Friday, January 09, 2026
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containership arriving in port

Declining US Container Imports Contribute to Smallest Trade Gap Since 2009

Published Jan 8, 2026 6:42 PM by The Maritime Executive

New data shows that 2025 was completed with a small decline in total U.S. imports, which fluctuated during the year and closed with strong declines from China. As the rates fell in 2025, it, however, appears that it also contributed to a narrowing of the U.S. trade deficit, which Bloomberg reports is now the smallest it has been in 16 years. The U.S. Commerce Department released October 2025 figures with what Bloomberg terms an “unexpectedly narrowed” trade deficit. It highlights...

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HavocAI

Hanwha Defense and HavocAI Team Up on Midsize Unmanned Vessels

Published Jan 8, 2026 6:05 PM by The Maritime Executive

Korean industrial conglomerate Hanwha has been expanding its portfolio of projects in the U.S. naval and defense space, and on Thursday it announced a new agreement with an American autonomous-vessel company to compete in the medium-sized unmanned warship space. The deal pairs Hanwha Defense USA and Hanwha Systems with HavocAI, a two-year-old startup run by two Navy veterans. Jointly, the firms will explore building a 200-foot-long autonomous surface vessel, and Hanwha Philly Shipyard is under consideration as the place of...

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OSV involved in collision

NTSB: Overlooking Degraded Steering System Caused 2024 Collision

Published Jan 8, 2026 5:51 PM by The Maritime Executive

The National Transport Safety Board finds that the “normalization of degradations” to a vessel’s steering system and crew inexperience with bridge controls resulted in a collision that caused more than $1 million in damage to an OSV and a cargo ship and injuries to two crewmembers. It is warning about complacency, the need to properly report maintenance issues and conditions impacting a vessel’s operations, and adhering to written procedures. The NTSB released a report on a March 17, 2024, collision...

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USMMA

Trump Administration Selects Ceraolo as Next USMMA Superintendent

Published Jan 8, 2026 4:33 PM by The Maritime Executive

The U.S. Maritime Administration (MARAD) has picked a longtime member of the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy team to lead the college. Rear Adm. (sel) Tony Ceraolo, a Coast Guard veteran, has been promoted from chief of staff to the post of superintendent, formalizing an appointment he has held in an acting capacity since last year. Capt. Anthony J. "Tony" Ceraolo (USCG, Ret'd) assumed command as acting superintendent of USMMA in July 2025, when his predecessor Vice Adm. Joanna Nunan announced...

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Offshore

offshore wind farm

Ørsted Files Additional Lawsuit Challenging Stop-Work Order on Sunrise Wind

Danish offshore energy developer Ørsted has filed its second lawsuit challenging the Trump administration’s December 2025 stop-work order on five under-construction wind farms along the U.S. Atlantic coast. The company says the latest suit challenges the lease suspension and is seeking a preliminary injunction against the stop-work order. The suit follows a similar action filed by Ørsted last week as the joint owner of the Revolution Wind project. In addition, Equinor, which is developing the Empire Wind project, as well...

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Shipbuilding

HavocAI

Hanwha Defense and HavocAI Team Up on Midsize Unmanned Vessels

Korean industrial conglomerate Hanwha has been expanding its portfolio of projects in the U.S. naval and defense space, and on Thursday it announced a new agreement with an American autonomous-vessel company to compete in the medium-sized unmanned warship space. The deal pairs Hanwha Defense USA and Hanwha Systems with HavocAI, a two-year-old startup run by two Navy veterans. Jointly, the firms will explore building a 200-foot-long autonomous surface vessel, and Hanwha Philly Shipyard is under consideration as the place of...

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Environment

Coral

Researchers Say the Oceans Have Passed a Milestone for Acidification

[By Anna Napolitano] The past 12 months have been worrying for researchers who study the chemistry of the ocean. More and more evidence has been published showing that human activities are fundamentally altering this chemistry in an acidic direction. At the end of 2025, it seems clear ocean acidification is pushing the largest habitat on Earth into a risky zone. Ocean acidification is part of the global carbon cycle. When carbon dioxide dissolves in water, it forms carbonic acid. This...

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Business

MSC containership sinking off India

MSC Posts Guarantee to Release Vessel as India Pursues Compensation Claims

Eight months after the loss of the MSC Elsa 3 off the coast of India, MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company has posted a bond with the Kerala High Court as the government continues to pursue its compensation claims. The bond was accepted in December and permitted the release of an MSC containership that had been detained since July to protect the claim. The Kerala state government filed a claim of more than $1 billion, asserting that there had been significant environmental...

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