Oil prices rose to their highest in almost six weeks on Wednesday, with Brent crude surpassing $95 a barrel, on mounting concerns about disruptions to Middle Eastern supply routes because of escalating hostilities between the U.S. and Iran and threats to shipping by the Iran-backed Houthi militia in Yemen.Brent crude futures were up $2.23, or 2.45%, at $93.24 a barrel by 1323 GMT, after hitting a session high of $95.47. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude CLc1 climbed $2.18, or 2.18%, to $86.18. Both benchmarks touched their highest levels since June 11.
VARD, the Norwegian shipbuilding subsidiary of Italy's Fincantieri Group, won a contract valued at more than €220 million to design and build two next-generation buoy and lighthouse maintenance vessels for Trinity House, the General Lighthouse Authority for England, Wales, the Channel Islands and Gibraltar.The award, made through a competitive public tender, is part of Trinity House's fleet renewal program and will replace the THV Patricia and THV Galatea, enhancing the organization's ability to maintain the UK's aids-to-navigation network and other critical maritime infrastructure.
If the Navy can’t successfully introduce smaller ship classes of ships, why does it think it can succeed with the largest surface combatants since World War II?The Navy has announced a new class of guided missile battleships, the USS Defiant [BBG(X)] or the Trump-class, as the centerpiece of a new “Golden Fleet.” BBG(X)s would be 840 to 880 feet long and have a full load displacement of more than 35,000 tons. They would be the largest surface combatants built since World War II, and cost an estimated $17.5 to $22 billion each. The Navy wants 15 of them.
ABS has awarded approval in principle (AIP) for a concept design for a nuclear-powered 15,000 TEU containership developed in collaboration with the Korea Research Institute of Ships and Ocean Engineering (KRISO) and the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI).Equipped with a small modular reactor (SMR), the concept is part of an ongoing joint development project with ABS, KRISO and KAERI to evaluate the technical feasibility of nuclear-powered commercial shipping.
In 2026, Voith celebrates 100 years of the Voith Schneider Propeller (VSP). The VSP concept originated from Austrian engineer Ernst Schneider. In 1926, his new propeller design was successfully tested for the first time in model trials at the Vienna Ship Model Basin. Today, the VSP has become important in tug and ferry operations, offshore applications and a wide range of specialized vessels. In 1928, the vessel Torqueo became the first ship equipped with a VSP. The operating principle of the Voith Schneider Propeller remains the same to this day.
Four tankers changed course in the Red Sea on Wednesday, with two signalling the Suez Canal as their new destination after Yemen's Houthi militia warned ships to avoid sailing to Saudi Arabian ports, ship-tracking data showed.The Iran-aligned Houthis on Monday declared a naval blockade against Saudi Arabia, opening a potential new front against the United States in its war with Iran and raising the threat to global energy supplies and trade beyond the Gulf."The threat of Houthi hostile actions against Saudi Arabia ...
The foreign ministers of the Philippines and China met in Manila on Wednesday and both made "strong" protests over an encounter between the two countries' vessels this week in contested South China Sea waters.The Philippine foreign affairs secretary, Maria Theresa Lazaro, said in an X post that she reiterated the protest over what she called "unacceptable actions against Filipino personnel", while Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi was quoted by an official readout as lodging a protest over "the Philippine personnel's egregious act of ramming Chinese law-enforcement vessels".
Fairfield Maritime Japan Ltd. (FMJ) signed a long-term charter contract with Neste enabling FMJ to fund and manage the construction of two Ice Class 1A medium range (MR) oil and chemical tankers for Neste's transports to and from its refinery in Porvoo, Finland. The two new ships will each have the capacity to ship 50,000 deadweight tons (DWT) and will be built by HD Hyundai Co., Ltd. of South Korea and delivered in the first and second quarters of 2029.
Improving injury rates are masking the continued threat of fatal accidents across the offshore marine contracting industry, according to the International Marine Contractors Association (IMCA) after its latest Annual Safety Statistics Report revealed fatalities more than doubled despite overall safety performance improving.The report covers more than 1.02 billion working hours submitted by 167 contractor members. While traditional safety indicators continued to improve during 2025
Marine Science students from Curtin University recently partook in a sea voyage from Perth to Hobart, a trip that helped some determine their career paths. Twenty university students were selected from across Australia for CAPSTAN, a national sea-training program run by CSIRO, the University of Tasmania’s Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies, and the Australian and New Zealand International Scientific Drilling Consortium to develop the next generation of marine experts.
OCIMF and the Central Commission for the Navigation of the Rhine (CCNR) published the second edition, updated July 2026, of the International Safety Guide for Inland Navigation Tank-barges and Terminals (ISGINTT), making the industry reference guide available simultaneously in English, French, German, Dutch and Portuguese.ISGINTT provides recommendations for the safe handling and transport of crude oils, petroleum products, chemicals and liquefied gases as well as guidance on the interface between inland tank-barges and other vessels or terminals.
For decades, cargo criminals followed a familiar playbook: steal consumer electronics, cigarettes, pharmaceuticals or luxury goods. These products were easy to fence and commanded healthy profits. But according to the latest BSI Consulting and TT Club 2025 Cargo Theft Report, the economics of cargo theft are changing rapidly—and nowhere is that more evident than copper. The report reads less like a crime summary and more like a lesson in commodity markets.