Flash News

Seafarers calling at Ukrainian ports will receive specialist safety kits designed to mitigate the risks posed by missile and drone attacks under a new initiative from maritime charity Stella Maris.The crew safety kits are designed to help seafarers prepare for and respond to emergencies while operating in conflict affected regions.The initiative comes at a time of heightened geopolitical tensions affecting major shipping routes around the world, including the Strait of Hormuz, underlining the importance of ensuring seafarers are properly prepared to respond to emergencies.

Lloyd’s Register (LR) has released its latest Fuel Oil Bunker Analysis and Advisory Service (FOBAS) Fuel Quality Report covering July to December 2025, revealing a rise in the frequency and severity of off specification marine fuel incidents across several of the world’s busiest bunkering hubs.The second half of 2025 was characterized by a concentration of repeated fuel quality failures across major ports including Singapore, Rotterdam, Antwerp, Hong Kong and Port Klang. December saw the highest number of monthly off specification cases recorded in 2025…

By the end of October 2025, six months had passed since the implementation of the Mediterranean Emission Control Area (ECA). This article will set out to review what’s changed in terms of the fuel mix and fuel quality, across the region between November 1, 2024 - October 31, 2025.The six months leading up to the implementation of the Mediterranean ECA (1st November to30th April 2025), VPS tested marine fuels representing 1,610,852 mt, bunkered in the Top 10Mediterranean ports.

It was at an 18th century Georgian manor house outside London that Japanese lawmaker Rui Matsukawa began to have serious doubts about America’s commitment to defending her country.Matsukawa, a former deputy defense minister, traveled in March to historic Fordham Abbey for a top-level bilateral conference. At the estate, now home to a Japanese-owned sake brewery, she said she learned from British lawmakers, diplomats and business leaders that a tectonic shift in their thinking was underway.U.S. President Donald Trump was openly berating America’s European allies and tilting toward Russia.

The maritime industry has worked with a single fuel source for over a century and with the rush to meet emission standards in both domestic and foreign markets, adapting to the current list of alternative fuels is going to present significant problems. Each market has its issues whether bluewater, brownwater, coastal, foreign or domestic.Chose any of the larger global shipbuilding yards and the basic bluewater ship design will include a large two stroke combustion engine.To remove…

Turbulence stirred by President Donald Trump’s tariffs could disrupt global shrimp shipments to the United States, with exporters in top supplier India warning that up to 2,000 containers of frozen shrimp are at risk.Ecuador, however—located thousands of kilometers closer to the U.S.—faces a lower tariff rate and may benefit from the shift, exporters say. Shrimp is the country’s most valuable export after oil.India’s shrimp sector is bracing for a 26% tariff under Trump’s July plan, jeopardizing a $7-billion seafood export industry that relies heavily on major U.S.

Germany-based protective coatings innovator Steelpaint GmbH is urging shipowners, shipyards, and port authorities with steel assets to prioritize surface preparation, advising that skimping on this critical step in the application process is leading to premature coating failures, costly repairs, and increased safety risks.The advisory follows a recent request to apply its single-component, moisture-cure Stelcatec to a steel structure that had not been properly prepared, with high…

Flash back to March 2020, and cruise shipping as the global poster-child for COVID, with passengers stuck on ships in ports around the wordl, unable to leave as far more questions than answers lingered regarding the mysterious illness.Less than four years later, the global cruise ship industry is booming again, led by the world's largest, Carnival Corp, which forecast strong bookings for 2025 ahead of the busy summer travel season, riding the wave of strong spending on experiences even as prices increase, sending its shares up about 5% late last week.

This week at MarineLink…The IMO 2020 Sulfur Cap essentially ushered in a new type of fuel - VLSFO. With it came the engine problems caused by off-spec or incompatible fuels as producers grappled with the requirement for providing a sulfur content not exceeding 0.05%. As pointed out in Lloyd’s Register’s 2024 Fuel Quality Report, persistent issues involving cat fines, stability, sulfur content and flash point continue, and isolated incidents of chemical contamination are still occurring.If new…

The United States is watching growing cooperation between Russia and China in the Arctic closely and some of their recent military collaboration in the region sends "concerning signals", the U.S. Arctic ambassador said.Russia and China have stepped up military cooperation in the Arctic while deepening overall ties in recent years that include China supplying Moscow with dual-use goods despite Western sanctions on Russia over the war in Ukraine.Russia and the United States are among eight countries with territory in the resource-rich Arctic.

Ongoing concerns around fuel quality continue to be a critical factor and significant expense for the maritime industry, according to the Lloyd’s Register (LR) Fuel Quality Report 2024.The report, produced by LR’s Fuel Oil Bunker Analysis and Advisory Service (FOBAS), reveals the overall state of fuel quality in 2024 remains much like that of the past few years, particularly since the transition to predominantly very low sulphur fuel oil (VLSFO) in 2020. Persistent issues such as cat-fines…

- An expanding Hurricane Milton churned toward Florida's battered Gulf Coast on Tuesday, where more than 1 million people were ordered to evacuate a day before the monster storm is forecast to slam the Tampa Bay area.Milton, which exploded on Monday into one of the most intense Atlantic hurricanes on record, was forecast to make landfall late on Wednesday, threatening a stretch of Florida's densely populated west coast that is still reeling from the devastating Hurricane Helene less than two weeks ago.A direct hit on the bay would be the first since 1921, when the now-sprawling Tampa-St.

U.S. Gulf of Mexico oil and gas producers were evacuating staff and curbing drilling to prepare for Tropical Storm Francine on Monday as it churned through the energy region on a path to bring high winds and drenching rains to the U.S. mid-South.Francine is likely to bring life-threatening storm surge to the upper Texas and Louisiana coasts and hurricane-force winds to Southern Louisiana this week. Residents of Calcasieu Parish in Louisiana on Monday were supplied with sandbags and other materials to combat the expected storm surge…

Low water conditions have led to several barges running aground along a key stretch of the lower Mississippi River, the U.S. Coast Guard told Reuters on Wednesday, just as the busiest U.S. grain export season gets underway.Low water levels are slowing export-bound barge shipments of grain and oilseeds from the Midwest farm belt for a third straight year, making U.S. exports less competitive in a world market awash in supplies - just as farmers are set to harvest a record soy and large corn crop and as prices hover near four-year lows.The U.S.

The shipwreck of a luxury yacht moored off the coast of Sicily is the latest sign that the Mediterranean is becoming a more dangerous sea to sail in, climate experts and skippers say.One man died and six people are still missing, including British tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch, after the Bayesian, a 56-metre-long (184-ft) sailboat, was hit by a ferocious storm on Monday, sinking in a matter of minutes.Climatologists say global warming is making such violent and unexpected tempests more frequent in a sea used as a summer playground for millions of tourists…

“It was the best of times, it was somewhat confusing times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of the learning curve, it was the season of light, it was the season of, uh, still not enough light.” ― Deepest apologies to Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities, 1859As the world zeroes in on alternative energy sources and products that can deliver power and performance, there are advances that could sway even the most hardened skeptic. But challenges remain—tough challenges.Two successes: renewable diesel and biodieselRenewable diesel (RD) is required now (since January 1…

Taiwan's coast guard tried on Friday to rescue dozens of sailors stranded off the southern coast after Typhoon Gaemi sank a freighter and grounded eight others in the Taiwan Strait.The powerful typhoon swept through Taiwan on Thursday with gusts of up to 227 kph (141 mph) before barreling west across the Taiwan Strait towards China where it is expected to dump more torrential rain.One crew member was found dead, while four were rescued and four others were missing after a Tanzania-flagged cargo ship sank off Taiwan's southern Kaohsiung port…

Hurricane Beryl barreled toward Jamaica as a powerful Category 4 storm on Tuesday after battering smaller islands in the eastern Caribbean, and scientists cited human-caused climate change as the likely culprit for the storm's rapid strengthening.The unusually early hurricane felled power lines and unleashed flash floods. It has so far claimed at least three lives.Beryl, the 2024 Atlantic season's first hurricane and the earliest storm on record to reach the highest category on the Saffir-Simpson Scale, hit St.

China ended two days of war games around Taiwan in which it simulated attacks with bombers and practiced boarding ships, exercises that Taiwan condemned as "blatant provocation" on Saturday, detailing a surge of Chinese warplanes and warships.Chinese state television's military channel said late on Friday the drills had concluded. A commentary in the official People's Liberation Army Daily said they had lasted for two days from Thursday to Friday, as previously announced.China's defence ministry did not answer calls seeking comment on Saturday.China…

A cargo ship abandoned four days ago in the Gulf of Aden after it was hit by missiles fired by Yemen's Houthis is still floating despite taking in water, and could be towed to nearby Djibouti, industry sources said on Wednesday.Shipping risks have escalated due to repeated drone and missile strikes in the Red Sea and Bab al-Mandab Strait by the Iran-aligned Houthis since November. U.S. and British forces have responded with several strikes on Houthi facilities but have so far failed to halt the attacks.The crew of the Belize-flagged Rubymar abandoned the vessel after it was hit on Sunday…

Technical inquiries to SRC Group ramped up after it received Approval in Principle (AIP) for a concept which ‘reinvented methanol fuel storage’ on board ships. Delivering the answers has seen technical talk converting into project discussions        ‘Green’ methanol has the ability to one day run vessels almost emission-free, and commercial shipping increasingly investigates. Derived today principally from natural gas, methanol is nonetheless available, relatively easy to handle and predictable.

United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) on Saturday received a report of an incident approximately 55 nautical miles (nM) south west of Yemen's Hodeidah port where "the master reported a loud bang and a flash on the port bow of the vessel."The vessel is proceeding to the next port of call, UKMTO said in an advisory note.Authorities are investigating and vessels are advised to transit with caution, UKMTO added.Yemen's Iran-backed Houthis, who control much of Yemen including the capital Sanaa…

Singapore-based CTI-Maritec has found that seven samples from four different suppliers representing HSD and Bio Distillate grade deliveries in Indonesia have a flashpoint as low as 35°C.The samples were taken between December 10 and 19 2023.The company reminds that SOLAS Chapter II-2, Part B, Reg. 4. Clause 2.1.1 states: “The following limitations shall apply to the use of oil as fuel, except as otherwise permitted by this paragraph, no oil fuel with a flashpoint of less than…