands region, aligning IMO actions with national and regional development policies, while providing advice on key maritime issues such as training, safety and security, legislation and marine environment.

African Heads of State have agreed a landmark moratorium on the donkey skin trade. The agreement was reached on February 18 during the 37th African Union Summit in Ethiopia.Over the last decade, Africa has seen its donkey population decimated due to Chinese demand for ejiao, a gelatine used in traditional Chinese medicine that is made from boiling down donkey skins. Believed to have unsubstantiated health benefits, demand for ejiao has obliterated China’s own donkey population…

Norway’s Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre and US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry are co-leading an international initiative to accelerate reduction of emissions from the shipping sector, and on December 1, during COP28, they chaired a new round of announcements under that initiative, the Green Shipping Challenge.Various countries and organizations proposed measures to reduce emissions from shipping. This year’s announcements include:• Amazon: Amazon and other…

HII’s Ingalls Shipbuilding division on Saturday christened the U.S. Navy’s third America-class amphibious assault ship Bougainville (LHA 8).“Today is not only a day to celebrate our namesake, representatives of the successful outcome of a World War II campaign, but also the team work and collaboration of our United States Navy and Marine Corps that enabled it,” Ingalls Shipbuilding President Kari Wilkinson said. “To fulfil our mission here in the shipyard, our sailors and Marines…

Shipbuilding group Austal announced its Austal Australia division has delivered the 18th Guardian-class Patrol Boat (GCPB) to the Australian Department of Defense. The vessel, Nafanua III, was accepted by representatives from the Department of Defense and then gifted by the Australian Government, to the Samoa Police Service at a handover ceremony held at HMAS Stirling in Western Australia on Wednesday.Austal Limited Chief Executive Officer Paddy Gregg said Nafanua III is the third Guardian-class Patrol Boat delivered by Austal in 2023…

Australian shipbuilding group Austal announced its Austal Australia arm has delivered the 17th Guardian-class Patrol Boat (GCPB) to the Australian Department of Defense. The vessel, HMPNGS Gilbert Toropo, was then gifted by the Australian Government to the Papua New Guinea Defence Force at a handover ceremony held at the HMAS Stirling naval base in Western Australia.The new Guardian-class Patrol Boat is the fourth of four vessels to be gifted to Papua New Guinea under the Pacific Patrol Boat Replacement Project…

The United States opened international aid offices in the Pacific Islands this week, bolstering support for the strategic region and pitting it more forcefully against China, which has been providing infrastructure loans to the area for years.The vast ocean region, pivotal in World War Two, is in the spotlight again amid tensions over Taiwan. Taiwanese officials this week said China, which claims the island as its territory, could launch military drills soon to intimidate voters ahead of an election next year.On Wednesday…

Maritime nations including Denmark and the Marshall Islands are rallying support for a global carbon dioxide emissions levy on shipping, with talks at a critical stage ahead of a U.N. agency meeting next month that could back the measure.The levy could provide funds to help countries cope with climate change and help curb emissions from shipping - a sector that transports about 90% of world trade and accounts for nearly 3% of global CO2 emissions, but whose international nature means it often avoids national CO2-cutting regulations.Member countries of the U.N.

A U.S. appeals court on Tuesday rejected a lawsuit filed by environmental groups challenging federal approvals needed to construct a $39 billion project that would move natural gas from Alaska’s North Slope across the state.A three-judge panel of the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia said the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's review of plans for the state-run Alaska Gasline Development Corp's project satisfied the National Environmental Policy Act requirements to take a hard look at environmental impacts of major proposals…

The Solomon Islands has awarded a multi-million-dollar contract to a Chinese state company to upgrade an international port in Honiara in a project funded by the Asian Development Bank, an official of the island nation said on Wednesday.The United States and its allies, including Australia, New Zealand and Japan, have held concerns that China has ambitions to build a naval base in the region since the Solomon Islands struck a security pact with Beijing last year."This will be upgrading the old international port in Honiara and two domestic wharves in the provinces…

Australia said on Monday it would accelerate plans to buy advanced sea mines to protect its maritime routes and ports from "potential aggressors" amid China's plans to increase its influence in the Pacific region.The so-called smart sea mines are designed to differentiate between military targets and other types of ships, a defence department spokesperson said in a statement."(Australia) is accelerating the acquisition of smart sea mines, which will help to secure sea lines of communication and protect Australia's maritime approaches," it said.

Member states of the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), the UN agency that regulates international maritime affairs, are meeting on December 5-16 to discuss how to accelerate the industry’s climate mitigation efforts.An initial strategy – agreed in 2018, when the industry’s emissions were roughly the same as Germany’s – targeted a 50% reduction in shipping’s greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 and included a noncommittal aim to phase out emissions in line with the 1.5℃ temperature…

Three of New Zealand’s nine naval ships are sitting idle in port as higher civilian salaries lure personnel out of the military, the country’s Defence Force said on Wednesday, even as tensions in the Pacific rise between China and the U.S. and its allies.The HMNZS Wellington, an offshore patrol vessel, headed back to New Zealand early from what was meant to be a three-month deployment in the Pacific and was taken out of operation in November because of shortages, the New Zealand Defence Force said.The Wellington is the third ship to be put into “care and custody”…

Australian shipbuilding group Austal Limited announced that the Australian Government has ordered an additional Guardian-class Patrol Boat from Austal Australia for A$15.2 million.The 39.5-meter steel hull patrol boat, to be constructed in Western Australia and delivered in September 2024, is in addition to the 21 Guardian-class Patrol Boats ordered by the Australian Government under the Pacific Patrol Boat Replacement Project (SEA3036-1) in 2016.Fifteen of the 21 vessels have been delivered to 11 Pacific Island nations under the Australian Government’s Pacific Maritime Security Program…