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The Indian Navy said on Thursday it had rescued the crew of a U.S.-owned vessel in the Gulf of Aden after an attack by Yemen's Houthi movement as tensions in the region's sea lanes disrupted global trade.Following the attack on the U.S. Genco Picardy late on Wednesday, the U.S. military said its forces had conducted strikes on 14 Houthi missiles that "presented an imminent threat to merchant vessels and U.S. Navy ships in the region".Attacks by the Iran-allied Houthi militia on…

The United States on Wednesday returned the Yemen-based Houthi rebels to a list of terrorist groups, while business chiefs warned that disruption to shipping in the Red Sea caused by their attacks could affect supply chains for months.Attacks by the Iran-allied Houthi militia on ships in the region since November have slowed trade between Asia and Europe and alarmed major powers - an escalation of Israel's more than three-month-old war with Palestinian Hamas militants in Gaza.The Houthis say they are acting in solidarity with Palestinians and have threatened to expand attacks to include U.S.

Disruptions to Red Sea shipping caused by Houthi attacks will push up prices of consumer goods, an executive from port and freight operator DP World said on Tuesday as a missile struck another vessel in the region.The Iran-allied Houthi militia has threatened to expand its attacks to include U.S. ships in response to American and British strikes on its sites in Yemen.Attacks by the Houthis on ships in the region since November have impacted companies and alarmed major powers - an escalation of Israel's more than three-month-old war with Palestinian Hamas militants in Gaza.

Snam has finalized the 400 million euro acquisition of a new floating liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal that will be located offshore from the city of Ravenna, the Italian gas grid operator said on Monday.The new ship dubbed BW Singapore has a storage capacity of about 170,000 cubic meters of liquefied natural gas and a regasification capacity of about 5 billion cubic meters per year and will help Italy to diversify its energy supplies.The floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) is expected to start operations in 2025.That will follow the conclusion of the related permitting and reg

Italian authorities on Wednesday said forty-one migrants are thought to have died in a shipwreck last week in the central Mediterranean, according to accounts by survivors who have been taken to the island of Lampedusa.Local public prosecutor Salvatore Vella confirmed media reports that four people who survived the shipwreck told rescuers they were on a boat carrying 45 people, including three children.Vella's office has opened an investigation into the incident.The 7-meter-long boat set off on Thursday morning from Tunisia's Sfax…

The wreck of an ancient Roman cargo ship from more than 2,000 years ago has been found off the coast near Rome, the arts squad of Italy's Carabinieri police said on Friday. The ship was located off the port of Civitavecchia, about 80 kilometers (50 miles) north-west of the Italian capital, on a sandy seabed at a depth of about 160 meters (525 ft), a statement said. The vessel, estimated to be more than 20 meters long and dating from the 1st or 2nd century BC, was carrying hundreds of amphorae -- a type of ancient Roman jar -- that were mostly found intact.

Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri posted a first-half net loss of €22 million ($24.35 million) shrinking it from €234 million a year ago, helped by one-off items of €33 million, the group said on Wednesday.The Trieste-based vessel maker reported a half-year backlog at 22 billion euros, with 88 ships to be delivered up to 2029."The core business has an encouraging outlook, with the cruise sector fully recovered in its long-term growth path, potential new opportunities in defence both in Italy and abroad, and the offshore renewable energy mainstream," Chief Executive Pierroberto Folgiero said."We

Italian authorities have seized a record 5.3 tonne cocaine haul being transferred between ships off the southern coast of Sicily, police said on Friday.The consignment had an estimated value of 850 million euros  ($946 million) and five people have been arrested, the Guardia di Finanza said in a statement. Police had been tracking a ship that sailed from South America and swooped in the early hours of Wednesday, when a surveillance aircraft spotted packages being thrown from its…

In a first for UK ports, the Port of London Authority (PLA) and University College of London (UCL) have launched a fully electric, remotely operated survey vessel.It will support a MSc Hydrographic Surveying course they have run in partnership since 1999.The state-of-the-art platform, manufactured by Maritime Robotics, was acquired by the partners, following a successful bid and award of an £263,000 grant from the Engineering & Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC).The vessel features the most advanced sonar and scanning system from technology manufacturer NORBIT, called a WINGHEAD.

The new floating terminal for liquefied natural gas (LNG) set up in the Tuscan port of Piombino will start its commercial operations at the end of this month, the CEO of Italy's gas grid operator Snam said on Friday.The terminal will make available around 2 billion cubic meters (bcm) of gas this year and around 5 bcm next year said Snam's Stefano Venier at a press conference to mark the arrival of the first LNG tanker in Piombino."This ship is a great service to the country," Environment Minister Gilberto Pichetto Fratin said at the same event.The expansion is part of the Italian government's

Italy has arrested three people who they believe trafficked up to 200 migrants aboard a wooden boat that smashed apart on rocks off southern Italy on Sunday, killing at least 64 people, police said on Tuesday. Lieutenant Colonel Alberto Lippolis said a Turkish man and two Pakistani nationals had sailed the boat from Turkey to Italy despite the terrible weather, and were identified by survivors as "the main culprits of the tragedy"."According to initial investigations, they allegedly asked the migrants for about 8…

Eight migrants were found dead, and around 40 were rescued by the Italian coast guard overnight on a ship off the coast of the island of Lampedusa, Italian media reported on Friday. The rescuers took the survivors to the main port on Lampedusa, which lies to the south of Sicily, news agency ANSA said. Italian authorities escorted another three stricken vessels carrying 156 people to Lampedusa, one of the main entry points for people trying to reach Europe. Italy is facing a surge in arrivals from North Africa.

An Italian ice-breaker carrying scientists researching in the Antarctic has sailed further south than any ship has done before, the organizers of the voyage said on Tuesday, a further sign of how ice is retreating around the poles.The Laura Bassi vessel reached a point with the coordinates of 78° 44.280 S in the Bay of Whales in the Ross Sea, according to Italy’s National Institute of Oceanography and Applied Geophysics.The voyage was made possible by an unusual lack of ice in the area, it said.

Itay's Snam will choose the offshore site for its new floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) in the next 100 days, Italy's special commissioner for the project said on Friday, with its initial location already facing a legal challenge.Under the government's plan to diversify energy supply away from Russian gas, Italy's gas grid operator plans to moor the newly-bought FSRU in the port of Piombino, on Italy's west coast, for the next three years. After this period, it has…

A strong earthquake of magnitude 5.7 struck off Italy's Adriatic coast early on Wednesday, but caused no serious damage or injuries but was felt as far away as Rome and northern parts of the country. The quake, which occurred shortly after 7 a.m. (0600 GMT), was followed by more than 50 aftershocks of weaker intensity, the Italian Geophysics and Volcanology Institute (INGV) said. Its epicentre was 35 kilometers (21.7 miles) offshore from Pesaro, a seaside city in the eastern Marche region…

Italy's Emilia Romagna region has approved a project for a new floating LNG terminal off the coast of Ravenna in the upper Adriatic sea, it said on Monday, part of the country's broader efforts to replace dwindling Russian gas supplies. Almost one billion euros ($998 million) in total will be invested in the project, Emilia Romagna's Economic Development Councillor Vincenzo Colla told a news conference. The clearance took only about four months to be secured -- rather than years for similar projects in the past. As part of its energy strategy, Italy is adding two floating storage and regasification units (FSRU) to its existing three facilities. One will be off Ravenna, the other moored in the Tuscan port of Piombino on the other coast.

Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri on Wednesday vowed to lower its debt in the coming months by delivering new cruise ships, after reporting a first half net loss of 234 million euros ($237 million).Chief Executive Pierroberto Folgiero, who took over earlier this year from long-serving predecessor Giuseppe Bono, said the company would focus on its core business in order to reap benefits from expected growth in defense spending and a post-pandemic recovery in the cruise market.Intesa Sanpaolo analysts said the proposed strategic review of Fincantieri's non-core businesses, such as infrastructure c

Italy's Saipem on Wednesday confirmed its 2022 guidance and the targets in its business plan after the energy services group reported a first-half adjusted core profit of 321 million euros ($325 million).Investors this month agreed to fund only 1.4 billion euros of a life-saving 2 billion euro cash call, leaving the underwriting banks to mop up the remaining new shares.

Sixty-five years after Aristotle Onassis founded Greece's Olympic Airways, another shipping entrepreneur is planning to take to the skies - this time in Italy, where Gianluigi Aponte's MSC has its sights on the successor company to Alitalia.The 81-year-old, known as "the captain" after building his shipping empire from a single vessel, is hoping to forge an air freight and passenger business to dovetail with MSC's sea cargo and cruise operations.But there are big challenges.Alitalia stumbled for years…

Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri is in talks with Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL) over an order worth around $4 billion to build new cruise ships, a source with knowledge of the matter told Reuters on Monday.Italian daily Il Secolo XIX reported on Sunday that six new ships could be built by Fincantieri for the Miami-based company.Norwegian Cruise Line was not immediately available for comment.(Reuters - Reporting by Francesco Zecchini; Editing by Cristina Carlevaro and Keith Weir)

Italy's Fincantieri said sales rose 18% from a year earlier in the first quarter to 1.7 billion euros ($1.8 billion) driven by a strong performance of its core shipbuilding business.The group is gearing up for the exit of chief executive Giuseppe Bono, who is set to retire after 20 years at the helm to be replaced by former Maire Tecnimont CEO Pierroberto Folgiero.Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) were up 17.2% at 118 million euros.The EBITDA margin was flat at 7.0% and the company expects it to remain "solid" despite recent rises in commodity prices…

As Europe steps up its military spending after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri expects to expand its defense business, but sees M&A activity halted for now, its top executives said on Thursday.Speaking at an analysts call on 2021 results, Fincantieri CFO Giuseppe Dado said that the group's naval division was poised to grow in the short term thanks to the backlog of orders already secured.In the long-term the naval business, which makes military vessels, could rise to up to 40% of its shipbuilding segment, from a current figure of 31%, Dado said.In 2021 the shipbui

Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi and Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, discussed ways to free up exports to tackle the food crisis that is threatening the world's poorest countries, Draghi's office said on Friday.Russia's blockade of Ukrainian ports has prevented shipments of grain, a major export product of both countries. Russia accuses Ukraine of mining the ports and Ukraine has described the Russian position as "blackmail."In a phone call, Draghi assured Zelenskiy…