Since the Iranian Revolution and overthrow of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi in 1979, the Strait of Hormuz has been a geographic constant as a choke point for which closure has been threatened from time to time but never truly closed. The longstanding assumption of the continued openness of the strait collapsed on February 28, 2026.
Many claim to have ‘saltwater in their veins,’ but all you have to do is walk into the corner office of John McDonald, the new Chairman and CEO of the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS), to see that him saying “I was born into maritime” is not hyperbole. The first thing that greets you is a Dusan Kadlec nighttime painting of the Brooklyn Bridge
In December of 2025, the U.S. Coast Guard announced the award of two contracts to build up to six Arctic Security Cutter (ASC) icebreakers. The announcement declaring the vessels would be built between the United States and Finland in a major step forward for America’s national security in the Arctic region. The decision process encompassed more than the security of the Arctic passage.
Maritime 2026 opened with a bang between the announcement of Battleships, Venezuela, shadow fleets and yes, U.S. shipbuilding. The commercial building issue may come down to strategic patience or the adaptability to evolve through new technology while ignoring historic, old tactics.
The White House has ordered U.S. military forces to focus almost exclusively on enforcing a "quarantine" of Venezuelan oil for at least the next two months, a U.S. official told Reuters, indicating Washington is currently more interested in using economic rather than military means to pressure Caracas.
On October 28, 2025 U.S. Senator Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation’s Subcommittee on Coast Guard, Maritime, and Fisheries, convened the Senate hearing “Sea Change: Reviving Commercial Shipbuilding”. This hearing examined how to modernize and accelerate U.S.
We are well into the discussions advising shipbuilders and operators how the U.S. will create a renaissance of the maritime industry. Federal Legislation, Executive Orders, and new foreign partnerships driving the promise of commercial competitiveness with the leading global shipbuilders. Most of the shipbuilding rhetoric indicates the domestic markets will be left to survive on their own.
Dating back to the year 1786, Thomas Jefferson wrote to a member of the Continental Congress on the importance of free press keeping government in check. He was quoted as saying if he had a choice between “a government without newspapers or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to choose the latter.
With all the Legislative fanfare, Executive Orders, Committee meetings, lobbying efforts and media announcements concerning American Shipbuilding, Naval Warfare and Maritime Dominance, it is no surprise that the result of the uproar is shear confusion within the maritime industrial base (MIB).
Frontline plc (NYSE and OSE: FRO) entered into one-year time charter-out agreements for seven of its VLCCs. The charters will commence during the period from late-January to April 2026 at a rate of $76,900 per day per vessel.“We are in unprecedented times, and these are charter-out-levels not seen for decades," said Lars H. Barstad, CEO, Frontline Management AS.
HII’s Ingalls Shipbuilding division has delivered Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer Ted Stevens (DDG 128) to the U.S. Navy. This marks the second Flight III Arleigh Burke-class destroyer to be delivered by Ingalls shipbuilders.“The delivery of Ted Stevens reflects the strong momentum of our destroyer program as we accelerate Flight III production and bring enhanced capabilities to the
General Dynamics Bath Iron Works, a business unit of General Dynamics (NYSE:GD), said that the U.S. Navy has exercised an option to add an additional DDG 51 destroyer to the multi-year contract awarded in 2023.Bath Iron Works currently has under construction the Flight IIA Arleigh Burke-class destroyers Harvey C. Barnum Jr.