Iraq Resumes Commercial Shipping After 50 Years as Ship Departs UAE

USS Theodore Roosevelt docks in Yokosuka, October 16 (US Navy)

The Defensive Alliance to Deter Chinese Maritime Expansion is Strengthening

Published Oct 21, 2026 2:22 PM by The Maritime Executive

An overview of a series of separate developments suggests that a string of Asian nations facing pressure from China across maritime borders are cooperating more fully as a means of countering the threat. Exercise Keen Sword has commenced and is running until October 29. The exercise principally involves 45,000 Japanese and 12,000 US troops. But the exercise also involves seven other Asian and European nations, with participation for the first time in this recurring exercise by France, Germany, the Netherlands,...

NATO to Support Increased Black Sea Surveillance

Published Oct 21, 2026 1:15 PM by The Maritime Executive

After the strikes on commercial vessels off the coasts of Bulgaria and Romania, NATO has agreed to provide additional support to the region. The North Atlantic Council agreed on Tuesday, October 20, to the increased deployment after urging by Bulgarian and Romanian officials. NATO Allies had discussed the increase in Russia’s hybrid activities during a meeting in Bucharest, Romania, on October 15 and 16. According to the official reports, concerns had been raised about the increase in activity and the...

How the Maritime Industry Will Unlock the Value of AI

Published Oct 21, 2026 9:49 AM by Orbius

Every industry has spent the past few years moving Artificial Intelligence into daily operations. Mining, aviation, construction and energy companies are finding ways to put intelligence where the work actually happens. The maritime industry faces the same opportunity, with the additional challenge that its assets operate where the supporting infrastructure for computing power does not exist. A modern cruise ship generates terabytes of data in a single voyage, and some of that data can be only operationalized live. Thousands of...

Norway Plans to Buy 20 Standardized Naval Vessels for Three Nations

Published Oct 20, 2026 11:56 PM by The Maritime Executive

Norway has unveiled plans to procure up to 20 standardized government vessels that are designed to strengthen the capabilities of three allied nations, a development that comes amidst rising security threats - specifically from Russia. The novel procurement plan will put a Norwegian authority in charge of buying naval vessels for use by Lithuania and the UK. The Norwegian Defence Materiel Agency (FMA) said that it is looking to identify shipyards both from Norway and across Europe that could be...

Shipping

Iraq Resumes Commercial Shipping After 50 Years as Ship Departs UAE

An Iraqi-owned cargo ship departed the port of Jebel Ali in the United Arab Emirates today, October 21, northbound in the Persian Gulf. What makes the departure so notable is that it signals Iraq’s efforts to resume commercial shipping after a more than 50-year hiatus. The country’s Ministry of Transport had announced at the beginning of the month the plan to restore commercial shipping. It cited the opportunities to increase the flow of goods in the Persian Gulf, along with...

Tugs & Salvage

Passengers abandoned ship by all available means and were evacuated by small fishing boats from the harbor (Indonesian social media)

Thanks to Swift Response, All Passengers Survive Latest SE Asian Ferry Fire

On Tuesday, a fire broke out on another Southeast Asian ferry, this time at the port of Merak, Indonesia. Yesterday afternoon at about 1600 hours, the ferry KMP Batumandi was arriving from Bakauheni, Lampung and entering the channel at Merak with 420 people on board. Smoke began to come from the stern, and passengers reported a small explosion a few minutes later, followed by a fire. Some passengers escaped the flames by lowering themselves away on ropes, clambering over rails...

Government

A sea cucumber, dubbed the “gummy squirrel” (Psychropotes longicauda), encountered at a depth of 5,100 meters (about 16,700 feet) on abyssal sediments in the western Clarion-Clipperton Zone. Image courtesy of NOAA/DeepCCZ expedition.

US Deep-Sea Mining Claim Areas Now Rival ISA Licenses in Size

[By Elizabeth Claire Alberts and Jelter Meers] U.S. ambitions to mine the deep sea are rapidly expanding across the ocean, not only in the country’s own waters, but also on the high seas — the vast expanse of ocean outside any one country’s jurisdiction. In the Clarion-Clipperton Zone of the Pacific Ocean, a hotspot of mining interest in international waters, a Mongabay analysis shows that companies have either applied to the U.S. or already been granted rights to areas of...

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

Bulker Holed in Dock Allision Prompts New Rules for Vietnamese Port

A Japanese-owned bulker docking at a private port facility in Vietnam hit the dock on Sunday, causing significant damage to the vessel and the structure. Officials are demanding a plan for the vessel and have posted new safety regulations after the incident. The Aquacharm (182,000 dwt) arrived at the Dung Quat port in Central Vietnam near Da Nang on October 14 after a trip from Australia. The vessel, which was built in 2022 and is registered in the Marshall Islands,...

Shipping

Iraq Resumes Commercial Shipping After 50 Years as Ship Departs UAE

Tugs & Salvage

Thanks to Swift Response, All Passengers Survive Latest SE Asian Ferry Fire

Government

US Deep-Sea Mining Claim Areas Now Rival ISA Licenses in Size

Corporate News

MARPOWER Advances Key Technologies for Maritime Decarbonisation

Cruise Ships

Carnival Deals Blow to Australia Ending Deployment of Two Cruise Ships

Ports

Bulker Holed in Dock Allision Prompts New Rules for Vietnamese Port

Offshore

New Zealand Opens First Round for Offshore Energy Feasibility Permits

New Zealand has moved quickly to open its first round for offshore renewable energy feasibility permit applications just weeks after it completed the enabling legislation. Government officials highlight that the country already has a high level of renewable electricity generation, while saying that offshore renewable energy has the potential to contribute to that while also helping New Zealand meet increasing demand for power. The notice for the round went into force on October 19 and runs until April 19, 2027....

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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Iraq Resumes Commercial Shipping After 50 Years as Ship Departs UAE

The Defensive Alliance to Deter Chinese Maritime Expansion is Strengthening

NATO to Support Increased Black Sea Surveillance

How the Maritime Industry Will Unlock the Value of AI

Norway Plans to Buy 20 Standardized Naval Vessels for Three Nations

Iraq Resumes Commercial Shipping After 50 Years as Ship Departs UAE

Thanks to Swift Response, All Passengers Survive Latest SE Asian Ferry Fire

US Deep-Sea Mining Claim Areas Now Rival ISA Licenses in Size

MARPOWER Advances Key Technologies for Maritime Decarbonisation

Carnival Deals Blow to Australia Ending Deployment of Two Cruise Ships

Bulker Holed in Dock Allision Prompts New Rules for Vietnamese Port

How the Maritime Industry Will Unlock the Value of AI

Crew Welfare and Content: Morale, Wellbeing, and Retention

Global Industry Leaders to Take the Stage at IBIA Annual Convention 2026

Iraq Resumes Commercial Shipping After 50 Years as Ship Departs UAE

Thanks to Swift Response, All Passengers Survive Latest SE Asian Ferry Fire

US Deep-Sea Mining Claim Areas Now Rival ISA Licenses in Size

MARPOWER Advances Key Technologies for Maritime Decarbonisation

Carnival Deals Blow to Australia Ending Deployment of Two Cruise Ships

Bulker Holed in Dock Allision Prompts New Rules for Vietnamese Port

New Zealand Opens First Round for Offshore Energy Feasibility Permits

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