Tankers on the move to and from Hormuz, Oct. 21. Iran reported multiple strikes on tanker traffic overnight Wednesday (Copernicus / Sentinel-2)

Oil Prices Jump After Houthi Strikes and Iranian Shipping Attacks

Russian trawlers have been used for intelligence duties since the Cold War, alongside more formal spy ships like the Seliger, above (USN)

Russian Trawlers Go Fishing for Cables

Published Oct 22, 2026 4:16 PM by The Maritime Executive

London’s Daily Telegraph has published a lead story outlining how a Russian fleet of trawlers has been surveying and loitering over cables in the waters around the United Kingdom. There is nothing new in Russian trawlers being tasked with non-fishing duties, with some never having been seen to have landed any fish; the novel element of the story is the scale on which the Russians are carrying out this operation. The Telegraph has logged more than 500 separate incidents where...

Unexplained Ship Clusters Anchoring off Taiwan

Published Oct 22, 2026 3:27 PM by The Maritime Executive

TaiwanPlus TV’s investigative journalist Cadence Quantara has filed a report on an unexplained cluster of shipping which is lingering a short distance off the southwest coast of Taiwan, adjacent to the cities of Tainan and Kaohsiung. On average there are 75 ships maintaining position in the area, with a familiar list of vessels arriving, lingering, departing and then returning, but with the overall number of ships in the cluster remaining roughly constant. Further out to sea, a smaller number of...

Maritime Procurement: Where the Cost is Really Set

Published Oct 22, 2026 1:45 PM by Dragos Ionescu

When a vessel needs a spare part, someone ashore owns the problem. They have to find a supplier, compare quotes, check lead time, make sure the documentation is in place, and get the part to the vessel. If anything goes wrong, they are the one chasing the supplier, the vessel and everyone in between. The invoice arrives at the end of that process. By then, most of the cost of the purchase has already been set. An inexpensive component that...

Map showing exploratory oil field (Sea Lion) in North Falklands Basin and exploratory oil wells in East Falklands Basin. Pensoft/Researchgate, CC BY-ND

Argentina Seeks UNCLOS Ruling on UK-Backed Oil Project off the Falklands

Published Oct 22, 2026 12:13 PM by The Conversation

[By Vicky Kapogianni] Argentina is trying to stop a planned oil project near the Falkland Islands. On October 13, the government asked the International Tribunal for the Law of the Seas (Itlos), a court in Hamburg that deals with disputes over the sea, to halt the project. Argentina says the UK approved the drilling without its agreement and in breach of Argentina’s rights to the seabed. The project, called Sea Lion, is a joint venture between UK and Israeli companies,...

Shipping

Maritime Procurement: Where the Cost is Really Set

Tugs & Salvage

Smuggler Tactics Make a Mass Casualty in English Channel "Inevitable"

The commander of the United Kingdom’s Border Security Command has warned the House of Commons Home Affairs Committee that it is only a matter of time before there is a mass casualty disaster in the English Channel – and it will probably occur this winter once sea conditions in the Channel worsen. Major General Duncan Capps was speaking to the committee on October 21. General Capps’ concern has arisen because of new tactics being employed by the smuggler gangs who...

Government

Oil Prices Jump After Houthi Strikes and Iranian Shipping Attacks

On Thursday, the continued Houthi attacks on Saudi energy targets prompted a jump in oil prices, driving Brent futures upwards to nearly $113 by the market close in New York. In an already-tight global supply situation, Saudi Arabia's energy ministry reported Wednesday that air defenses had intercepted a drone at the Shaybah oil field, located in the shifting dunes of the Empty Quarter. The unmanned aircraft had attempted to strike a processing facility at the processing plant. It was shot...

Corporate News

environmental performance and economic implications of the complete MARPOWER system. Building on MARPOWER's first two years The results generated during the first half of MARPOWER are also beginning to reach the wider scientific and engineering community. Technical advances from the project have already been presented at relevant international events, including ASME Turbo Expo and IFToMM Rotordynamics 2026. As experimental, modelling and validation activities progress, further results are expected to lead to scientific publications and new conference contributions. For Professor Jussi Sopanen, MARPOWER Project Coordinator at LUT University, the halfway point marks a transition towards a more integrated phase of the project: “During the first half of MARPOWER, we have advanced the system design, developed key technologies and started generating experimental results. The challenge now is to bring these developments progressively together, extend testing under more representative conditions and generate the evidence needed to assess the complete system and its integration on board ships”. The MARPOWER project brings together eleven partners from six European countries, combining complementary expertise across the technologies and disciplines required to develop and assess the proposed energy conversion system. Coordinated by LUT University, the consortium includes Aurelia Technologies, Alfa Laval, Politecnico di Milano, RINA Consulting, RINA Services, University of Vigo, the German Aerospace Center (DLR), the Technical University of Denmark (DTU), Chantiers de l'Atlantique and Zabala Innovation. The project will continue until August 2028.

MARPOWER Advances Key Technologies for Maritime Decarbonisation

[By: Maritime transport remains one of the most challenging sectors to decarbonise due to its high energy requirements, reliance on fossil fuels and the long operational lifetime of vessels. Against this backdrop, the EU-funded MARPOWER project (Efficient zero-emissions gas turbine POWER system for MARitime transport) is developing an advanced gas turbine-based energy conversion system for power generation and cogeneration on board ships, designed to operate with different sustainable fuels while improving overall efficiency. Two years into the project, the overall...

Cruise Ships

Carnival Deals Blow to Australia Ending Deployment of Two Cruise Ships

In the latest blow to Australia’s already struggling cruise industry, Carnival Cruise Line announced it will redeploy permanently to North America two of the four cruise ships it has had in the market. While Australia is the fourth largest overall cruise market, a coalition formed earlier this year highlighted that the market is sagging under rising costs and a lack of regulatory certainty. Carnival Cruise Line announced the Carnival Adventure (108,865 gross tons with accommodations for up to 3,150 passengers)...

Ports

The Russian nuclear power barge Akademik Lomonosov is the best-known working example of a seaport-based nuclear power plant (Elena Dider / CC BY)

LR: Ports Will Benefit From Early Planning for Nuclear Power Systems

In a new white paper, Lloyd's Register and the British Ports Association (BPA) are encouraging port operators to get ready for the arrival of nuclear-powered vessels and microreactor power units, which could both accelerate port decarbonization. Ports are increasingly reliant on wattage-hungry equipment, having invested in electrification as a way to reduce their carbon footprints. The need to feed electric cranes, battery-electric rolling stock, shore power stations and other big consumption sources can outstrip the supply available from the local...

Shipping

Maritime Procurement: Where the Cost is Really Set

Tugs & Salvage

Smuggler Tactics Make a Mass Casualty in English Channel "Inevitable"

Government

Oil Prices Jump After Houthi Strikes and Iranian Shipping Attacks

Corporate News

MARPOWER Advances Key Technologies for Maritime Decarbonisation

Cruise Ships

Carnival Deals Blow to Australia Ending Deployment of Two Cruise Ships

Ports

LR: Ports Will Benefit From Early Planning for Nuclear Power Systems

Offshore

Locals clean Agua Dulce beach in the municipality of Lerdo de Tejada, Veracruz state, Mexico. The state oil company Pemex reported 798 pipeline spills and leaks to its financial regulators during 2014-2025 (Image: Rodrigo Soberanes)

A Year of Offshore Oil Spills Prompts Growing Concern in Mexico

[By Rodrigo Soberanes] In early March, Andrés Palma was watching his children build a sandcastle on the beach in El Bosque, south-east Mexico. The fisher soon noticed that something was not quite right: his children were playing in sand laced with crude oil residue. Palma was witnessing the consequences of a huge oil spill that happened in February, which triggered a 30-day fishing ban and has contaminated fishing grounds along the Gulf coast. Its source was initially disputed but in...

Shipbuilding

A team of Gecko engineers inspects the hull of a frigate with a robotic ultrasonic scanning device (file image courtesy Gecko)

U.S. Navy Awards $300M Contract to Robotic-Inspection Startup Gecko

Pittsburgh-based automated inspection company Gecko Robotics has won a $300 million IDIQ contract with the U.S. Navy to help fight the age-old enemy of corrosion with new high-tech tools. Gecko's robotic inspectors can crawl on steel structures of all kinds and detect flaws in minute detail, helping customers to plan maintenance in advance and build a digital record of asset health. For the Navy, the most valuable metric in sustainment is yard time: an understanding of the vessel's needs means...

Environment

Investigating the Hidden Costs of World’s Farmed Seafood

For nearly a decade, the Outlaw Ocean Project, the non-profit journalistic organization that I founded, has produced high-impact investigative stories about lawlessness at sea and the variety of threats posed to the people and biodiversity of a space that covers two thirds of our planet. The oceans bear a heavy and largely invisible burden. The public usually takes it for granted, a forever self-replenishing resource that we use to fill our stomachs or line our wallets. Our journalism intends to...

Business

Australian Fund Manager Buys Majority Stake in UK’s Largest Port Operator

IFM Investors, an Australia-based global fund manager with a focus on UK infrastructure, emerged as the winning bidder in the sale of Associated British Ports (ABP). The company, which was formed through a government privatization effort in the early 1980s, reportedly handles approximately a quarter of the UK’s seaborne trade. The Financial Times had first reported in February that the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and OMERS (Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System) were planning to sell their stakes, which collectively...

Maritime Industry Conferences and Events

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Oil Prices Jump After Houthi Strikes and Iranian Shipping Attacks

Russian Trawlers Go Fishing for Cables

Unexplained Ship Clusters Anchoring off Taiwan

Maritime Procurement: Where the Cost is Really Set

Argentina Seeks UNCLOS Ruling on UK-Backed Oil Project off the Falklands

Maritime Procurement: Where the Cost is Really Set

Smuggler Tactics Make a Mass Casualty in English Channel "Inevitable"

Oil Prices Jump After Houthi Strikes and Iranian Shipping Attacks

MARPOWER Advances Key Technologies for Maritime Decarbonisation

Carnival Deals Blow to Australia Ending Deployment of Two Cruise Ships

LR: Ports Will Benefit From Early Planning for Nuclear Power Systems

Maritime Procurement: Where the Cost is Really Set

How the Maritime Industry Will Unlock the Value of AI

Crew Welfare and Content: Morale, Wellbeing, and Retention

Maritime Procurement: Where the Cost is Really Set

Smuggler Tactics Make a Mass Casualty in English Channel "Inevitable"

Oil Prices Jump After Houthi Strikes and Iranian Shipping Attacks

MARPOWER Advances Key Technologies for Maritime Decarbonisation

Carnival Deals Blow to Australia Ending Deployment of Two Cruise Ships

LR: Ports Will Benefit From Early Planning for Nuclear Power Systems

A Year of Offshore Oil Spills Prompts Growing Concern in Mexico

U.S. Navy Awards $300M Contract to Robotic-Inspection Startup Gecko

Investigating the Hidden Costs of World’s Farmed Seafood

Australian Fund Manager Buys Majority Stake in UK’s Largest Port Operator

Maritime Industry Conferences and Events

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Maritime Industry Conferences and Events