Finland Arrests Two Crewmembers and Seizes Cargo from Suspect Freighter

Sister ship Armada 86 06 (file image courtesy Ocean Infinity)

Ocean Infinity Launches New Search for Lost Flight MH370

Published Dec 31, 2025 7:26 PM by The Maritime Executive

Ocean Infinity has launched its search for the lost Flight MH370, the aircraft that disappeared over the Indian Ocean in 2014. MH370's fate remains unknown, and the company believes that its advanced search technology could find the wreckage at last and perhaps yield new clues into the aircraft's loss. AIS tracking provided by Pole Star Global shows that the Ocean Infinity ship Armada 86 05 is on station and searching at a position about 1,100 nautical miles west of Perth....

Israeli-built Cypriot Offshore Patrol Vessel Commodore Andreas Ioannides (P61) participating in Exercise Noble Dina 2025 (Credit: Cypriot Ministry of Defence press release)

Cyprus, Greece and Israel Quietly Strengthen Their Mediterranean Alliance

Published Dec 31, 2025 6:45 PM by The Maritime Executive

Attracting little publicity, Cyprus, Greece and Israel have deepened their military cooperation, signing a trilateral agreement in Cyprus last week that builds on a multiyear partnership between the three nations. Last week’s agreement, signed at technical level by military staff, covers joint air and naval exercises, training and intelligence cooperation. Greece is expected to take part once again in the Israeli-led naval Exercise Noble Dina in the Mediterranean in the spring. Exercise Noble Dina is an annual Israeli-led multinational exercise...

Search Launched for Four Survivors After U.S. Strike on Three Drug Boats

Published Dec 31, 2025 5:42 PM by The Maritime Executive

On Tuesday, U.S. Southern Command launched strikes to destroy three drug-smuggling boats in one engagement, killing three suspected traffickers and - in a departure from other recent attacks - leaving four alive for potential rescue. In a statement Wednesday, Southern Command said that the three boats were operating in international waters along known smuggling routes. The three targets had previously engaged in a boat-to-boat transfer of suspected narcotics, and all three were operating together in a formation. One boat was...

Turkish drillship Yavuz (TPAO file image)

Turkey Seeks Agreement With Syria on Offshore Energy E&P

Published Dec 31, 2025 5:05 PM by The Maritime Executive

Turkey is planning to reach an agreement with the new government of Syria on maritime cooperation and offshore E&P, the nation's minister of energy said in an interview this week. The deal would allow Turkey's oil and gas companies to begin exploring for energy resources off Syria's coast, and the two governments hope to conclude an agreement sometime next year, energy minister Alparslan Bayraktar told GDH. The specific deal would expand upon a current framework agreement, and would likely bear...

Shipping

Russia Adds Long-Delayed Multifunction Vessel Capable of NSR Support

Russia’s Sea Rescue Service took delivery of the Kerch Strait, a multifunction support and rescue vessel. It is the latest in the efforts to expand support services for vessels operating along the Northern Sea Route. Construction of the vessel was first proposed nearly two decades ago, and construction began, according to media reports, in 2010 at the Amur Shipyard. The project was suspended due to litigation and did not resume till 2018, with the ship finally launched in November 2020....

Tugs & Salvage

Video: Taiwan Rescues Crew from Tug Sent to Rescue Grounded Bulker

It became a compound series of problems as a bulker grounded as it was preparing to arrive at a port in Taiwan, and then the tug sent to rescue the grounded vessel also experienced problems requiring its own rescue. Bad weather forced Taiwan’s Air Service Corps into action after a crewmember was injured aboard the tug and required hospitalization. The bulker CSE Prosperity Express (28,350 dwt) was arriving at Taiwan’s Hualien port on the eastern shore of the island on...

Government

Russia Asks Trump Administration to Stop Chasing Sanctioned Tanker

The sanctioned tanker Bella 1 has been formally registered with the Russian flag and renamed, complicating American efforts to "pursue" and potentially seize the giant VLCC in a low-speed chase across the Atlantic. Russia has asked the Trump administration to give up the chase, according to the New York Times. As of New Year's Day, Bella 1's Equasis record has yet to change, but she is back to broadcasting her position and ship's particulars on AIS. The crew has set...

Corporate News

Major Cargo Improvements on Track for 2026 Completion

[By: Port of Galveston] While the Port of Galveston made headlines with the opening of its fourth cruise terminal in 2025, next year we’ll celebrate another port milestone – completion of major improvements at the West Port Cargo Complex. Located on Galveston Harbor, one of the nation’s busiest cargo waterways, the port moves more than 3 million tons of general and breakbulk cargos, including roll-on/roll-off (ro-ro) and giant wind turbine pieces a year. Hundreds of cargo ships call at the...

Cruise Ships

River Cruise Passengers Celebrate NYE Stranded on the Danube

A group of nearly 200 passengers on a luxury river cruise were forced to make the best of it and celebrate New Year’s Eve while they were stranded on the Danube. Local authorities said they were in no danger, but due to low water levels, which are continuing to fall, there was no way to release the cruise ship Nicko Vision from the gravel bottom of the river. The ship, which is 135 meters (443 feet) in length, was making...

Ports

Saudi Arabian Forces Bomb Port in Yemen Raising Tensions with UAE

Saudi Arabia, acting in the name of what it calls the “Coalition to Restore Legitimacy in Yemen,” launched what it is terming limited airstrikes on the Port of Mukalla in southeastern Yemen on the Gulf of Aden. Saudi officials accused the United Arab Emirates of having sent a large amount of unauthorized military equipment into the port and demanded that the UAE immediately withdraw its unauthorized forces. The UAE and Saudi Arabia have long been at odds, supporting different factions...

Shipping

Russia Adds Long-Delayed Multifunction Vessel Capable of NSR Support

Tugs & Salvage

Video: Taiwan Rescues Crew from Tug Sent to Rescue Grounded Bulker

Government

Russia Asks Trump Administration to Stop Chasing Sanctioned Tanker

Corporate News

Major Cargo Improvements on Track for 2026 Completion

Cruise Ships

River Cruise Passengers Celebrate NYE Stranded on the Danube

Ports

Saudi Arabian Forces Bomb Port in Yemen Raising Tensions with UAE

Offshore

Ocean Infinity Launches New Search for Lost Flight MH370

Shipbuilding

Bankrupt Chinese Yard Relaunches Under New Ownership

China's shipbuilding industry has been expanding capacity as it takes on more and more global market share, and investors and conglomerates have been getting in on the opportunity by reactivating old yards that went bankrupt after the last downturn. Buyers get ready-made drydocks, gantry cranes and fabrication plants for a fraction of the time and cost of building a greenfield yard. The latest instance is the restart of the Nanjing Dongze Shipyard on the Yangtze, which began with a judicial...

Environment

Hydropower Can Give Fish Decompression Sickness. New Tech May Help.

[By Sølvi Normannsen] Hundreds of Norwegian hydropower plants threaten fish and bottom-dwelling animals by exposing them to water that is oversaturated with air. The danger increases with wilder, wetter weather and more flooding. The solution may be to use sound in a new way. Professor Ole Gunnar Dahlhaug and postdoctoral fellow Wolf Ludwig Kuhn at NTNU have three goals: To understand the problem of gas supersaturation at hydropower plants, to solve it, and to help correct mistakes made during Norway’s...

Business

Japan Suspends Kawasaki Heavy Industries for Submarine Engine Data Fraud

The Japanese Ministry of Defense announced a series of steps it is taking after investigations confirmed that Kawasaki Heavy Industries had supplied fraudulent test data on its engines and provided inappropriate gifts to a number of naval personnel over the past 40 years. Kawasaki Heavy Industries had first announced in 2024 that it was investigating after information surfaced showing a long-term pattern of falsifying test data to ensure engines were delivered on time under their contracts. Kawasaki Heavy Industries is...

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Finland Arrests Two Crewmembers and Seizes Cargo from Suspect Freighter

Ocean Infinity Launches New Search for Lost Flight MH370

Cyprus, Greece and Israel Quietly Strengthen Their Mediterranean Alliance

Search Launched for Four Survivors After U.S. Strike on Three Drug Boats

Turkey Seeks Agreement With Syria on Offshore Energy E&P

Russia Adds Long-Delayed Multifunction Vessel Capable of NSR Support

Video: Taiwan Rescues Crew from Tug Sent to Rescue Grounded Bulker

Russia Asks Trump Administration to Stop Chasing Sanctioned Tanker

Major Cargo Improvements on Track for 2026 Completion

River Cruise Passengers Celebrate NYE Stranded on the Danube

Saudi Arabian Forces Bomb Port in Yemen Raising Tensions with UAE

California Protects Blue Whales and Blue Skies With Historic State Law

One Event. World Of Maritime. This February, Copenhagen is the Place to Be

Drew Marine Insights Tour: Connecting Expertise with Shipboard Challenges

Russia Adds Long-Delayed Multifunction Vessel Capable of NSR Support

Video: Taiwan Rescues Crew from Tug Sent to Rescue Grounded Bulker

Russia Asks Trump Administration to Stop Chasing Sanctioned Tanker

Major Cargo Improvements on Track for 2026 Completion

River Cruise Passengers Celebrate NYE Stranded on the Danube

Saudi Arabian Forces Bomb Port in Yemen Raising Tensions with UAE

Ocean Infinity Launches New Search for Lost Flight MH370

Bankrupt Chinese Yard Relaunches Under New Ownership

Hydropower Can Give Fish Decompression Sickness. New Tech May Help.

Japan Suspends Kawasaki Heavy Industries for Submarine Engine Data Fraud

Maritime Industry Conferences and Events

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Maritime Industry Conferences and Events