Latest marine maritime, commercial & defence news from around the world. Articles about boats and boat builders, marine contracts, navy activities, new products for the maritime use, key players, rules and regulations.
The UK government is launching an £8 million Smart Shipping Acceleration Fund to drive maritime innovation and harness the benefits of AI to boost productivity. The AI maritime funding will support feasibility studies for cutting-edge technology – from self-driving boats to ports using automated systems. Maritime minister Lord Davies is in Southampton today (22 April) […]
The Royal Navy is adding to its arsenal in the next three years – it will be installing what it describes as ‘a powerful laser weapon’ on a warship in 2027. The image above is what the navy says it could look like, when fired from a ship. The jauntily named DragonFire will add to […]
The Merchant Navy Welfare Board (MNWB) is calling on the maritime sector to nominate its unsung heroes for the charity’s new-look annual awards. For the first time since the award launched in 1988, MNWB has reimagined the Annual Award for Services to Seafarers’ Welfare so that more individuals can be recognised for providing exceptional service […]
A man has been arrested in New York after stealing a decommissioned New York City fireboat on the city’s Hudson River, before getting stuck and attempting to steal a sailboat, according to the NYPD. Authorities report that the 22-year-old jumped into the 40-metre fireboat, known as the John J. Harvey, which was moored at Pier […]
Actisense has revealed it is now collaborating with Raymarine to maximise NMEA data efficiency with its Pathfinder system. (NMEA is a standard data format supported by all GPS manufacturers). Raymarine’s intention is to disrupt the commercial marine market with its IMO-compliant solid state X-band radar system that is said to be both cost effective and easy […]
Two former Royal Navy ships now serving with the Ukrainian Navy will be a frequent sight in the waters off the South Coast as they operate from their new temporary home in Portsmouth naval base. The Sandown-class minehunters, formerly HMS Shoreham and HMS Grimsby, now renamed Cherkasy and Chernihiv after being transferred to Ukraine last […]
Over 100 people are understood to have died, with almost 20 still missing, after an overcrowded, makeshift ferry capsized off the coast of Nampula, northern Mozambique. Officials say the disaster happened after panic broke out after disinformation related to a cholera outbreak spread. The vessel, a converted fishing boat, was carrying around 130 people on […]
The collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore has caused supply chain disruption on the US East Coast, but so far, it has not seen an increase in ocean freight container shipping rates, according to analysts. Data released on 8 April 2024 by Xeneta, the ocean freight rate benchmarking and intelligence platform, reveals […]
A Royal Navy-led ‘999 emergency centre’ has dealt with an ‘unprecedented’ rise in distress calls due to the Red Sea crisis. The team at the UK Maritime Trade Organisation (UKMTO) are dealing with two or three reports of attacks and incidents daily – compared with monthly – as a result of the wave of attacks […]
Eight people have scrambled through a series of African countries to rejoin their cruise ship after it left São Tomé and Príncipe without them. The passengers missed their ship’s scheduled departure time from the island of São Tomé in the Gulf of Guinea, off the coast of Gabon, after disembarking to take a local tour, […]
Insurance payouts for the collapse of Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge, which collapsed on Tuesday (26 March 2024), may be the largest in history, according to Lloyd’s of London chief executive John Neal. “This has the potential to be one of the largest marine losses in history,” Neal tells Bloomberg News. “It’s a multi-billion dollar […]