Drones are already playing a key role in combat at sea, as seen in the Black Sea and in the recent Red Sea crisis. Leading navies are investing in drone technology in all domains, and are learning how to orchestrate drone capabilities to work together to maximum effect. In the U.S., Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division (NAWCAD) is using AI to plan out the actions of unmanned air, surface and subsurface assets all at once. 

NAWCAD's newly-developed Optimized Cross Domain Swarm Sensing (OCDSS) software system helps Navy operational planners set up unmanned swarms for success. The new program simulates different combinations of aerial, surface and subsurface drones and sensors to achieve various mission objectives. The software was trialed at the NSWC Port Hueneme Coastal Trident exercise last year. 

“OCDSS quickly runs thousands of simulations to predict how different unmanned systems might perform together,” said NAWCAD Mechanical Engineer Raymond Koehler, OCDSS’ lead software developer. "OCDSS levels-up how unmanned systems are used in a wide range of missions, and we’re ready to scale this autonomy to operational teams or test programs across the Navy and Marine Corps."

For his contributions to swarm autonomy, Koehler won an "emergent engineer" award from the Assistant Secretary of the Navy in 2025, and his team won a command-level award for the same project. 

The technology could find application in the Navy's new push towards unmanned systems at sea. It would dovetail with procurement efforts aimed at large numbers of hulls, like the Defense Innovation Unit's Production-Ready, Inexpensive, Maritime Expeditionary (PRIME) Small Unmanned Surface Vehicle program, which aims to deliver attritable small craft that could chase down a target vessel. 

The PRIME project goes beyond current state-of-the-art in drone boat operations. Ukraine's drone boats can attack targets at long range and high speed, but only with a human operator in control by satellite uplink. DIU wants to develop an unmanned surface vessel system that can "operate in cohesive groups and execute complex autonomous behaviors that adapt to the dynamic, evasive movements of the pursued vessel" on its own, even if the remote connection to a manned control center is lost. A software-driven "collaborative intercept capability" is a stated goal. 

A convicted pirate leader has had another three years added onto his sentence for a kidnapping in the Gulf of Guinea in 2017 - a rare example of a court proceeding for a pirate from the Niger Delta. 

The story of the arrest of Itoruboemi Benson Lobia begins in earnest in 2018, when he led the hijacking of the Dutch-owned freighter FWN Rapide off the coast of Port Harcourt. At Lobia's instruction, the gang kidnapped 11 members of the crew, injuring one with gunfire and causing organ damage to another due to untreated malaria. After a month of negotiations, operator ForestWave talked the pirates down to a final ransom payment of $340,000, a cost reduction of more than 80 percent compared to the criminals' original demand. 

After the kidnapping, Dutch authorities decided to go after Lobia. Using inquiries about his knowledge of piracy and dangling the possibility of a job, they lured him to fly to Johannesburg - where he was promptly arrested on an Interpol warrant. He was extradited to the Netherlands to stand for a vanishingly-rare criminal trial for piracy.  

The Rotterdam District Court found Lobia guilty of acting as the leader of the hijacking gang, and he was sentenced to a term of 8.5 years in Dutch prison for the FWN Rapide attack.

However, it turned out that the FWN Rapide was not the only ship he had hijacked. The year before, in 2017, he had been involved in the kidnapping aboard the German-operated cargo ship BBC Caribbean in the Gulf of Guinea. In that earlier hijacking, Lobia and his gang abducted eight seafarers and brought them back into the remote waterways of the Niger Delta. After a month of negotiations, the hostages were ransomed for an undisclosed sum. 

Meanwhile, three crewmembers remained aboard BBC Caribbean, and they navigated all the way to safety in Las Palmas. On arrival, the ship was searched; among other evidence, police collected a cigarette butt that carried Lobia's DNA, prosecutors said. Crewmembers also testified that they recognized his distinctive dolphin-shaped necklace from the hijacking. 

Last year, Lobia was charged a second time for the attack on the BBC Caribbean. This month, the district court in Rotterdam found him guilty and sentenced him to another three years in prison. This was less than the 5.5 years that Dutch prosecutors requested, in part because the judge took Lobia's original motive - poverty - into account. 

Each year's proposed Navy budget gets a lot of attention for what's in and what's out, but this year has some big surprises. The next order for a Constellation-class frigate is zeroed out - no frigates are in the budget request. But the Pentagon has asked Congress to set aside $1.7 billion for on-water autonomous systems, along with $730 million for underwater autonomous capabilities. 

A senior Navy official told DefenseScoop that the unmanned line items include "new efforts in unmanned undersea and in unmanned surface, to include procuring our medium unmanned surface vessel [MUSV]." 

GAO reports that the Navy is consolidating its two ship-like unmanned surface vessel programs, the MUSV and the larger LUSV. The plan, GAO reported earlier this month, is to start development of a single hull design under a major capability acquisition pathway by FY2027.  

The news for the manned fleet is mixed. Fleet size would remain the same under the budget, but the much-delayed Constellation-class frigate program appears to be facing an executive-level decision, according to USNI: Pentagon officials told the outlet that "the Trump administration has not yet decided whether it will move forward" with the frigate. 

The Constellation-class faces a long list of challenges. Originally intended as a quick and low-risk adaptation of an existing French-Italian design, the program office opted to alter about 85 percent of the vessel, lengthening it and changing its internal arrangements so that it has little in common with the original. It is running three years behind schedule, the design is not yet complete, and it is on track to deliver about 13 percent overweight, according to GAO; if not corrected, this would reduce margin for future system installations, and could affect performance. The shipbuilder's costs also appear to have gone up, though the Navy has not released the amount of the yard's requests for payment adjustment. 

This budget is a one-year request without a 30-year plan, and does not forecast future-year carrier acquisitions - like a much-discussed block buy for the fifth and sixth Ford-class hulls. But it does include $600 million for advanced procurement for the fifth hull, a signal that the Pentagon is committed to the program. Also on the plus side for the carrier (and submarine) industrial base, the proposed budget includes no less than $2.5 billion for "nuclear shipyard productivity enhancements."

[By American Maritime Partnership]

The American Maritime Partnership (AMP), the voice of the domestic maritime industry, proudly congratulates the more than 1,100 graduates from America’s maritime academies who make up the Class of 2025. These graduates now join the 650,000 men and women of the American maritime workforce: a vital component of U.S. national, homeland and economic security.

This new generation of mariners has chosen a life of service, supporting the movement of goods and energy along America’s coastlines and inland waterways, responding to disasters at home and abroad, and bolstering military sealift capabilities in contested global waters. Their graduation comes at a pivotal moment, as the Trump Administration and bipartisan Congressional leaders are calling for renewed national commitment to the maritime sector, prioritizing the American shipyards and the expansion of the U.S.-flag fleet.

“These men and women are entering a career rooted in service, and they do so as America rededicates itself to building more ships here at home and sailing them under Old Glory,” said Jennifer Carpenter, President of the American Maritime Partnership. “From Gulf Coast shipyards to the ports of Hawaii and Alaska, a stronger American Maritime means a stronger country. We are proud to stand behind these bright leaders of tomorrow as they help carry out a national mission bigger than themselves.”

U.S. Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy, speaking at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy commencement on June 23, underscored the environment this year’s graduating class enters:

“This administration understands that restoring maritime dominance is critical to America’s national security, and to do that, our nation needs more brave men and women to sail the ships we have now, but the great ships we’re going to build in the future. This mission you’re all about to embark on could not be more important at this very moment when our nation stands on the precipice of potential conflict in the Middle East. Whether it’s the Suez Canal or the South China Sea, there are rough waters ahead.”

The 2025 graduates hail from the seven maritime academies in the United States: the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy (Kings Point, N.Y.), State University of New York (SUNY) Maritime College (Fort Schuyler, N.Y.), California Maritime Academy (Vallejo, Calif.), Great Lakes Maritime Academy (Traverse City, Mich.), Maine Maritime Academy (Castine, Maine), Massachusetts Maritime Academy (Buzzards Bay, Mass.) and Texas A&M Maritime Academy (Galveston, Texas).

Following graduation, many will serve aboard vessels in the domestic fleet, which includes more than 40,000 container ships, freighters, tankers, offshore supply vessels, dredges, tugboats, towboats and barges. Others will contribute their skills to U.S. shipbuilding and repair yards, helping design and construct the next generation of American vessels. Additionally, some will serve in uniform, joining the U.S. Navy, U.S. Coast Guard, or other branches of the military.

To sail as licensed merchant marine officers, graduates must pass a rigorous U.S. Coast Guard examination process, including three days of testing and mastery of complex technical knowledge. Their training combines classroom learning with hands-on experience aboard training ships like the new U.S.-built National Security Multi-Mission Vessels, or commercial vessels operating under the U.S. flag.
 

Two of the pioneering offshore wind farms, which at the time were also the largest in the world, have been granted life extensions by the Danish Energy Agency. This marks the third offshore wind farm that Demarn was licensed for continued operations and represents a critical step for the industry, changing the economics of the properties and the sustainability of the industry.

The Danish Energy Agency has notified the owners of Nysted Offshore Wind Farm south of Lolland and Middelgrunden Offshore Wind Farm in Øresund that they will have their permit for electricity production extended. The owners of the properties had applied for the extensions, and after a review that required an impartial analysis of the remaining service life to be obtained. In addition, the owners are required, as part of the extension, to carry out an extended service inspection annually.

"It is positive that offshore wind turbines that are over 20 years old will have the opportunity to continue producing green electricity for many years to come," said Stig Uffe Pedersen, Deputy Director General of the Danish Energy Agency. “It is also sustainable from a resource perspective that the plant can continue to operate safely and responsibly for a longer period of time.”

These wind farms are seen as pioneering in the industry. They are considered to have laid the foundation for the development of the modern industry with its much larger capacity.

The Middelgrunden Offshore Wind Farm, owned by HOFOR and the Middelgrundens Vindmøllelaug, has, according to the agency, become a permanent part of the view for Copenhageners. Launched in 2000, just nine years after the first offshore wind farm was started by Ørsted, Middlegrundens at the time was the largest offshore wind farm with a location just 3.5 km off the coast of Copenhagen. 

The owners applied for and have received a 25-year extension of the permit. The park's 20 turbines, each just 2 MW, supply a total of 40 MW.

It was surpassed three years later by the Nysted Offshore Wind Farm. It is 10 km south of?Nysted and has a total of 72 wind turbines.  Nysted’s turbines are each 2.3 MW with a total output of approximately 166 MW. Nysted offshore wind farm is owned by Ørsted, PensionDanmark, and Stadtwerke Lübeck, which had applied for a 10-year life extension.

The Danish Energy Agency marks these steps as another advancement in the maturation of the industry and expanding its contributions. Earlier in June, the Danish Energy Agency approved the first-ever extension granted to the Samsø Offshore Wind Farm. This extension is valid for ten years.

When the Samsø Offshore Wind Farm was established in 2002, the industry standard for the electricity production permit was limited to 25 years. The ten-turbine park has a total capacity of 23 MW and was granted an extension to operate until 2037.

At the beginning of June, the Agency said it had also received applications from Rønland offshore wind farm (17.2 MW) and Horns Rev 1 offshore wind farm for life extensions. Horns Rev 1 was expanded in three phases to become one of the largest offshore wind farms, and together, all these farms still play a key role in energy generation for Denmark. Today, the country has 2.7 GW of installed offshore wind power generation and an ambitious goal to reach 14 GW by 2030.
 

The National Transportation Safety Board has released the preliminary results of its investigation into the allision of the Mexican Navy training vessel Cuauhtémoc with the Brooklyn Bridge last month. The report covers the known facts of the incident, and does not provide any conclusions about the probable cause - typically a later part of the investigation. It also does not provide any factual findings about the propulsion system, which is still being examined. 

On the evening of May 17, a bar pilot and a docking pilot boarded the Cuauhtémoc at Manhattan's Pier 17, preparing to get under way for an outbound voyage. They both conducted a master-pilot exchange, and the master told them that propulsion, steering and ships' systems were all in good working order. Winds were westerly at about 10-15 knots, towards the bridge. 

At about 2016 hours, Cuauhtémoc slipped her mooring lines and got under way from the pier. The docking pilot had the conn, as is standard in New York Harbor for the initial minutes of a departure. A twin-screw assist tug helped her off the pier as the docking pilot ordered astern thrust to back her out into the East River. 

Unusually, the transfer of engine and rudder commands from the docking pilot passed through multiple people on the way to the person at the helm. The docking pilot would give a command to the captain on the conning deck, who would then translate it into Spanish and relay it to a second crewmember on the deck below. This crewmember would then relay the command to other crewmembers in the navigation bridge, and these individuals would execute the command. 

From 2020-2022 hours, the Cuauhtémoc moved astern from the pier, as ordered. Once the ship was clear, the docking pilot ordered all stop, then dead slow ahead, and ordered the tug to reposition to the starboard bow, where it would be best positioned to help with a turn to port. The tug took its line in and disconnected to effect this maneuver. 

As this was in process, the docking pilot gave additional engine commands in the ahead direction. Despite this, the stern of Cuauhtémoc began to swing towards the Brooklyn Bridge, and the vessel accelerated astern. From 2023-2024, the speed astern increased to about six knots, culminating in the allision of the Cuauhtémoc's upper masts with the underside of the Brooklyn Bridge. She then drifted stern-first into a seawall on the east side of the river. 

No appreciable damage to the bridge's structure occurred, though a traveling platform system for maintenance beneath the bridge received minor damage from the impact. The ship's three masts were all seriously damaged, and there was scraped paint on the port quarter, where Cuauhtémoc made contact with the seawall. The rudder was also damaged: the rudder post was deformed, and the rudder itself was stuck at 90 degrees to the centerline, oriented towards the port side.

NTSB is still examining the propulsion system, operating control system, and crew experience and training, among other factors. 
 

While the overall trend continues to show improvement in the number of containers going overboard, the World Shipping Council reports that in 2024, rerouting of vessels to avoid the hostilities in the Red Sea directly contributed to an increase in boxes lost at sea. The trade group points to the industry’s continuing efforts, highlighting that in the absence of a large casualty, the rate of losses continues to improve.

In 2024, the World Shipping Council estimates that 576 containers were lost at sea out of approximately 250 million transported. The number was up by 221 containers from the prior year, but most of the increase is directly traced to a number of incidents off the Cape of Good Hope as containerships avoided the Red Sea and encountered strong winter weather. WSC points out that even with the increase, it was significantly below the 10-year average of 1,274 containers lost at sea.

“Despite continued loss-prevention efforts by the industry, the re-routing of transits away from the Red Sea and around the Cape of Good Hope to keep global commerce moving has ocean carriers navigating one of the world’s most challenging routes, as highlighted in this report,” said Joe Kramek, President & CEO of the World Shipping Council.

The South African Maritime Safety Authority (SMSA) tracked three major incidents between July and September 2024; CMA CGM Benjamin Franklin lost 44 containers, CMA CGM Belem lost 99 boxes, and MSC Antonia lost 46 boxes, all while encountering heavy weather off South Africa. MSC Taranto in October lost five empties also in the region. 

WSC highlights the area as “well-known for hazardous maritime conditions,” while reporting that the number of vessels taking the route spiked by 191 percent compared to 2023. It calculates that 35 percent of 2024’s losses at sea were due to routing around South Africa.

Over the past 17 years, there have been three major spikes in including in 2013 when MOL Comfort was lost with over 7,000 TEU. The numbers spiked again in 2020 and 2021 as vessels including ONE Apus, ONE Aquila, APL England, Maersk Eindhoven, and Maersk Essen all lost or damaged boxes in heavy seas. The industry linked many of the problems to a phenomenon known as parametric rolling and increased efforts to warn seafarers and to manage the uncontrolled and sudden violent rolling.

World Shipping Council supports new efforts that include the mandatory reporting for lost containers coming into effect in 2026 from the International Maritime Organization, as well as enhanced cargo safety screening, and further scientific research into loss prevention. Participating with MARIN, WSC says a report will be sent to the IMO in September on major advancements in improving container safety. It identifies the reasons for losses, develops tools to prevent incidents, and provides recommendations for the IMO’s revised regulation.

This year has been a challenging one for the industry with SM Portland losing 115 boxes overboard during a Pacific storm in March. However, fire is emerging as the key issue with Maersk Frankfurt struggling with a fire that killed seafarers in 2024, and currently, a fire has been burning for three weeks aboard Wan Hai 503, which also claimed the lives of seafarers. MSC Elsa 3 was also lost off India last month and MSC Baltic III grounded off Canada in a winter storm. 

The trade group emphasizes that safety is a shared responsibility pointing to new efforts to address mis or undeclared dangerous goods, including the first industry-wide system for screening. It reiterates basic issues such as conscientiously and correctly packing, declaring, and weighing containers and their contents. WSC, in partnership with the National Cargo Bureau, has developed a new safety program with industry best practices that will be rolled out this year. It also points to changes in safety regulations, including declaring charcoal shipments as dangerous goods and new treatment, packing, and stowage requirements.

Huntington Ingalls Industries' shipbuilding programs for the U.S. Navy face significant delays, particularly for the Ford-class aircraft carrier program, which is running years behind. To speed up work, HII is working with publicly-listed enterprise AI company C3 AI to put advanced algorithms behind the wheel for its yards' work scheduling and planning. 

HII and C3 tried out a six-month trial production deployment program at Ingalls Shipbuilding, the yard that builds all U.S. Navy amphibs and most Arleigh Burke-class destroyers. During the trial, C3's agentic enterprise AI systems adjusted and optimized work schedules for Ingalls. The platform showed significant improvements in schedule performance, HII said - significant enough that the shipbuilder now wants to scale it up across all of its yards. 

HII also runs Newport News Shipbuilding, the only builder of nuclear-powered carriers in the world and one of two builders of the U.S. Navy's Columbia-class and Virginia-class submarines. Both Ingalls and NNS will now begin using C3 AI for planning and scheduling for their programs. 

"This collaboration underscores our growing role as a strategic provider to the U.S. government and defense sector,” said Thomas M. Siebel, Chairman and CEO, C3 AI. “By deploying Enterprise AI across planning, operations, and the supply chain, we are powering a modern, intelligent infrastructure to ensure America’s edge in naval readiness.”

The handful of shipyards that build surface combatants and subs for the U.S. Navy are under scrutiny, and Acting CNO Adm. James Kilby reports that all of the service's newbuild programs are now behind schedule. "We are behind in every ship class [by] different rates, but at least years," Kilby said.

All shipbuilding contracts are under review, Navy Secretary John Phelan said earlier this year. Two big contracts - the next follow-on order for the Constellation-class frigate and the much-discussed block buy for two future Ford-class carriers - are not funded in the Navy's proposed FY2026 budget. 

Weather concerns and the inability to stop the smoldering fire prompted the Indian authorities working with the private salvage team to move the Wan Hai 503 containership further away from the coastline. The vessel had been taken to a distance about 130 nautical miles west of the coast and over the weekend was due, weather permitting, to leave the Indian Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).

“The vessel remains in a structurally compromised but stable condition, with primary risks stemming from the persistent smoldering fire in Cargo Hold No. 4, the residual flooding within the engine room, and unpredictable weather patterns,” reports the Directorate General of Shipping. “High winds and swells have severely limited boarding operations, complicating firefighting and dewatering efforts.” 

Three weeks after the fire was reported and the ship was abandoned on June 9, the fire is still burning in the area of Cargo Hold No. 4, with reports saying the deck area and cargo holds have collapsed permitting an airflow that continues to fuel the fire. Further complicating the situation in the area are collapsed containers. They are continuing boundary cooling and additional firefighting materials were due to reach the vessel today, June 30. Monitoring is showing persistent elevated temperatures within Hold No. 4.

The salvage team had been able to board the vessel and using portable equipment, pumped out approximately 500 to 800 cubic meters of water from the flooded engine room. The concern is that the stern continues to sit low in the water and the vessel is listing toward port, but they believe it still has about 76 percent structural stability of allowable sea forces.

The hope is to conduct further dewatering, but an attempt to board the vessel on Saturday, June 28, was unsuccessful due to unsafe conditions. The DGS reports moderate to rough sea conditions, winds ranging from 25 to 28 knots, and gusts to 42 knots in squalls.

India refused a port of refuge for the hulk and there was talk it would be towed to Colombo, Sri Lanka, but it is still pending formal clearance. Concerned about the environmental dangers, the Indian Authorities ordered the hulk towed further away from the coast, and as of Saturday, they had approximately 54 nautical miles remaining to exit the Indian EEZ. 

The vessel Offshore Warrior has two soft towlines attached and was making 2.9 knots. Pending improved weather conditions, they were also planning to add wire towlines. Also, with the additional firefighting material and improved weather, the goal was to enhance the fire suppression efforts and resume dewatering the hull.

Once the vessel clears the Indian EEZ, the efforts will depend mostly on the private salvage company hired by the owners. Indian’s Directorate General of Shipping says it will be reducing its role while providing routine updates to Singapore’s MPA as the flag state of the vessel.
 

When President Donald Trump revealed that he is in negotiations with Finland's president to buy an "old" icebreaker, many observers assumed that he was considering the powerful and capable Polaris. It turns out that Polaris is not for sale, and the vessel under discussion is actually the 32-year-old Fennica - a well-known icebreaker that has worked previously off Alaska and has transited the Northern Sea Route. However, Fennica is six years older than the Coast Guard's own USCGC Healy, the aging medium icebreaker that the service wants to augment with another hull. 

Fennica was delivered in 1993 for the Finnish Maritime Administration. Fitted with two azimuthing thrusters and four engines developing up to 28,000 horsepower, she is capable of breaking 30 inches of ice at nine knots, and can continuously break ice up to six feet thick without ramming. With a long open back deck, Fennica can carry up to 4,800 dwt worth of cargo and supplies. Her hull form is specially adapted for better seakeeping and less snap rolling than traditional icebreakers (known for a lack of seakindliness in open ocean). 

As a working vessel, Fennica has a moderately successful history in the offshore sector, aided by her OSV-style layout and a massive 230 tonnes of bollard pull for rig repositioning. She has an endurance of about 45-65 days at sea, and can hold position in DP mode. However, her commercial prospects have been limited by her higher fuel consumption compared to conventional, non-icebreaking offshore service vessels. 

According to Finnish outlet IS, U.S. officials are still in talks with their Finnish counterparts over the terms of a lease or purchase agreement for Fennica. As part of a package deal, the United States would also order two new icebreakers that would be built in Finland, according to the outlet. 

Finnish employment minister Reko-Antti Suojanen told IS that the sale of the newer Polaris is not up for discussion. 

Any acquisition plan for Fennica would require a budget appropriation from Congress; a used icebreaker acquisition is not currently in the White House's budget request, nor in the reconciliation bill currently before the Senate. 

Top image: Fennica (file image courtesy Marcusroos / CC BY SA 3.0)

The efforts to control the mega-cruise ships along the French Riviera continue with the city of Cannes announcing it would implement new restrictions at the end of the year. It follows a similar effort by Nice and Villefranche, which was aimed at forcing large ships to move to Cannes or possibly Marseilles, and the broader trend of major destinations to stop overtourism.

"Cannes has become a major cruise ship destination, with real economic benefits,” wrote the long-time mayor of the city David Lisnard in a statement. “It's not about banning cruise ships, but about regulating, organizing, setting guidelines for their navigation." He highlighted that they were responding to concerns about crowd management and environmental issues.

The city has worked to expand its image as a chic destination along the French Riviera. In addition to the world-famous film festival, it also hosts yachting events and concerts. 

The City Council voted on June 27 to adopt new regulations that limit the size of cruise ships to a maximum capacity of 1,000 passengers as of January 1, 2026. In addition, it is imposing a cap of 6,000 cruise passengers a day arriving in the city, and they are shifting the anchorage for large cruise ships further out to sea and away from the beaches and famous cove. Large cruise ships will be required to tender their passengers ashore, which has already been the practice because there are no docks for the largest cruise ships on the Riviera.

Nice started a similar effort after multiple protests by environmental and other groups. The outspoken mayor of Nice proposed at the beginning of the year a total ban on cruise ships. Nice and Villefranche settled on a compromise due to go into effect July 1 that calls for permitting cruise ships with up to 2,500 passengers to anchor in the bay and tender passengers ashore. Only cruise ships with under 450 passengers are permitted into Nice and they are limiting it to one ship per day. The goal was to move large cruise ships to Cannes or further away on the coastline. Marseille is approximately a two-hour drive to the west of the Riviera.

France is a popular cruise and tourist destination. Last year, it was reported to have received over 100 million visitors. The growth in tourism and the large number of passengers on the new large cruise ships are creating concerns in many cities and ports.

Venice implemented a ban in 2021 for large cruise ships entering the lagoon after protests from environmentalists and preservationists. Recently, plans were announced for a new regional cruise center in the industrial port to the east of Venice, while both Amsterdam and Barcelona have adopted rules to shift cruise ships out of the city center.

The UK’s Border Force is highlighting one of the largest drug smuggling seizures ever made in the country. They are pointing to an “intelligence-led operation” and the growing cooperation among international law enforcement to disrupt the flow of illegal drugs.

They did not name the specific vessel but said the container was arriving at the London Gateway port from Panama. The smugglers had gone to great lengths to hide the shipment, which was reported to be deep inside a container with legal cargo. Further, the authorities said the target container was buried and required moving 37 other containers. The operation took nearly two days.

When they were finally able to examine the target container, they located 2.4 tonnes of cocaine in over 2,000 blocks. The Border Force estimated the street value at nearly $133 million and said that makes it the sixth—largest seizure since they have kept records.  

The authorities reported that they are working with international teams to interrupt the flow of narcotics. They noted cooperation and training programs in Latin America to prevent drugs from reaching the UK and Europe.

They believe the shipment, which was seized on June 14, is part of a larger smuggling operation tied to South American cartels.

While it was a large seizure, it was small compared to the 5.7 tonnes seized at the Port of Southampton in 2024. The Border Force in 2015 also seized 3.2 tonnes of cocaine at the Port of Southampton.

European and international law enforcement have been working with the ports and shipping companies in new efforts to crack down on smuggling. Yet, Europol estimates that just 10 to 15 percent of cocaine shipments are being intercepted at European ports. They have highlighted sophisticated operations by the smugglers to infiltrate port operations and gain release codes for containers to move them undetected, while in other cases, the smugglers are bribing crewmembers to drop the drug parcels near shore for retrieval from waiting small boats.

A small product tanker making its way from India to Oman issued a distress call reporting an engine room fire. The Indian Navy vessel Tabar with assigned to patrol the Gulf of Oman responded and is leading the firefighting effort.

The vessel Yi Cheng 6 (3,600 dwt) is managed by an Indian shipping agent with a crew of 14 Indian nationals aboard. The vessel is registered in Palau with ownership to a company in the British Virgin Islands. Its history is unclear as it was previously owned by a Chinese company and appears to have passed to its current ownership in the past year. There are no inspections on file for the vessel.

Indian frigate assisting fighting the fire Indian Navy)

The exact position of the vessel is also unclear. It departed Kandla, India, and was bound for Shinas Port in Oman when the distress signal was issued on June 29. Pictures show the vessel’s life rafts deployed.

The Indian Navy reports 13 personnel from the frigate Tabar transferred to the tanker using the frigate’s boats and a helicopter. Along with five crewmembers, they were leading the firefighting efforts. The tanker is reported to be drifting without power.

The fire onboard has been reduced dramatically, according to the Indian Navy. They continued to provide assistance.

Indian Navy boarded the fire to lead the firefighting efforts (Indian Navy)
 

[By: ClassNK]

ClassNK has issued an approval in principle (AiP) for a LCO2/Methanol Carrier jointly developed by Mitsubishi Shipbuilding Co., Ltd. and Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd. The certification confirms the feasibility of the vessel, which is being developed for commercialization, from regulatory and safety perspectives. It marks the world’s first issuance of an AiP for a LCO2/Methanol Carrier.

ClassNK reviewed the design concept of the vessel based on its 'Rules and Guidance for the Survey and Construction of Steel Ships', including Part N, which incorporates the IGC Code, an international code for the construction and equipment of ships carrying liquefied gases such as LCO2 and LNG in bulk, and Part S, which reflects the IBC Code for ships carrying chemicals like methanol in bulk. Upon confirming compliance with the prescribed requirements, ClassNK issued an AiP.

ClassNK will continually strive to contribute to advanced decarbonization initiatives through safety assessments and more.

Approval in Principle (AiP):
At the initial stage of designing or before the specific target ship to be implemented is decided, the design is examined based on the existing regulations such as international conventions and ship classification rules, and an Approval in Principle (AiP) is issued as proof of conformity with requirements. It also prevents rework of regulatory aspects in the post-process, shortens the examination time at the time of class registration, and can be used as a technical basis for external appeal of the design status. 

The government of Ukraine may seek EU sanctions on firms and public officials in Bangladesh for allegedly importing cargoes of grain that are partially sourced from occupied territory. 

Exporters in Russia's Black Sea region routinely mix grain from Russia with grain from parts of Ukraine that are currently under Russian occupation. Ukraine considers agricultural goods from occupied areas to be stolen, and officials in Kyiv regularly pursue foreign buyers to discourage the practice. The former government of Syria was a major customer, before the collapse of the Assad regime, but other nations' importers now buy it as well - including traders in Bangladesh, according to Ukrainian diplomats. 

Reuters obtained several letters that Ukraine's embassy in New Delhi sent to the Bangladeshi foreign ministry about the matter. The correspondence suggests that as much as 150,000 tonnes of stolen grain was shipped from Kavkaz to Bangladeshi ports, mixed in with "legitimate" Russian grain and undetectable to the buyer. The Ukrainian ambassador to India, Oleksandr Polishchuk, told Reuters that officials in Dhaka had not responded - even when threatened the possibility of sanctions and provided with a specific list of vessel names. 

The vessels are not currently under sanctions. To date, the EU, UK and U.S. have focused on sanctioning tankers, which account for the majority of Russia's export shipments by value. 

Ukraine has seized two ships for allegedly carrying stolen grain from Russian loading ports, and is planning to auction off one of them. 

The Dutch and Belgian governments have moved to strengthen Ukraine's mine countermeasures capabilities with the donation of two minehunter vessels. The development comes soon after NATO allies committed to continue providing support to Ukraine in its war with Russia following the conclusion of the alliance’s annual summit in The Hague.

The Ministry of Defense in the Netherlands is announcing that its decommissioned minehunter Zr.Ms. Vlaardingen together with Belgian minehunter BNS Narcis were recently transferred to the Ukrainian Navy. The donation of the two vessels is intended to enhance the war-ravaged nation’s ability to protect key infrastructure, safeguard trade routes and protect the global grain supply. When eventually transferred through the Bosporus, they will enhance the Ukrainian Navy’s abilities to clear explosives from the Black Sea.

Following the donation, Vlaardingen has since undergone name change and now bears the name of a Ukrainian city, Melitopol. Narcis has been named Mariupol, after the Ukrainian city that fell to a Russian siege early in the war. The Dutch government has also announced it will be donating another decommissioned minehunter, Zr.Ms. Makkum, which will be transferred to Ukraine by the end of the year. The ship will be named after the Ukrainian city of Henichesk. (All of these namesake cities are currently in Russian-occupied territory.)

Both Vlaardingen and Makkum are Alkmaar-class ships that served the Royal Dutch Royal Navy before being decommissioned last year. Both ships have a maximum displacement of 588 tonnes, and their hulls are made from polyester reinforced with fiberglass. The material minimizes the magnetic signature of the ships, helping them to avoid the detonation of underwater magnetic mines.

Narcis is a Tripartite-class minehunter that has been part of the Belgian Navy fleet since 1990 and remained in active duty before its donation. Belgium intends to donate a total of three ships of the class to Ukraine. Transfer of Vlaardingen and Narcis to the Ukrainian navy came after the two aging ships underwent thorough maintenance and conducted a training period with their new crews.

“The major ports of Odessa and the shipping lanes in the Black Sea are the lifeblood of the Ukrainian economy,” said Dutch Defense Minister Ruben Brekelmans. “And it is constantly threatened. Ukraine may not win the war at sea, but the country can certainly lose the war there. We simply cannot let that happen. That is why it is so important for maritime security and free passage that Ukraine can use the minehunters.”

The Netherlands and Belgium are the latest NATO allies to donate warships to Ukraine. In 2023, the UK government transferred two decommissioned minehunters to the country as part of efforts to help Ukraine detect and disable sea mines.

The Turkish government has closed the Bosporus to warships of combatant nations, as is its right under the Montreux Convention. The UK's gifted minehunters have not been allowed to pass through. 

At the just concluded NATO Summit 2025, leaders of the alliance have committed to continue supporting Ukraine in its war with Russia. The allies agreed to invest five percent of gross domestic product annually on core defense requirements as well as defense-and security-related spending by 2035. Part of the spending will include direct contributions towards Ukraine’s defense and its defense industry.

On June 22, the Arleigh Burke-class destroyer USS Sampson intercepted a smuggling boat in the Eastern Pacific and captured 3.5 tonnes of cocaine - worth $58 million on the U.S. market, more than $120 million in Europe and upwards of $300 million in Australia, depending upon final destination.

Just after 1730 hours that evening, a Navy helicopter aircrew from USS Sampson spotted a suspicious vessel at an undisclosed position in the Eastern Pacific. The crew launched a small boat with a team of officers from Sampson's embarked U.S. Coast Guard Law Enforcement Detachment (LEDET).

The LEDET crew found three suspected drug smugglers aboard the vessel, all of whom said that they were foreign nationals. The packages aboard the vessel tested positive for cocaine, so the cargo and all three suspects were taken into custody aboard the Sampson. Their stateless vessel was later sunk as a hazard to navigation.

Sampson is one of several Arleigh Burke-class destroyers to deploy to the U.S. Southern Command area of responsibility in an effort to ramp up law enforcement south of the border. The Eastern Pacific smuggling zone is about 1,800-2,200 nautical miles southeast of San Diego; the cocaine delivered from South America into Central America via this small-boat route reaches a variety of destinations, primarily the European market (via Central American container ports) and the American drug market (shipped overland through Mexico). 

Other warships recently deployed on a rotation south of the border include USS Cole, USS Gravely, USS Charleston, USS Spruance and USS Stockdale, all playing a role in counter-smuggling and counter-migration missions. 

A Greek-managed crude tanker has suffered an explosion at a position off the coast of Libya, according to maritime security consultancy Vanguard. 

In an advisory, Vanguard said that the 158,000 dwt tanker Vilamoura suffered a possible security incident at a position about 80 nautical miles off the coast of Libya. The ship reported an explosion and a flooded engine room.

The oceangoing tug Boka Summit met up with Vilamoura at a position off Benghazi on Saturday afternoon, and appears to have taken the tanker in tow, based on AIS data provided by Pole Star. As of Sunday night, Vilamoura and Boka Summit were under way in the central Mediterranean, headed towards Greece and making about four knots.

In the past year, Vilamoura made two calls at Russian ports - one at Ust-Luga and another in the Russian sector of the Black Sea. Heavy GPS jamming makes it difficult to determine where in the Black Sea region the vessel went, but it appears that she spent time near Sochi and Novorossiysk; the latter is a loading port for both Russian and Kazakh crude. Her presence at Russian ports could have bearing on the incident off Libya, noted Vanguard. 

"Some have speculated that the [Vilamoura] was the victim of a limpet mine attack, although this remains unconfirmed by official sources," Vanguard reported. "Of note, a number of tankers have been involved in explosions since early 2025 that investigators believe were caused by limpet mines, including the Malta-flagged Seajewel, the Marshall Islands-flagged Seacharm, the Liberia-flagged Grace Ferrum, and the Antigua and Barbuda-flagged Kola. All had recently called at Russian ports."

India’s state-owned Mazagon Shipbuilders has revealed its proposed acquisition of a controlling stake in Sri Lanka’s Colombo Dockyard. If successful, this will become the first international acquisition by an Indian yard, at a time the country is intensifying efforts to capture a bigger share of the global shipbuilding market.

The deal is valued at $52.96 million, representing at least 51 percent equity in Colombo Dockyard. This stake was earlier held by Japan’s Onomichi Dockyard, which announced plans to divest the ownership in December. Mazagon said that it has signed an agreement with Onomichi, giving a green light on acquisition of its stake. The deal is awaiting statutory and regulatory approvals, added Mazagon in a stock exchange filing on Friday.

Colombo Dockyard is Sri Lanka’s largest shipbuilding and repair facility. However, the yard has been experiencing financial difficulties, exacerbated by losses made on some shipbuilding contracts struck at lower prices before the Covid pandemic. In 2023, the company declared its worst financial performance, with a record loss of about $38 million. On the other hand, Mazagon is almost debt-free and reported revenue of $1.13 billion for the year ended March 2025.

According to Mazagon managing director Capt. Jagmohan, the acquisition of Colombo Dockyard will expand his company’s presence in the Indian Ocean region, strengthening its ability to serve global maritime clients. With over 50 years of experience in shipbuilding and repair, Colombo Dockyard has been able to build a global client base, including major European shipowners. Its current order pipeline is worth $300 million.

The Colombo deal is part of a major expansion drive by Mazagon, which holds the title of India’s top warship and submarine builder. Mazagon has said that its expansion initiative is guided by its growing order book. In a recent earnings call, the company indicated that it is seeing significant tailwinds for defense and commercial shipbuilding owing to the current geopolitical situation. Mazagon projects that its order book will cross $10 billion by 2026 from its current $3.7 billion.

China’s growing presence in the Arctic has been a source of concern in western policy circles, with some viewing it as a potential geopolitical risk. Primarily, the Chinese ambition to become a major polar power has attracted scrutiny from the Arctic States (excluding Russia), all of whom are NATO members. The mainstream narrative has been that Chinese investments in the Arctic are dual-use in nature, serving both commercial and military purposes.

However, a recent analysis by the Harvard’s Belfer Center reveals that Chinese interests in the Arctic are highly exaggerated. According to some estimates, Chinese investments in the Arctic are worth about $90 billion, and the study claims that the figure could be inflated. In examining the estimate, Belfer researchers observed that analysts often include unsuccessful and proposed projects that have not been implemented.

“China’s actual footprint in the Arctic is far more limited than many believe. There’s a major gap between what’s discussed publicly and what’s actually happening on the ground,” said the study co-author P. Whitney Lackenbauer, a Professor at Trent University.

A common misrepresentation of China’s investments in the Arctic, is its economic partnership with Russia in the region. Although Western sanctions have led to stronger trade ties between China and Russia, the scale of their cooperation in the Arctic is overestimated, with some key projects failing to pan out.

This is most evident on the Northern Sea Route (NSR), where China has recalibrated its investments due to the impact of Western sanctions since the start of the invasion of Ukraine. One of the projects that took a hard hit is the Belkomur railway, often discussed as an example of Chinese-Russian partnership in the Arctic. The project proposes to link the Russian Urals with the Arctic port of Arkhangelsk, including the proposed Indiga seaport. However, limited financing has stalled the project.

Another unsuccessful project that China had agreed to pursue with Russia is in exploration for oil in the Barents and Pechora Seas. The involved Chinese company, CNPC, later pulled out, citing too many risks. Similar challenges have also been observed in Russian energy projects, including the Arctic LNG 2 project. With the West escalating economic sanctions against Russia, Chinese companies have significantly reduced their stake in the Arctic energy projects.

Last year, the Chinese energy technology firm Wison announced that it is ceasing all cooperation with Russia. The company went ahead to sell off its Zhoushan Yard, which early this year was sanctioned by the U.S for continued delivery of LNG technology to the Arctic LNG 2 project.

Nevertheless, Russia by far retains the largest amount of Chinese Arctic investments of all the Arctic states. But as the study found, the economic value and strategic value of these investments may not always be the same. Again, Chinese companies may express interest and willingness to make an economic investment, but this does not always translate to implementing the project.