Thursday, March 12, 2026
Media Kit
Mayuree Nari

Norway Bans Hormuz Transits, India Makes a Deal With Iran for Safe Passage

MORE TOP STORIES
USS Gerald R. Ford

USS Gerald R. Ford Reports Laundry Room Fire

Published Mar 12, 2026 12:39 PM by The Maritime Executive

The Nimitz Class carrier USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78) has suffered a fire in its onboard laundry facility, which has injured two crew members but not otherwise impaired operations of the carrier. In announcing the incident, CENTCOM emphasized that the cause of the fire was not combat-related and was contained. It said there is no damage to the ship’s propulsion plant, and the aircraft carrier remains fully operational. The problem in the laundry comes on top of previously reported problems...

Continue Reading...
Basra

Two Tankers Burn Off Iraq After Suspected Drone Boat Strike

Published Mar 11, 2026 10:33 PM by The Maritime Executive

[Breaking] Two tankers have reportedly been hit by unknown projectiles in the Arabian Gulf, according to UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO). Two ships were reportedly struck at a position just south of Basrah, within Iraqi waters. Bystander video from a nearby vessel suggests that they were adjacent to each other and potentially engaged in an STS transfer at the time of impact. The video shows a spreading pool of burning oil surrounding the vessels. Iraqi authorities identified the vessels as...

Continue Reading...
Coral Adventurer's grounding location and planned trackline, red (ATSB)

ATSB: Cruise Ship's Chief Mate Distracted by ECDIS Ahead of Grounding

Published Mar 11, 2026 10:23 PM by The Maritime Executive

The cruise ship Coral Adventurer ran aground on a reef off Papua New Guinea after the ship's ECDIS declined to load the chief mate's route plan, the first in a series of events that led to the ship overshooting a turn and overcorrecting, according to the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB). On the morning of December 27, 2025, Coral Adventurer was under way off the remote northeastern coast of Papua New Guinea and nearing the small port of Dregerhafen. The...

Continue Reading...
container offloading

U.S. Container Volumes had Normalized Before Iran Despite Uncertainties

Published Mar 11, 2026 8:17 PM by The Maritime Executive

Reports indicate the U.S. import container volume was down significantly in February 2026, but despite the uncertainties in trade, the view was that the volumes were beginning to normalize. Descartes Systems Global, in its monthly report, highlighted that February 2026 was ranked as the fourth-strongest February on record, but the impact from the conflict in Iran adds new uncertainty. “While February volumes suggest underlying demand remains relatively stable, the military conflict in the Middle East, evolving U.S. tariffs, and ongoing...

Continue Reading...
FEATURED STORIES
BLOGS
PODCASTS
MORE STORIES BY CATEGORY

Offshore

Drillship

Second "Big Beautiful" Offshore Lease Sale Draws Fewer Big Spenders

The U.S. Department of the Interior has completed the second offshore oil and gas auction of its revised lease plan, and the outcome was quieter this time. The auction generated $47 million in high bids for a total of 140,000 acres in 25 blocks, down from the previous auction's total of $280 million. A total of about 80 million acres were up for auction, but the majority received no bids. 13 companies participated in bidding, down from 30 in the...

Continue Reading...

Shipbuilding

State of Maine training ship

Third US Training Ship State of Maine Delivered to MARAD

The third newly built U.S. training ship for the merchant marine, the State of Maine, was handed over to TOTE Services and delivered to the U.S. Maritime Administration. It will be the fifth training vessel, and the first purpose-built vessel, to be operated by the Maine Maritime Academy, located in Castine, Maine. The handover to the U.S. government took place at the Hanwha Philly Shipyard, and the vessel is scheduled to depart for Maine in the coming days. Once it...

Continue Reading...

Environment

Trawlers

Study: Ocean Warming Puts "Constant Negative Pressure" on Fish Populations

A new meta-study published in Nature Ecology & Evolution suggests that ocean warming has an outsize impact on the total amount of fish in the water, enough to have major implications for global fisheries. The study, led by researchers at Spain's Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales, looked at hundreds of thousands of studies of fish populations in the Northern Hemisphere over a period of nearly 30 years, spanning 1993-2021. The vast data set covered more than 1,500 fish species and...

Continue Reading...

Business

Navtor

Connecting Opportunities: The Power of Integrated E-Navigation

Timo Essers, e-Navigation Director at NAVTOR, looks at how seamless system integration can empower a new age of control, efficiency and competitive advantage. In the real world, everything is connected. Ecosystems thrive not because of one constituent part, but because of everything working together as one. The same is true for society, politics and economics. There is a complex fabric of interlocking threads that, when woven with care, create strength. Try and pull apart the connections – disrupt the balance...

Continue Reading...