With the European wind sector facing competitiveness and security challenges, wind developers in the region have issued European governments a new call to action to protect the lifeline of the industry.
With EU targeting wind to contribute 35% of its electricity by 2035, countries across the region are making strides in expanding renewable energy capacity, especially in the offshore wind sector. But developers are concerned that the build-out has slowed in the past few years with the offshore sector facing increased risk and uncertainty. Some of the factors contributing to this include cost inflation, declining commercial viability and lower investor confidence.
To reverse the downward trend, developers at this year’s WindEurope summit want EU governments to auction at least 100GW worth of Contracts for Difference (CfDs) over ten years. Through the auction, the governments should guarantee fixed price and indexed contracts to create bankable projects.
In addition, wind farm developers want governments to plan the commissioning deadlines of the 100GW evenly, with 10GW annually from 2031-2040. This will help create market predictability, while ensuring there is sufficient time for investments. These measures - backed by power purchase agreements - will help the European offshore wind industry achieve 15GW installations annually by the 2030s.
“Wind energy is already driving industrial growth and energy independence across Europe, we just need to scale up. This calls for increasing viable demand for wind energy, and strengthening wind’s market environment,” said Henrik Andersen, WindEurope Chairman.
One of the notable challenges identified for competitiveness is the high electricity price in some European countries. In its report released this week, WindEurope said that the high electricity prices are driven by taxes and levies, slowing renewables-based electrification and undermining use in the industrial sector.
“Electricity is overburdened with taxes and charges compared with gas. In Spain for instance, electricity charges for households are 19 times higher than gas charges,” reveals the report.
Hidden beneath the vast expanse of the Southeast Pacific Ocean are underwater mountain chains that are among the most ecologically rich places on Earth.
Stretching almost 3,000km from Rapa Nui in the South Pacific towards the coasts of northern Chile and southern Peru, the seamounts of the Salas y Gómez and Nazca ridges support over 90 species that are considered endangered, near threatened or vulnerable to extinction, including sharks, seabirds, whales, turtles and corals.
These peaks boast the highest ever recorded levels of marine endemism – meaning species found there and nowhere else. They are vital breeding and nursery grounds for marine life, including commercially important jack mackerel and Humboldt giant flying squid, and hold deep cultural significance for island communities in the Pacific.
A rare species nicknamed the Caspar octopus but not yet scientifically described, seen on the Nazca Ridge. The area boasts exceedingly high marine endemism, meaning species found only there (Image: ROV SuBastian / Schmidt Ocean Institute, CC BY NC SA)
Despite their remoteness, these ecosystems are under siege. Industrial fishing, including bottom trawling, threatens to strip these biodiverse waters of life before they can be fully studied or protected. Politicians and campaigners have made strides toward moving the conservation of these underwater sanctuaries higher up the agenda. But without urgent action, they could be lost forever.
A turning point in ocean protection
At a recent meeting of the South Pacific Regional Fisheries Management Organisation (SPRFMO) in Santiago, governments took a step forward by agreeing a plan to secure protection for this biodiversity hotspot. But the process remains slow.
The SPRFMO is an intergovernmental body established in 2012 to ensure the sustainability of fish stocks and the responsible use of marine resources. It sets catch limits, monitors fishing, and conducts scientific research.
(Map: Dialogue Earth)
The Chilean government has already pledged to protect the ridges that lie within its national waters, designating large-scale marine protected areas (MPAs) that cover the most critical areas. Now, it is advocating to conserve the majority of the Salas y Gómez and Nazca ridges. These ridges lie within the shared high seas, beyond any nation’s jurisdiction, and are overseen by the SPRFMO.
This effort, backed by the Coral Reefs of the High Seas Coalition, whose members include Oceana (where I work), Conservation International, the Center for Ecology and Sustainable Management of Oceanic Islands and other NGOs, sets a precedent for broader high seas protection efforts. The first critical step would be a fisheries closure, which will pave the way for these ridges to become a high seas MPA in the coming years.
A path to protection in the South Pacific
The Chilean government called for the protection of the ridges in 2021. By 2022, it formally proposed a permanent fishing ban at SPRFMO covering both jack mackerel and Humboldt flying squid. The proposal was analysed during a 2024 SPRFMO meeting in Ecuador and, in a significant step forward, a mandate was agreed for the group’s scientific committee to “compile and review all relevant scientific information and data about the area and recommend possible measures”.
A task team is now working to assemble this information, with the support of the Coral Reefs of the High Seas Coalition. Based on the task team’s analysis, the scientific committee will recommend options for conservation measures, including a fisheries closure. The SPRFMO commission itself will need to decide and approve one of the options.
At the 2025 SPRFMO meeting in Santiago, the commission agreed to make a decision by 2026 on the management of the region, including the fisheries closure originally submitted by the government of Chile.
But we need rapid action to safeguard this special environment beneath the ocean’s surface. With each expedition to the region, new species are discovered and we learn more about how critical the ecosystem is to planetary health. It is our mission to ensure that the Salas y Gómez and Nazca ridges, despite being out of sight, are not forgotten in talks that determine their future.
We are pouring our efforts into helping the work of the task team, with support from our regional research partners, so the scientific committee understands the urgent need for protection.
The 2026 deadline for a management decision cannot be missed, and governments must involve their best scientists in the process.
Bridging policy, conservation and industry
The ocean is so vast, productive and biodiverse that we have enough space to have both healthy fisheries and an important portion designated as MPAs, which, in turn, help fisheries. The safeguarding of ecosystems supports nature, climate regulation, coastal communities and livelihoods.
The SPRFMO is more than just a policy forum. It’s a space to show that conservation and sustainable fishing can go hand in hand on the high seas. These efforts must not be seen as opposing forces.
The High Seas Treaty, agreed in 2023, is a historic milestone that will enable us to designate MPAs in all of the oceans worldwide beyond national jurisdiction. For it to enter into force and become international law, the treaty must be ratified by 60 countries. Currently, 21 nations have done so. A growing and united community of NGOs have joined forces in a campaign, Together for the Ocean, that calls for governments to commit to ratify it by June, coinciding with the landmark UN Ocean Conference in France.
The high seas cover 43% of our planet and their protection, as MPAs or other effective area-based conservation measures (OECMs), is essential in achieving the globally agreed goal of protecting at least 30% of the ocean by 2030 (also known as 30×30). We’ve witnessed a surge in commitments, yet only 8.3% of the world’s ocean is currently designated as protected. Most of it is either protected in name only or so loosely regulated that substantial harmful activities are often allowed to continue.
Nations must now follow through on their 30×30 pledges to implement effective ocean protection measures, prioritising the most ecologically and biologically significant areas.
That is exactly what we are working toward now: bridging policy, conservation and industry to protect the Salas y Gómez and Nazca ridges.
We are calling on governments to take bold, science-led steps to secure lasting protection for these irreplaceable underwater havens for biodiversity – starting with a fisheries closure in early 2026, followed by urgent action to deliver MPA designation under the High Seas Treaty.
Felipe Paredes is director of habitat protection campaigns at Oceana in Chile and a marine biologist with more than 20 years of experience in scientific research, education and marine conservation public policy.
This article appears courtesy of Dialogue Earth and may be found in its original form here.
After 10 years of deliberation, IMO member nations have agreed to implement the first global carbon fee for shipping. It is the first UN-administered carbon revenue system of any kind.
At the final day of talks for the Marine Environment Protection Committee's 83rd meeting, delegates agreed to a set of binding targets for shipping's greenhouse gas emissions, including intermediate objectives of a 20-30 percent greenhouse emission reduction by 2030, a 70-80 percent reduction by 2040, and net-zero by or around 2050.
Accompanying the targets, delegates passed a set of long-debated technical and economic measures that are intended to incentivize compliance. Rather than an across-the-board carbon levy on all emissions, it is a tiered system of fees and compliance levels, and not all emissions will be taxed.
The core of the plan is a penalty of $380 per tonne of CO2 that ships will have to pay if they exceed a maximum level of emissions intensity, which will get stricter every few years on a set schedule. Ships that stay under this intensity standard will still have to pay a fine of $100 per tonne of CO2 for emissions in excess of a second "direct compliance" level. Ships that emit even less than the "direct compliance" standard get carbon credits for outperforming the requirements, which can banked or sold to underperforming ships.
The fee structure means that only emissions above a certain limit are subject to a penalty; emissions under the limit will be untaxed. And all ships under 5,000 GT - coastal vessels and workboats - are exempt.
The framework also leaves room for operators to use any alternative fuels that meet emissions criteria, including first-generation biofuels made from food crops like palm and soybean oil. These are the cheapest "green" fuels available, but they come with a significant environmental cost, as large-scale increases in production require more land-clearing.
"The IMO deal creates a momentum for alternative marine fuels, but unfortunately it is the forest-destroying first generation biofuels that will get the biggest push for the next decade," said Faig Abbasov, shipping program director for Transport & Environment (T&E).
Climate advocates and industry groups agreed that the fee structure falls short of what would be needed to compel an industry-wide transition to high-cost green methanol and green ammonia in the near term. However, based on an analysis by T&E, the IMO's schedule will result in a substantial reduction in emissions from about 2030 onward - a profound cut compared to the increases expected under a no-regulation, business-as-usual scenario. The schedule suggests that the industry will not reach net zero until some years after 2050.
Courtesy T&E
"This adoption is a first step in the right direction, with now a part – although small – of shipping emissions being subject to what is effectively a global levy. However, with an expected fall in emissions of around 10% by 2030 compared to 2008, the level of ambition is largely insufficient to meet the IMO target of emission reduction, let alone to meet a 1.5 C trajectory," said Dr. Marie Fricaudet, a senior research fellow at UCL Energy Institute.
Advocates of a stricter emissions regime blamed longtime opponents of climate action for the outcome; the Trump administration, which registered its opposition to any carbon fees earlier this week, also attracted criticism. "Let us be clear about who has abandoned 1.5°C. Saudi Arabia, the US and fossil fuel allies pushed down the numbers to an untenable level and blocked progress at every turn," said Minister Ralph Regenvanu of Vanuatu, a proponent of ambitious climate measures at IMO.
Industry groups praised the MEPC outcome as a step in the right direction, if not a full resolution.
"We recognize that this may not be the agreement which all sections of the industry would have preferred, and we are concerned that this may not yet go far enough in providing the necessary certainty. But it is a framework which we can build upon," the International Chamber of Shipping's Guy Platten said in a statement.
“This is a major milestone for climate policy and a turning point for shipping. Our industry has long been labelled as ‘hard to abate,’ but record industry investment and a new global measure can turn the tide on that,” said Joe Kramek, WSC President & CEO.
UCL cautioned that without a high-revenue IMO levy powering multibillion-dollar investments in green fuel, national-level capital flows will now determine who wins from shipping's green transition - much as China has done with its investments in solar panels, wind turbines, batteries, EVs and shipbuilding. "A significant risk now exists that the future of shipping will, like renewable energy and battery electric vehicles, be significantly owned and driven by nations with strong industrial policy," warned UCL.
At a recent ceremony in China, MAN Energy Solutions signed a framework agreement with COSCO Shipping Heavy Industry Co., Ltd. (CHI) regarding their future cooperation on decarbonisation retrofit projects.
Michael Petersen – Senior Vice President, Head of PrimeServ Denmark – signed the agreement on behalf of MAN Energy Solutions, with Guo Zhiqiang – Deputy General Manager, CHI Commercial Headquarters – doing so for CHI.
Guo Zhiqiang said: “I am pleased to announce that CHI and MAN Energy Solutions, having served shared clients in their respective domains, are now forging a closer collaboration in vessel decarbonisation. Starting today, our integrated one-stop solutions will inject fresh impetus into the green transition of the global maritime industry.”
Petersen said: “This frame agreement facilitates MAN Energy Solutions’ partnership with CHI, one of the largest repair-yard groups in the world. The agreement means that we can join forces on many future projects to ensure the decarbonisation of the existing commercial fleet worldwide. Today, there are some 4,500 vessels globally with the potential to benefit from changing their current bunker fuel to more environmentally-friendly options. We look forward to working with CHI to deliver new decarbonisation solutions to the maritime industry.”
The new framework agreement provides for the retrofitting of existing ships to operation on new alternative fuels like methane, methanol and ammonia – all fuels that can be produced in a sustainable way through power-to-X processes. MAN Energy Solutions will provide advanced engine-retrofit technology and digital energy-efficiency solutions, while CHI will leverage its rich EPC (Engineering, Procurement, and Construction) experience in large-scale ship modification projects.
With five ship-repair yards, CHI has the capacity to repair and modify approximately 1,500 ships annually. This collaboration will integrate MAN PrimeServ’s cutting-edge, dual-fuel engine technology with CHI's repair and modification capabilities to decarbonise the merchant fleet globally.
MAN Energy Solutions views the new agreement as a natural development stemming from the companies’ strong relationship. In this respect, MAN Energy Solutions and CHI are already working together on two major projects for two world-leading container-ship owners.
On Friday morning, the U.S. Coast Guard and the Boston Police Department rescued three fishermen from a scallop boat that went aground near Green Island, a rocky islet near the entrance to Boston Harbor. Pollution control efforts are under way to reduce the impact of a spill.
At about 0745 on Friday, Coast Guard Sector Boston received a broken-up radio call from a commercial fishing vessel, the scallop boat Eileen Rita. The Rita's crew confirmed that they had gone aground at the entrance to the harbor.
Coast Guard crews from stations in Point Allerton and Boston responded to the scene near Green Island (North Brewster Island), joined by units from the Boston Police Department and Boston Fire Department. Two Coast Guard boats and a Boston Police boat rescued the three crewmembers from atop the partially capsized vessel's hull, and no injuries were reported.
Images courtesy USCG
After the grounding, the Eileen Rita took on a list and settled onto her port side. The vessel soon began to discharge diesel fuel and oil into the water, according to the Coast Guard.
Eileen Rita is carrying as much as 4,000 gallons of fuel and 50 gallons of lubricating oil; the exact amount on board and the quantity of the spill are unknown. Video footage obtained by the Coast Guard shows a substantial quantity of what appears to be red dye diesel spilling from the Eileen Rita's tanks. Multiple state and federal agencies are involved in the pollution-response effort.
“The Coast Guard is working closely with the responsible party to mitigate fuel discharge. Simultaneously, methods to safely remove the vessel from the island are being evaluated,” said Lt. Cmdr. Alfred Betts, the public affairs officer for Sector Boston. “The contracted oil recovery organization is deploying absorbent boom to mitigate the spread of spilled fuel. Contracted divers are assessing the vessel to plan a path forward.”
The re-ordering of global trade, escalated by the astronomical tariffs between the U.S and China, has left some countries with significant export advantages. Brazil is already showing signs as an early winner, with its port sector reporting increased demand. A strong preference for the Brazilian soybean has started to appear in China, historically a large-scale buyer of American soy.
According to Reuters, China is expected to receive about 3 million tons of U.S soybeans in April-May, which its state stockpiler Sinograin purchased earlier this year. However, due to China’s new 125 percent tariffs on American goods, the shipment is likely to attract higher duties and possibly sell at a discount due to cheap competition from beans from Brazil.
“The pressure of the soy crushing margins on Chinese industries will likely change the country’s import dynamics. As these margins come under negative pressure, China tends to slow down the pace of imports and rely on domestic stockpiles- as seen in the previous trade war in 2018,” said the Brazilian National Association of Cereal Exporters (Anec) in its monthly report this week.
Anec predicts a potential export boom for the Brazilian soy this year of up to 110 million tons, representing a historic record for Brazil. In the first quarter of 2025, Brazil has already recorded shipments of about 27 million tons, a four percent increase compared to last year. Currently, China accounts for 77 percent of Brazilian soy exports.
The uptick in export volumes is also visible in the port sector data, with Brazilian ports moving 12.4 million tons of containers in February- the highest volume ever recorded, according to the National Agency for Waterway Transportation (Antaq). This figure represents a 9.26 percent increase compared to the same period in 2024. Of the total, around 70 percent (8.6 million tons) was from long-haul shipping, while the remaining 30 percent (3.7 million tons) was from coastal shipping (cabotage). Some of the major commodities behind the increase include corn, bauxite and fertilizers. Other shipments which rose by a significant measure include poultry products. Brazil’s exports of fresh and processed poultry reached 476,000 tons in March, up 19 percent from a year earlier, according to the Brazilian Animal Protein Association (ABPA).
In anticipating higher export volumes, some ports are already investing in additional capacity as well as diversifying operations. Porto do Acu, located in the state of Rio de Janeiro and Brazil’s top oil export port, has said that the tariff-induced distortions in global trade has given the port an incentive to expand facilities for agricultural and mineral commodities.
“When threats started, demand started to rise. We are in a really good position here,” João Braz, the port’s logistics director told Bloomberg.
Brazil’s agricultural shipments are also a factor in China’s interests in the Panama Canal. Chinese economist Li Xunlei has called for improving government ties in the Central American country in order to ensure strategic access to the waterway for China’s food shipments; 90 percent of the Brazil-to-China soy trade passes through the canal, he said in a recent paper.
Internal budget documents leaked to the media Friday suggest that the Trump White House wants to cut funding for NOAA's National Ocean Service in half, move the National Marine Fisheries Service to the Department of the Interior, end the Sea Grant program for oceanographic research and education, and "eliminate all funding for climate, weather, and ocean laboratories and cooperative institutes" - effectively ending NOAA's weather and ocean research program.
Current and former NOAA staffers gave copies of the OMB budget for NOAA to Science, Politico and the New York Times this week. Among other items, the programs to be eliminated would include:
- The Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR), NOAA's core research division
- The National Oceanographic Partnership Program and Sea Grant program
- The National Marine Fisheries Service, to be folded into Interior's U.S. Fish and Wildlife Agency
- The National Ocean Service's Integrated Ocean Observing System Regional Observations, Competitive Research and Coastal Zone Management Grants
- The National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science
Overall, the OMB's plan would cut NOAA's top line by $1.7 billion. OAR would be the hardest hit division. Its budget would be cut by $315 million, and the remaining $170 million would be repurposed for other programs. “At this funding level, O.A.R. is eliminated as a line office,” the OMB proposal suggests.
The White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) FY2026 budget is formally a suggestion to Congress; in theory, any final numbers would have to pass the House and Senate.
“I think it’s step one in the deconstruction of the agency,” former NOAA Administrator Rick Spinrad told Politico after reading the plan. “Any one of these are by themselves destructive enough. But taken together they foretell a much more calamitous outcome.”
Some of the biggest cuts were long foreseen: The dismantling of the Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research echoes the Heritage Foundation's well-known Project 2025 report, which described OAR as "one of the main drivers of the climate change alarm industry," proposed consolidating the office, and recommended "breaking up" NOAA altogether. OMB's top-line budget cut is also similar in scope to an earlier plan published in 2023 by the Center for Renewing America, founded by Project 2025 coauthor and current OMB director Russell Vought.
The OMB plan also includes specific cuts to NOAA's next-generation weather satellites, due to launch in the 2030s. OMB proposes eliminating individual sensors that (if installed) would track ocean color, atmospheric temperature, pollution levels and moisture content. Some of these factors are useful for storm prediction, but the data could also be repurposed to produce climate science. At the same time, parallel cuts that OMB proposes at NASA (reported Friday by Ars Technica) could eliminate a large swath of existing earth science satellite sensing capabilities as well.
The OMB's reported cuts also align with recent administration orders that canceled office leases for certain NOAA departments, heavily focused on the National Marine Fisheries Service. The lease cancelations affect local NMFS port offices in Alaska, California, Florida, Guam, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Louisiana, Oregon, Washington and elsewhere, and many take effect in FY2025.
Inside NOAA, staffers told Axios that some operations have already been slowed by a requirement to have every contract approved by Commerce Department Secretary Howard Lutnick. NOAA is one part of his portfolio, but the secretary is also a key architect of President Trump's global tariff policy, and the Wall Street Journal reports that Lutnick has been occupied at the White House for much of his tenure to date. Dozens of NOAA contracts were awaiting his approval as of April 1, according to Axios.
When Donald Trump pulled back on his plan to impose eye-watering tariffs on trading partners across the world, there was one key exception: China.
While the rest of the world would be given a 90-day reprieve on additional duties beyond the new 10% tariffs on all U.S. trade partners, China would feel the squeeze even more. On April 9, 2025, Trump raised the tariff on Chinese goods to 125%.
The move, in Trump’s telling, was prompted by Beijing’s “lack of respect for global markets.” But the U.S. president may well have been smarting from Beijing’s apparent willingness to confront U.S. tariffs head on.
While many countries opted not to retaliate against Trump’s now-delayed reciprocal tariff hikes, instead favoring negotiation and dialogue, Beijing took a different tack. It responded with swift and firm countermeasures. On April 11, China dismissed Trump’s moves as a “joke” and raised its own tariff against the U.S. to 125%.
The two economies are now locked in an all-out, high-intensity trade standoff. And China is showing no signs of backing down.
And as an expert on U.S.-China relations, I wouldn’t expect China to. Unlike the first U.S.-China trade war during Trump’s initial term, when Beijing eagerly sought to negotiate with the U.S., China now holds far more leverage.
Indeed, Beijing believes it can inflict at least as much damage on the U.S. as vice versa, while at the same time expanding its global position.
A changed calculus for China
There’s no doubt that the consequences of tariffs are severe for China’s export-oriented manufacturers – especially those in the coastal regions producing furniture, clothing, toys and home appliances for American consumers.
But since Trump first launched a tariff increase on China in 2018, a number of underlying economic factors have significantly shifted Beijing’s calculus.
Crucially, the importance of the U.S. market to China’s export-driven economy has declined significantly. In 2018, at the start of the first trade war, U.S.-bound exports accounted for 19.8% of China’s total exports. In 2023, that figure had fallen to 12.8%. The tariffs may further prompt China to accelerate its “domestic demand expansion” strategy, unleashing the spending power of its consumers and strengthening its domestic economy.
And while China entered the 2018 trade war in a phase of strong economic growth, the current situation is quite different. Sluggish real estate markets, capital flight and Western “decoupling” have pushed the Chinese economy into a period of persistent slowdown.
Perhaps counterintuitively, this prolonged downturn may have made the Chinese economy more resilient to shocks. It has pushed businesses and policymakers to come to factor in the existing harsh economic realities, even before the impact of Trump’s tariffs.
Trump’s tariff policy against China may also allow Beijing a useful external scapegoat, allowing it to rally public sentiment and shift blame for the economic slowdown onto U.S. aggression.
China also understands that the U.S. cannot easily replace its dependency on Chinese goods, particularly through its supply chains. While direct U.S. imports from China have decreased, many goods now imported from third countries still rely on Chinese-made components or raw materials.
By 2022, the U.S. relied on China for 532 key product categories – nearly four times the level in 2000 – while China’s reliance on U.S. products was cut by half in the same period.
There’s a related public opinion calculation: Rising tariffs are expected to drive up prices, something that could stir discontent among American consumers, particularly blue-collar voters. Indeed, Beijing believes Trump’s tariffs risk pushing the previously strong U.S. economy toward a recession.
Potent tools for retaliation
Alongside the changed economic environments, China also holds a number of strategic tools for retaliation against the U.S.
It dominates the global rare earth supply chain – critical to military and high-tech industries – supplying roughly 72% of U.S. rare earth imports, by some estimates. On March 4, China placed 15 American entities on its export control list, followed by another 12 on April 9. Many were U.S. defense contractors or high-tech firms reliant on rare earth elements for their products.
China also retains the ability to target key U.S. agricultural export sectors such as poultry and soybeans – industries heavily dependent on Chinese demand and concentrated in Republican-leaning states. China accounts for about half of U.S. soybean exports and nearly 10% of American poultry exports. On March 4, Beijing revoked import approvals for three major U.S. soybean exporters.
And on the tech side, many U.S. companies – such as Apple and Tesla – remain deeply tied to Chinese manufacturing. Tariffs threaten to shrink their profit margins significantly, something Beijing believes can be used as a source of leverage against the Trump administration. Already, Beijing is reportedly planning to strike back through regulatory pressure on U.S. companies operating in China.
Meanwhile, the fact that Elon Musk, a senior Trump insider who has clashed with U.S. trade adviser Peter Navarro against tariffs, has major business interests in China is a particularly strong wedge that Beijing could yet exploit in an attempt to divide the Trump administration.
A strategic opening for China?
While Beijing thinks it can weather Trump’s sweeping tariffs on a bilateral basis, it also believes the U.S. broadside against its own trading partners has created a generational strategic opportunity to displace American hegemony.
Close to home, this shift could significantly reshape the geopolitical landscape of East Asia. Already on March 30 – after Trump had first raised tariffs on Beijing – China, Japan and South Korea hosted their first economic dialogue in five years and pledged to advance a trilateral free trade agreement. The move was particularly remarkable given how carefully the U.S. had worked to cultivate its Japanese and South Korean allies during the Biden administration as part of its strategy to counter Chinese regional influence. From Beijing’s perspective, Trump’s actions offer an opportunity to directly erode U.S. sway in the Indo-Pacific.
Similarly, Trump’s steep tariffs on Southeast Asian countries, which were also a major strategic regional priority during the Biden administration, may push those nations closer to China. Chinese state media announced on April 11 that President Xi Jinping will pay state visits to Vietnam, Malaysia and Cambodia from April 14-18, aiming to deepen “all-round cooperation” with neighboring countries. Notably, all three Southeast Asian nations were targeted with now-paused reciprocal tariffs by the Trump administration – 49% on Cambodian goods, 46% on Vietnamese exports and 24% on products from Malaysia.
Farther away from China lies an even more promising strategic opportunity. Trump’s tariff strategy has already prompted China and officials from the European Union to contemplate strengthening their own previously strained trade ties, something that could weaken the transatlantic alliance that had sought to decouple from China.
On April 8, the president of the European Commission held a call with China’s premier, during which both sides jointly condemned U.S. trade protectionism and advocated for free and open trade. Coincidentally, on April 9, the day China raised tariffs on U.S. goods to 84%, the EU also announced its first wave of retaliatory measures – imposing a 25% tariff on selected U.S. imports worth over €20 billion – but delayed implementation following Trump’s 90-day pause.
Now, EU and Chinese officials are holding talks over existing trade barriers and considering a full-fledged summit in China in July.
Finally, China sees in Trump’s tariff policy a potential weakening of the international standing of the U.S. dollar. Widespread tariffs imposed on multiple countries have shaken investor confidence in the U.S. economy, contributing to a decline in the dollar’s value.
Traditionally, the dollar and U.S. Treasury bonds have been viewed as haven assets, but recent market turmoil has cast doubt on that status. At the same time, steep tariffs have raised concerns about the health of the U.S. economy and the sustainability of its debt, undermining trust in both the dollar and U.S. Treasurys.
While Trump’s tariffs will inevitably hurt parts of the Chinese economy, Beijing appears to have far more cards to play this time around. It has the tools to inflict meaningful damage on U.S. interests – and perhaps more importantly, Trump’s all-out tariff war is providing China with a rare and unprecedented strategic opportunity.
Linggong Kong is a Ph.D. candidate in Political Science at Auburn University.
This article appears courtesy of The Conversation and may be found in its original form here.
The carrier USS Carl Vinson has arrived in the U.S. Navy operating area in the Red Sea, joining carrier USS Harry S. Truman. Both carrier strike groups are now working around the clock targeting Houthi targets in western Yemen, including the group's military sites and its senior leadership.
"Why have just one, when you can have two juggernauts, operating around the clock, seven days a week," commented Capt. Christ "Chowdah" Hill, CO of USS Truman (below).
Night ops perspective from the bridge of the USS Harry S. Truman in the Red Sea, to include some regulah coffee…???????? pic.twitter.com/1vUEqmRO5C
In a statement Friday, Houthi spokesman Yahya Saree said that the group's forces continue to target the U.S. Navy task force, and have launched "several cruise missiles and drones" at American targets in the Red Sea since Thursday. "Sooner or later, the enemy will realize that the . . . people of Yemen do not submit or kneel," he claimed.
The strike campaign is just one aspect of the pressure that the Trump administration is applying to Houthi forces. The White House has also strongly encouraged Iran - the Houthi group's primary foreign sponsor - to cease supplying arms and advisors to the Yemeni militants. Iran has reportedly withdrawn its personnel from Yemen as a precautionary measure, and is starting Omani-brokered talks with U.S. negotiators.
The U.S. State Department also warned on Wednesday that the U.S. will not accept any shipping activity in and out northwestern Yemen. The divided country's main seaport, Hodeidah, is controlled by the Houthis and supplies the majority of the population with food and fuel.
"The United States will not tolerate any country or commercial entity providing support to foreign terrorist organizations, such as the Houthis, including offloading ships and provisioning oil at Houthi-controlled ports. Such actions risk violating U.S. law," warned the State Department.
Aid groups have objected to restrictions on basic necessities, given the long-term deprivation that Yemeni civilians have faced since the start of the nation's civil war more than 10 years ago.
“US measures targeting the Houthi de facto authorities should provide clear and effective exemptions for humanitarian aid operations," said Diala Haidar, Amnesty International’s Yemen Researcher. "The majority of civilians in critical need of aid live in Houthi-controlled areas in northern Yemen. The US’s designation of the Houthis as a terrorist organization should not obstruct aid and other supplies indispensable for keeping people alive."
The Trump administration has designated the Houthis as a foreign terrorist organization, and it recently stripped down U.S. aid funding for Yemen, including funds for food. The decision to withhold food aid was made by a 28-year-old lawyer for the Department of Government Efficiency, two sources at USAID told the AP.
Reported to be the most successful brand in the Carnival Corporation portfolio, Carnival Cruise Line has an aggressive five-year plan for growth. The line has a strong orderbook and will also be looking to grow its private ports while continuing its focus on U.S. cruising with the widest assortment of homeports.
“Since our inception in 1972, we have defined and led the modern cruise industry and our plans for the next five years and beyond are no different,” said line’s President Christine Duffy. “Having just integrated two ships into the Carnival fleet in Australia, we now stand at 29 ships, the largest global fleet in our history.”
The line has two additional LNG-fueled cruise ships on order from Meyer Werft and it revealed they will continue the naming pattern of the class which has celebrated the history of the now 53-year-old line. The next ships will be Carnival Festivale debuting in the spring of 2027 sailing week-long cruises from Port Canaveral, Florida. In 2028, it will introduce Carnival Tropicale. The line is planning new innovations including an expanded outdoor area and water park that will for the first time also host evening deck parties on some nights with music and activities for families. Carnival reports it carries more than one million children per year and it is expanding its accommodations for families on the new ships.
Expanded water park will open some evenings for family deck parties (CCL)
Carnival reports that half of the U.S. population lives within 5-hour driving distance to one of its homeports and it will expand its short cruise programs. Already half of its cruises are in the short duration category and in 2027, the Mardi Gras will begin short cruises from Port Canaveral, the first time the line has used one of its largest ships on short cruises.
As part of its strategy, Carnival says it will also return to year-round operations in Mobile, Alabama beginning in spring 2027. In addition, Carnival is exploring moving a larger Conquest class ship to Baltimore in 2027 that can accommodate about 1,000 more guests than Carnival Pride, the Spirit class ship currently deployed from Baltimore.
Like all the large cruise lines, Carnival is also increasing its focus on private destinations. In July 2025 it opens Celebration Key on Grand Bahama Island, which will have a capability in its first phase to handle 13,000 passengers a day. The line plans further expansion in Phase 2 while noting that 20 Carnival ships from 10 U.S. homeports on more than 1,400 sailings are already scheduled to visit Celebration Key in 2027.
Celebration Key is being developed on Grand Bahama Island as a private destination for the cruise line's passengers (CCL)
It is also launching an expanded and renamed operation in the Bahamas, RelaxAway, Half Moon Cay, which it shares with Holland America Line. The new features including a dock for two of its largest cruise ship will open at the private island in 2026. At the same time, Mahogany Bay, Carnival’s destination in Roatan, Honduras, will be renamed Isla Tropicale and will be expanded to include a pool with a swim up bar and cabanas.
This expansion follows the growth of Carnival Cruise Line in Australia taking over two 109,000 gross ton ships and merged in the P&O Australia cruise operation. In the past few years, it also took over three ships from sister brand Costa Cruises giving Carnival Cruise Line a total 34 percent increase in capacity.
Longer term, the brand also highlights it order with Fincantieri for three LNG-powered cruise ships which will be approximately 230,000 gross tons, the largest ships ever built by Fincantieri and an Italian shipyard. Called Project Ace, they will be delivered in 2029, 2031, and 2033 and have over 3,000 guest cabins, and a capacity of almost 8,000 passengers.
With strong advance booking and a strong increase in onboard revenue, Carnival Cruise Line points to strong momentum from the brand achieved over the past few years. The growth strategy looks to leverage the brands strengths for the future.
On April 11, Lebanese Judge Tarek Bitar resumed his investigation into the 2020 explosion in Beirut Port with the subpoenaed testimony of two former senior state officials implicated in the affair, Maj Gen Abbas Ibrahim (ex-Director General of General Security) and Maj Gen Tony Saliba (ex-Director General State Security).
The explosion in the port’s quayside Warehouse 12 on August 4, 2020 killed 218, injured thousands and devastated a wide area of central Beirut. The blast was heard in Syria and 125 miles away in Cyprus.
Judge Tarik was appointed to his role in 2021. His predecessor had named a number of ministers and senior officials as suspects in the inquiry, who then had managed to remove him. The same indicted ministers and senior officials, working with a President and Prime Minister and others aligned with the Hezbollah, Amal and Free Patriotic Movement, used court cases and noncooperation to shut down Judge Tariq’s enquiry. But with a new President and Prime Minister, both dedicated to supporting the independence of state institutions, the Judge has resumed his work - notwithstanding numerous death threats and warnings of ‘chaos’ from Hezbollah-aligned senior Shi’a cleric Mufti Ahmad Kabalan. The new Prime Minister, Nawaf Salam, was (until his recent appointment) President of the International Court of Justice in The Hague.
In Lebanon’s highly divided and contested political landscape, the course of such inquiries never runs smooth. It took 11 years for the international tribunal investigating the assassination of Prime Minister Rafic Hariri in 2005 to issue its verdict – ineffectively, and from the safety of The Hague.
Multiple conspiracy theories and suggestions of Israeli involvement were circulated in the aftermath of the explosion, most designed to put investigators off the scent and to protect the guilty. The cause of the explosion is clear. 2,750 tons of explosives-grade ammonium nitrate were offloaded from the impounded MV Rhosus, which had been declared unseaworthy and detained while enroute from Georgia to Mozambique.
The high density ammonium nitrate was stored in Warehouse 12, the location where customs-confiscated goods were normally impounded. On its own, ammonium nitrate is relatively inert, and even the blasting grade found in the warehouse becomes an explosive only when it is mixed with fuel oil or other more volatile explosives. Nonetheless, ammonium nitrate on its own is a potentially volatile substance, and has caused countless deadly explosions over the last century. It is normally subject to dangerous goods safeguards.
On August 4, 2020, the ambient temperature - reinforced by storage in an unventilated warehouse - would have been at or near the annual peak for Beirut. The ammonium nitrate was being stored alongside a consignment of customs-confiscated fireworks. Apparently, a repair team was conducting welding repairs to the doors of Warehouse 12. A fire crew – Platoon 5 from the Beirut Fire Brigade – was called out to deal with a fire in the warehouse created by the welding activity, and before all perished in the subsequent two explosions, they reported they were dealing with a fire in the confiscated fireworks. There was an initial explosion in the fireworks at 1807 hours, before the catastrophic explosion occurred some 30 seconds later. The conditions and the sequence of events, plus the reporting of those at the scene before they subsequently were killed, make it absolutely clear that the initial firework fire provided sufficient shock, heat and detonating effect to ignite the ammonium nitrate - which because of the storage conditions was already unstable.
WARNING THIS IS SHOCKING: Here is a live shot of the explosion today in Beirut via @jenanmoussa showing the moment the blast happens. pic.twitter.com/5KvOc1I2sE
Speculation that the explosion was the secondary effect of an Israeli attack on a nearby Hezbollah arms store was an attractive hypothesis to many. Video footage from multiple cameras showed no missile tracks, only seagulls flying above the seat of the explosion. The pattern of attacks in both Lebanon and Syria in preceding years suggested that any Israeli attack would need to be accompanied by an imminent and direct threat to Israeli safety and security, which was never evident in this instance.
Whilst it became clear early on that the explosion had not been initiated by an external attack, many questions remain unanswered.
FBI analysis suggested that only 552 tons exploded on 4 August, less than a fifth of 2750 tons of ammonium nitrate originally consigned to the warehouse. ‘Shrinkage’ in dockside warehouses worldwide is common, but who might have benefitted from this 2000 ton seepage in stocks, beyond any customs officers paid to turn a blind eye? Agricultural fertilizer merchants would have been interested in using the material. But also at this time, the Syrian government was in the throes of civil war, and its capacity domestically to produce ammonium nitrate for use in the manufacture of explosives for barrel bombs fell from nearly 90,000 tons in 2004 to 16,000 tons in 2013, when demand was increasing. A cheap supply from Warehouse 12 may have been a more attractive alternative to circumventing sanctions and ramping up domestic production.
The value of the slowly degrading ammonium nitrate in Warehouse 12 may have been the reason why it stayed put, despite some Port officials demanding that the material should be moved for safety reasons. Customs officials sent six chaser letters to the courts which had ordered the seizure of the ammonium nitrate. None of these follow-ups resulted in any action. This suggested a conspiracy between those pilfering the ammonium nitrate, and officials using their positions to facilitate this, whether for political purpose or for financial gain.
Judge Tarik’s list of suspects is focused on officials who may have facilitated pilfering, rather than on the black market pilferers themselves. The dangers posed by the increasingly unstable ammonium nitrate appear to have been correctly identified by the responsible Port safety officials; neither their competence, nor that of the brave firemen from Platoon 5 from the Beirut Fire Brigade, is being pursued as a line of investigation.
The course of Judge Tarik’s inquiry still has some way to run. The fall of the Assad regime may help by freeing up some information sources in Syria. But whilst Hezbollah’s influence within the machinery of the state in Lebanon is much reduced, the militant group still has some bite in its capacity to disrupt proceedings.
Wafiq Safa (left, Mehr / CC BY 4.0), Hezbollah’s Head of Security and a prominent organizer of anti-Judge Tariq protests in 2020-21, remains an influential figure within the Port of Beirut. Thus in the rebuilding of the authority of the Lebanese state, it is morale-inspiring that the inquiry has not been offshored to the safety of the Hague. Convictions flowing from the inquiry will do much to create confidence in the government - and to give the relatives of the 218 killed some closure. Best of all, Judge Tarik remains in his post and pursuing the case.
The UN International Maritime Organisation (IMO) agreed to establish an Emission Control Are (ECA) the Northeast Atlantic. For millions of people along the Atlantic coastlines - from Portugal, Spain, and France through the British Isles up to Iceland and Greenland - the air they breathe will get much cleaner. Besides human health there is also a big benefit for the environment that suffers from toxic air pollutants.
“Today marks a historic day in air pollution reduction from ships. The new Emission Control Area will avoid thousands of premature deaths in Europe. Moreover, the Northeast Atlantic ECA will close the gap between existing ECAs in North and Baltic Sea and Mediterranean Sea. Thereby almost all European waters will be Emission Control Areas soon. This harmonized regulation not only benefits people and nature but also facilitate a level playing field for the maritime industry in Europe. Our network of NGOs in 13 European countries has put this on the political agenda. Without civil society engagement this would not have happened - but we also would like to express deep thanks to people working in national administrations especially in Portugal who made this possible.” says Sönke Diesener, shipping expert at NABU.
Besides decreased air pollution there is a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions too. Reduction in fuel use as well as a swich to alternative energies incentivised by the higher prices for higher quality fuels. Moreover, there will be less ground level ozone formation which is another high potential greenhouse gas deriving from air pollution by ships.
The just released European Maritime Transport Environmental Report 2025 shows Sulphur Oxides going down 70% since 2014 within the already established ECAs. Thus, it is only consequent to move ahead with this regulatory framework. Least European waters not covered so far are the Spanish (Canary Islands) and Portuguese (Azores and Madeira) islands and the Black Sea. “It is not acceptable to leave this people with toxic air pollution. Therefore, we are committed to move on to advocate for an all EU-ECA and beyond – both for sulphur and nitrogen oxides” concludes Sönke Diesener.
Unfortunately, it will be still allowed to burn toxic heavy fuel oil, if the exhaust gases are washed out by so-called scrubbers, whose contaminated wash water is dumped in the ocean. This practice still downgrades the achievements for the environment and creates loopholes that undermine the economic level playing field for shipping. That is why, alongside the expansion of ECAs, NABU believes that a ban on scrubber wash water discharge is necessary, as already implemented by several countries such as Denmark, Finland, and Sweden.
Global shipping and maritime leaders met with the wider sector for three days at Marina Bay Sands in Singapore for Sea Asia 2025, a leading maritime event that has helped shape the challenges and opportunities, while declaring the importance of engaging with a changing world to deliver leadership and sustainability by serving as a marketplace for the global sector.
The global maritime industry meets in Singapore
In its 10th edition, Sea Asia saw the international maritime industry hearing from leaders and pioneers, showcasing solutions covering energy efficiency, future fuels and AI applications, and announcing new products, services, collaborations and agreements across the three days.
During the event, 55 sessions were presented across the main conference, Connexion Stage, Knowledge Sharing Theatre and Country Hotspots – including sessions led by the Panama Maritime Authority, British Chamber of Commerce Singapore, and Rotterdam Maritime Capital of Europe – and Executive Networking sessions - from the UK Hydrographic Office, International Paint and Seatrade Maritime News. The sessions provided valuable learning and networking opportunities, as well as highlighted investment potential across the marine value chain.
The maritime industry has great opportunities to adopt technologies that reduce emissions, improve efficiency, and enhance safety and security. During the show, Shipnet unveiled an AI-powered decision-making tool, ICE Telecom introduced a new satellite communications product, and Rakuten Maritime celebrated ClassNK’s recognition of its two products Rakuten-TM and Rakuten-SC. Innovative solutions on display at the exhibition will drive the energy and digital transitions. Long-standing exhibitors such as Alfa Laval, Singtel, Coway Marine, CSSC, Korean Registry, Noatum, and Wilhelmsen, came together with first-time exhibitors including Blue Wireless, International Paint, and Siemens Energy to connect, debate, and foster business growth.
Asian leadership
Amid geopolitical uncertainty, the maritime and shipping industry is facing new trade patterns. Delegates at the Sea Asia Global Forum heard about the resilience of the maritime sector from Christopher J Wiernicki, the Chairman and CEO at American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) and from Mark Cameron, the Chief Operating Officer at Ardmore Shipping, on the importance of Singapore and wider South-East Asia as strong supporters of decarbonisation in shipping.
Illustrating the region’s progress, China has more than 1,000 projects already on ships to drive the green transformation, including the adoption of carbon capture and storage and green methanol projects. Discussions also extended to the financing landscape in shipping, which is largely dominated by Asian banks, as commented by Adam Kent, Managing Director at Maritime Strategies International in a shipbuilding focused panel.
Collaboration to deliver change
The call for collaboration echoed across the exhibition and conference. In talking on the International Maritime Organization’s (IMO) upcoming MEPC 83 meeting in April 2025, Takeo Akamatsu, General Manager of Green Innovation Business Unit at ITOCHU Corporation, called on nations worldwide to reach an agreement on fuel standards and a structure for incentivising decarbonisation across the shipping industry.
Dr. Martin Kröger of the German Shipowners’ Association (VDR) also highlighted the need for greater collaboration when talking on Europe’s four emissions trading systems in the EU, UK, Gibraltar and Turkey, which make it bureaucratically difficult to handle. The role of the IMO, and all delegates to the organisation in helping to close the gap in these regulations is key, he added.
Collaboration is not only required for the environmental regulatory landscape, but in data and connectivity too. In a panel discussing cybersecurity in shipping, Despina Panayiotou Theodosiou, Co-CEO at Tototheo Global, emphasised that the industry should embrace connectivity as it enables greater efficiency, but stressed the importance of shared responsibility to mitigate risks. In a later session, Ivan Landen, Chief Executive Officer at Blue Wireless and Harshavardhan Bhave, Director, Fleet Management at Pacific Basin addressed the lack of standardisation in satellite communications, the difficulty of investing in only one solution, and need for multiple LEO connectivity solutions for customers to mix and match.
Chu Kheng Sin, Managing Director, Regional Head of Transportation Finance at Standard Chartered Bank, noted that events such as Sea Asia are essential for fostering collaboration, sharing insights and working together to address the challenges faced by the shipping industry.
Flexibility for a multi-fuel future
The challenges of the energy transition were a major focus on the second day of the event. Speakers addressed how to scale alternative fuels, create pathways for immediate decarbonisation, and upskill seafarers for a multi-fuel future. Rodrigo Bermelho, Global Head of Shipping and Distribution at Vale, explained how the company is embracing multiple pathways to ensure it keeps its options open for working with owners and charterers.
Captain Ashutosh Kumar, Deputy General Manager, Decarbonisation Projects at MOL (Asia Oceania), explained that the shipping company was conducting many pilot projects and considering its long-term goals, looking at a range of fuels that included methanol, ammonia and LNG. Information sharing and collaboration will be key as the industry progresses to 2030, and onward to 2050.
Highlighting this challenge, Claudene Sharp-Patel, Global Technical Director at Lloyd’s Register, commented that new ways of working would require digital integration with fuels and systems, a challenge that would require collaboration across the supply chain to understand the risks and mitigate them.
Looking ahead
Sea Asia will return to Singapore between March 16-18, 2027, expanding to two levels and increasing exhibition space in Marina Bay Sands. The expanded event will offer exhibitors, speakers and attendees more opportunities to engage with and learn from their industry colleagues at Asia’s largest maritime event.
The ultimate goal of navigation has always been to arrive at a predetermined destination in the shortest time possible. For centuries, that objective has meant utilizing the Great Circle route. At the risk of offending any flat-earthers among you, this generally means that the shortest distance between two points on a sphere (our planet, in this instance) is not always a straight line.
Over time, as the maritime industry transitioned from sail to steam and beyond, fuel efficiency became a critical element in managing operating costs. Of course, as the seas became ever more crowded with vessels that not only served as cargo carriers but also passenger vessels, safety and comfort also increased in consideration.
As a result of these and other changes, the modern definition of navigation still holds timeliness in high regard but has expanded to include the globally integrated transportation system and its mission of ending up where you want to be while avoiding collisions and minimizing fuel consumption.
Enter "voyage optimization, a dynamic approach to navigation that modernizes the Great Circle route and not only minimizes distance but also takes a more comprehensive approach by factoring in real-world variables.
Progressive routing systems adapt to storms, currents and wind conditions, ensuring smoother and safer journeys. Enhanced routes and speeds (faster or slower) lower fuel consumption, thereby improving efficiency and supporting global decarbonization efforts. Advanced sensors and AI algorithms detect and respond to hazards in real time, adapting to vessel traffic, wildlife migration patterns and even political turmoil in volatile regions.
UNDER THE RADAR
Voyage optimization has experienced a slow evolution alongside centuries of innovation – so much so that its growth and development have largely occurred under the radar (pun intended). But make no mistake: Efforts to improve the safety and efficiency of navigation have been continuous throughout history and are nothing new.
In recent decades, pioneering companies have been able to leverage new technology to make significant advances.
"Our expertise in voyage optimization goes back to the 1990s," explains Petter Andersen, Senior Vice President of Shipping Digital at StormGeo, a Norwegian company providing advanced decision support based on real-time weather forecasting. With over 1.3 million voyages optimized in total, StormGeo has established itself as a global leader in the field. Andersen notes that "optimization" is comprised of services spanning the voyage timeline, adding, "StormGeo supports shipping companies top to bottom from pre-voyage planning to real-time optimization to post-voyage analysis using weather routing, vessel performance optimization, bunker management, emissions reporting and more."
Likewise, industry giants better known in other fields are emerging as strong proponents of voyage optimization and bring decades of expertise to the space.
Avikus, founded in 2021 as a wholly owned subsidiary of shipbuilding giant Hyundai, leverages the knowhow of its parent company by pioneering new technologies that are reshaping maritime navigation. "Voyage optimization is a critical value proposition," explains Jungwoo Seo, Avikus' Chief Strategy Officer. "As an autonomous navigation solutions provider, we integrate AI-driven decision-making with real-time sensor data, transforming maritime operations into safer and more efficient endeavors."
Any discussion of voyage optimization and the technology it incorporates inevitably turns to autonomous ships and operations. Both StormGeo and Avikus are investing heavily in AI and machine learning to enhance navigation and situational awareness, including IoT-driven fleet management platforms, to improve vessel speed-down estimations and weather forecasts.
Avikus employs digital twins for predictive maintenance and operational analytics, supported by Hyundai's R&D resources. The company is also focusing on autonomous navigation solutions with its flagship product, Hyundai Intelligent Navigation Assistant System (HiNAS) Control, which seamlessly integrates these factors and executes optimized routes that reduce fuel consumption, emissions and crew workload while enhancing safety.
According to Seo, "Our AI-powered systems dynamically adapt to real-time conditions, enabling vessels to achieve optimal performance in safety and efficiency." While the company is expanding HiNAS as a standard feature in Hyundai newbuilds, retrofit opportunities are a strategic priority and already underway in the company's Korean manufacturing facilities and in repair yards in Europe, Greece and Singapore. These markets represent a significant share of the maritime industry and align with Avikus' goals for broad adoption of voyage optimization and autonomous technology.
Similarly, StormGeo's cloud-based solutions enable real-time data integration and scalability. This allows vessels to leverage AI technology to automatically identify the best routes while maintaining a human-in-theloop approach to account for vessel-specific needs and cargo requirements. "Voyage optimization helps vessels navigate efficiently by considering weather conditions and avoiding adverse weather, thereby saving on fuel and emissions while improving overall efficiency," Andersen says.
COLLABORATION
For any manufacturer or provider to stand as a holistic supplier of voyage optimization services, it must of necessity partner with other manufacturers, vessel operators, regulators and government agencies. Success can only come with a certain level of cooperation among stakeholders and, of course, a level of agreed-upon standardization across regions and industry sectors.
Collaboration with OEMs allows providers like StormGeo and Avikus to improve their services and ensure near-seamless integration and adaptability across platforms that may vary in data type and delivery.
Moreover, feedback from onsite application is critical. StormGeo relies on daily customer engagement to refine its solutions. "We allow shipowners to share validated CO2 emissions data with charterers, reducing the need for multiple systems," Andersen states.
Perhaps most important of all, collaboration allows for in-depth discussions and dialogue among the varied stakeholders – regulators, vessel operators, charterers – who recognize the benefit of voyage optimization and are pushing for its widespread adoption.
DNV straddles the maritime industry as a consultancy and classification society and offers a unique perspective on emerging tech like voyage optimization, including the varied forces behind it.
Jarle Coll Blomhoff, DNV's Head of Digital Ship Systems, points to initiatives like the IMO's regulatory framework and the E.U.'s evolving fuel policies: "These regulatory efforts are prompting shipowners to adopt sustainable practices and 'encourage' operators to optimize emissions and adopt greener technologies."
More directly, Blomhoff notes that fuel costs represent a significant operational expense. The simplest of optimizing efforts can save up to 10 percent on fuel consumption, delivering both financial and environmental benefits. A less obvious but equally important benefit comes in the form of marketing and branding paybacks, particularly for non-cargo vessels like cruise ships. Environmental consciousness is increasingly a key marketing factor.
Although passengers may not directly pay a premium for sustainability, the ability to brand a cruise line as environmentally responsible provides indirect value.
Above all, Blomhoff states, "Charter requirements are a bigger driver than regulatory schemes" as they increasingly demand energy-efficient operations. As a result, vessel owners and operators proudly emphasize the efficiency of their vessels to gain a competitive edge in securing contracts.
Collaboration with leading organizations like DNV has enabled Avikus and others to achieve groundbreaking milestones, including the world's first autonomous navigation type approval. DNV has likewise partnered with entities such as DeepSea, Kongsberg and Ocean Infinity in verifying solutions that can adjust speed and routing autonomously, saving significant fuel while maintaining arrival schedules.
HUMAN-IN-THE-LOOP
In many ways, voyage optimization is the modern equivalent of the Great Circle route – a time-honored practice updated by technological advances. Voyage optimization takes it further, incorporating layers of real-time data and computational analysis to unlock unprecedented efficiencies in cost, time and emissions.
The evolution of voyage optimization reflects a journey from manual navigation to early weather routing and now to dynamic, data-driven optimization.
With all of this emphasis on AI, algorithms and innovation, it may be easy to dismiss the actual human navigator. However, as the maritime industry progresses toward fleet-wide synchronization and increasingly autonomous operations, the human element becomes ever more nuanced but never irrelevant.
While automation can handle repetitive, precision-driven tasks, the brilliance of human adaptability remains critical in responding to unexpected challenges. This human-machine collaboration, supported by robust cybersecurity measures and efforts at standardization, ensures that technological advances are not only functional but safe.
Ultimately, the synergy of people, process and technology, guided by good ol' fashioned seamanship, redefines what it means to navigate the seas – heralding a new era where optimization, rather than mere efficiency, is a new, redefined Great Circle.
Maritime consultant Chad Fuhrmann is the founder of Revolution Consulting X Engineering.
Bureau Veritas Marine & Offshore (BV) presented MSC Cruises’ latest flagship, MSC World America, with the Platinum Pearl Award at its naming ceremony yesterday, in recognition of the company’s 20 years of dedication to improving health, safety, and environmental protection across its fleet.
The Platinum Pearl Award highlights MSC Cruises’ commitment to maintaining the highest international standards, reinforced by its integrated voluntary certification scheme. This comprehensive approach helps ensure compliance with some of the most stringent global benchmarks, including marine environment (ISO 21070), health and safety (ISO 45001), food safety (ISO 22000), and energy efficiency (ISO 50001).
In addition, MSC Cruises has obtained BV’s Cleanship notation, demonstrating its proactive efforts to prevent air and water pollution while minimizing waste. The company has also secured additional class notations that target the management and mitigation of acoustic impacts on marine fauna, reinforcing its commitment to sustainable cruising.
MSC World America has been designed for high energy efficiency, exceeding all requirements under the International Maritime Organization’s Energy Efficiency Design Index (EEDI). Its latest-generation engines run on LNG, enabling a direct transition towards drop-in bio and synthetic renewable fuels. The ship is also equipped with shore power to allow the engines to be switched off while in connected ports. The vessel also features an advanced wastewater treatment system and an onboard recycling management plant to support waste reduction efforts.
Matthieu de Tugny, President of Bureau Veritas Marine & Offshore, said: “For two decades, MSC Cruises has demonstrated a strong commitment to meeting and exceeding international standards in health, safety, and environmental protection. The Platinum Pearl Award for MSC World America is a testament to their dedication to continuous improvement and sustainable operations. BV is proud to support MSC Cruises in advancing safe, sustainable and efficient shipping.”
Emilio La Scala, President and Managing Director of MSC Cruise Management, said: “We are very proud to receive this award in recognition of the commitment the whole company has made and continues to make in these incredibly important areas. This is a reflection of the hard work and personal commitment of all the crew and landside teams.”
Austal USA welcomed Rear Admiral Paul Carroll, Director of Submarine Acquisition at the UK Ministry of Defense, at the company’s Mobile, Ala. shipyard yesterday. RAdm Carroll visited to Austal USA to see the company’s facility and the submarine manufacturing efforts supporting the Submarine Industrial Base in conjunction with his meetings with Program Executive Office for Submarines on bi-lateral industrial base efforts.
While at Austal USA, RAdm Carroll toured the company’s ship manufacturing facility and discussed Austal USA’s progress with fabricating and outfitting modules for both Columbia- and Virginia-class submarines with members of the company’s senior leadership team. During his tour, he experienced first-hand Austal USA’s talented workforce and witnessed the progress being made on completing the new submarine module manufacturing facility (MMF 3). MMF 3 will provide 369,600 square feet of indoor manufacturing space purpose-built to manufacture submarine modules.
“It was a special honor to host Rear Admiral Carroll and to show him all the work we’ve been doing in support of expanding the submarine industrial base to meet the needs of the U.S. Navy and meet our AUKUS commitments,” stated Austal USA President Michelle Kruger. “We’re proud of our success and balanced portfolio of work, including submarine module production, and we are excited to partner with our allies to strengthen our combined naval forces.”
Austal USA, celebrating 25 years in Mobile, has delivered 32 ships to the Navy since 2009 and has 10 vessels currently in production. In addition to MMF 3, a new final assembly building to manufacture Navy and Coast Guard surface ships is under construction. When complete the two new facilities will add over 600,000 square feet of indoor production area and add 2,000 new jobs in the region.
The head of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command supports reactivating the naval airbase at Adak, a remote Cold War station in the Aleutian Islands - but the U.S. military isn't the only interested party, according to Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-AK). An unnamed Chinese shipping company has also reached out to the current landowner to express interest in negotiating a lease, Sullivan said at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing Thursday.
Adak was a key naval base throughout the Cold War, providing a logistics and surveillance hub near Russia's eastern shores. After the Base Realignment and Closure Commission process in the mid-1990s, it was shut down, and it ceased operations in 1997. The land is now held by the native Aleut Corporation.
The port's remoteness and austerity are hard to overstate: at 1,000 nautical miles west of Anchorage, it is closer to the capital of Russia's Kamchatka region than it is Alaska's main city. It is the second-rainiest place in the United States, and is subject to extreme winds, including hurricane-force North Pacific winter storms. As of 2022 it had a population of about 150 people, down from 6,000 at its peak.
The U.S. military still holds occasional exercises at Adak, and talk of reviving the base has circulated since at least 2021. The regional security situation is changing: Over the last three years, Russian and Chinese forces have begun operating jointly in the North Pacific and Bering Sea, sometimes crossing over into the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone. These transits have received considerable attention, and Adak would be a natural location for an enhanced U.S. deterrent presence, Sen. Sullivan said Thursday.
Adm. Sam Paparo, head of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, told the committee that he also favors reactivating Adak. "It is a further western point which would enable . . . [gaining] time and distance on any force capability that's looking to penetrate," Paparo said. "It would enable up to 10x the maritime patrol reconnaissance aircraft coverage of that key and increasingly contested space."
Sullivan suggested that Adak should be reactivated as a matter of urgency, as the U.S. Navy is not the only prospective tenant.
"The Aleut Corporation, these are great patriotic Americans. Alaska Natives serve at higher rates in the military than any other ethnic group in the country. They would love to do a deal with the Navy for a 99 year lease or something like that. But you know who checks in with them once a year?" Sullivan asked. "It's a Chinese shipping company that is, certainly, in my view, a front company for the [Chinese military]. So how embarrassing would it be to the Pentagon or the Navy . . . if somehow they signed 100 year lease with a quote 'Chinese shipping company' that always is out there looking at Adak?"
Sullivan emphasized that the Aleut Corporation would never sign a port lease with a Chinese firm, but asked Paparo his opinion all the same.
"I think it would be bad, because this is the modus operandi in [China's] Belt and Road Initiative," Paparo replied.
Northern Command and Indo-Pacific Command are working on a set of options to reactivate the base, Sullivan said, and he pressed for a final report before the end of the month.
Reports from Israel suggest that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Quds Force is making progress in its search for new routes into Lebanon, following the destruction of the traditional smuggling routes into Lebanon by Israel in recent months. A primary smuggling route, through Beirut docks, had been shut down beforehand in the wake of the fire and subsequent explosion of badly stored ammonium nitrate in the dock’s quayside Warehouse 12 on August 4, 2020.
Unit 190, the IRGC Quds Force’s dedicated smuggling unit, has a well-established modus operandi of developing multiple routes to service a particular client, so that there is built-in redundancy to the supply system. The Iranians also appear to assume that a proportion of shipments will be intercepted - so they divide shipments into smaller consignments using different routes, so as to be able to absorb any losses.
In the days before Hezbollah was decimated by Israeli strikes, Unit 190 - working with Hezbollah’s Unit 4400 - operated three primary routes into Lebanon to keep Hezbollah supplied. Besides shipping into Beirut docks, Iranian heavy cargo aircraft from Mahan Air regularly flew into Beirut’s International Airport, where aircraft were unloaded by Hezbollah without any interference on the part of the Lebanese state. Large volumes were also trucked over the border from Syria, having arrived in Syria primarily overland, through the port of Latakia or via Damascus International Airport.
Some sophistication in the smuggling routes into Lebanon was needed, after Lebanese border security was tightened with the aid of RAG, a British private security company; on October 3, 2024, the Israelis destroyed a two mile long truck tunnel which straddled the border and emerged into northern Lebanon at Mrah al-Makbeh. One of many routes, this tunnel demonstrated the sophistication of the smuggling system, which is now dismantled.
The 2-mile long Hezbollah tunnel which straddled the Lebanese-Syrian border (Google Earth base map/CJRC)
In building a smuggling infrastructure afresh, Unit 190 will try a number of options. Small volumes of cash and vital supplies are still entering Lebanon via Beirut International Airport, but while Hezbollah can still rely on Hezbollah sympathizers within the ranks of the Lebanese security forces, the new Lebanese government is adopting a much stricter control regime over airfreight. Likewise, Unit 190 has tried to use professional smuggler gangs on land routes into Lebanon, but the new Syrian government also has no desire to stir up trouble with Israel, and has made a number of interceptions.
Sea routes offer a lower chance of interdiction, though in the current political climate, Iran is not likely to use its own naval sealift or sanctioned vessels from the government-owned Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL). On the basis of past performance, Iran will attempt to ship using third party owners, utilizing respectable container shipping lines and multi-stop routing.
US authorities may be behind reports carried by both Al Arabiya and the Israeli open source intelligence site Intelli Times that Hezbollah’s operation to rebuild its smuggling route through the Beirut docks is headed by Wafiq Safa. The leaked reports suggest that he controls a network of compliant customs and port officials, but gives no specific details of when and what is being smuggled. The leak is likely to be a warning both to the Lebanese authorities and to Hezbollah that their activities are being tracked and will not be tolerated. US State Department envoy Morgan Ortagus, quoted in the same reports, has said that “only by disarming militant groups could the Lebanese people be ‘free from foreign influence, free from terrorism, free from the fears that have been so pervasive in society.’”
If this can be taken as a statement of US policy intent, it is likely that there will be a heavier presence of allied naval vessels in the Eastern Mediterranean overseeing merchant traffic into Lebanon, and that there could in due course be interceptions and searches of suspicious ships off the Lebanese coast.
On Wednesday, the U.S. Coast Guard National Security Cutter USCGC James delivered more than 20 tonnes of cocaine to a pier in Port Everglades, Florida - nearly enough to pay for the cutter itself if the seized cargo were sold. More than half of the drugs were captured in just 72 hours in seven back-to-back intercepts.
"I could not be prouder of the James crew and the teams who embarked with us to stand the watch over the holidays to keep our border secure and keep Americans safe," said Capt. Thomas Rodzewicz, commanding officer of James.
Almost all of the busts occurred on the high seas off Ecuador and Peru. James' embarked unmanned aerial systems crew did much of the legwork in detecting smuggling craft, many of which were found up to 300 nautical miles offshore. An embarked HITRON helicopter aircrew helped ensure the suspect vessels' compliance on multiple occasions, using "airborne use of force tactics" to make sure that the target came to a halt. (When authorized, HITRON crews may fire warning shots to deter smugglers, and can shoot out suspect boats' engines if noncompliance continues.)
The biggest bust occurred on January 6, when James was operating about 280 miles off Ecuador. The cutter intercepted a set of three go-fast vessels at once, and with help from the HITRON aircrew, James' boarding teams intercepted and captured all three boats. Nine suspects were detained, and the cutter crew seized nearly 14,000 pounds (6.3 tonnes) of cocaine.
James also worked with the smaller cutter Mohawk to interdict a fleeing go-fast vessel on January 18. Mohawk worked to recover packages that the smugglers had tossed over the side, while James' small pursuit boat chased down the suspect vessel from 60 nautical miles away. Three suspects were detained and about 6,000 pounds of cocaine were seized.
In all, the cutter racked up nine intercept events in January and February, including a three-day run of back-to-back busts that resulted in the capture of seven vessels.
"Over a remarkable 72-hour period, our crews interdicted six go-fast vessels and one low-profile vessel across the vast ocean, culminating in the extraordinary seizure of over 24,000 pounds of cocaine and 15 suspected narco-traffickers. We delivered a substantial blow to narco-terrorism organizations, sending those attempting to bring drugs to our border to face federal prosecution," said Capt. Rodzewicz.
In October 2022, a British-American couple, Kyle and Maryanne Webb, were sailing their yacht through a remote area of the Indian Ocean between Mauritius and Seychelles, just south of the Saya de Malha Bank, the world’s largest seagrass field. The Webbs were sailing enthusiasts and had covered tens of thousands of miles on their vessel, the Begonia, over the previous years. As they passed the Bank, they spotted a small fishing vessel, about 55 feet in length, painted bright yellow and turquoise, with about a dozen red and orange flags billowing from the roof of its cabin. It was a Sri Lankan gillnet boat called, in Sinhali, the Hasaranga Putha.
Looking gaunt and desperate, the crew told the Webbs that they had sailed roughly 2,000 miles from their home port, in Beruwala, Sri Lanka. They had been at sea for two weeks, they said, but had only caught four fish. They begged the Webbs for food, soda, and cigarettes. The Webbs gave them what they could, including fresh water, then headed on their way. “They were clearly in a struggling financial position,” Mrs. Webb said. “It broke my heart to see the efforts they feel they must go to provide for their families.”
A month later, again near the Saya de Malha Bank, the Hasaranga Putha hailed another vessel—the South African ocean research and supply ship, S.A. Agulhas II, which was on an expedition in Saya de Malha for the environmental non-profit Monaco Explorations. By this time, the Sri Lankan crew was almost out of fuel and begged for diesel. The scientists did not have the right type of petrol to offer but they still boarded a dinghy and brought the fishers water and cigarettes. Grateful, the Sri Lankans gave them fish in return. The Hasaranga Putha would remain at sea for another six months before returning to Colombo in April 2023.
Hundreds of miles from the nearest port, the Saya de Malha Bank is one of the most remote areas on the planet, which means it can be a harrowing workplace for the thousands of fishers from a half dozen countries that make the perilous journey to reach it. The farther from shore that vessels travel, and the more time they spend at sea, the more the risks pile up. Dangerous storms, deadly accidents, malnutrition, and physical violence are common threats faced by distant-water crews. Each year, a fleet of several dozen Sri Lankan gillnetters makes some of the longest trips made to the area, often in the least equipped boats.
Some of the vessels that fish the Saya de Malha Bank engage in a practice called transshipment, where they offload their catch to refrigerated carriers without returning to shore, so that they can remain fishing on the high seas for longer periods of time. Fishing is the most dangerous occupation in the world, and more than 100,000 fishermen die on the job each year. When they do, particularly on longer journeys far from shore, it is not uncommon for their bodies to be buried at sea.
Sri Lankan gillnetters are not the only fishing vessels making perilous journeys to reach the rich and biodiverse Saya de Malha Bank. Thai fishmeal trawlers also target these waters, traveling more than 2,500 nautical miles from the port of Kantang. In January 2016, for example, three Thai trawlers left the Saya de Malha Bank and returned to Thailand. During the journey, 38 Cambodian crew members fell ill, and by the time they returned to port, six had already died. The remaining sick crew were hospitalized and treated for beriberi, a disease caused by a deficiency of Vitamin B1 or thiamine. Symptoms include tingling, burning, numbness, difficulty breathing, lethargy, chest pain, dizziness, confusion, and severe swelling.
Easily preventable, yet fatal if left untreated, beriberi has historically appeared in prisons, asylums, and migrant camps, but it has largely been stamped out. Experts say that when it occurs at sea, beriberi often indicates criminal neglect. One medical examiner described it as “slow-motion murder” because it is so easily treatable and avoidable.
The disease has become more prevalent on distant-water fishing vessels in part because ships stay so long at sea, a trend facilitated by transshipment. Working practices involving hard labor and extensive working hours cause the body to deplete vitamin B1 at a faster metabolic rate to produce energy, the Thai government concluded in a report on the deaths. Further research by Greenpeace found that some of the workers were victims of forced labor.
Today, fewer vessels from the Thai fleet are traveling to Saya de Mahla, but some still make the trip, and questions about their working conditions linger. In April 2023, one of those vessels, the Chokephoemsin 1, a bright blue 90-foot trawler, set out for the Saya de Malha Bank with a crew member named Ae Khunsena, who boarded the ship in Samut Prakan, Thailand, for a five-month tour, according to a report compiled by Stella Maris, a non-profit organization that helps fishers. As is typical on high-seas vessels, the hours were long and punishing. Khunsena earned 10,000 baht, or about $288, per month, according to his contract.
In one of his last calls to his family through Facebook, Khunsena said he had witnessed a fight that resulted in more than one death. He said the body of a crew member who was killed was brought back to the ship and kept in the freezer. When his family pressed for details, Khunsena said he would tell them more later. He added that another Thai crew member who also witnessed the killing had been threatened with death and so he fled the ship while it was still near shore along the Thai coast. Khunsena’s family spoke to Khunsena for the last time on July 22, 2023. A company official contested this claim and said no such fight happened and added that there was an observer from the Department of Fisheries aboard the vessel, who would have reported such an incident had it happened.
On July 29, while working in waters near Sri Lanka, Khunsena went overboard, off the stern of the ship. The incident was captured on a ship security camera. A man listed as Khunsena’s employer on his contract named Chaiyapruk Kowikai told Khunsena’s family that he had jumped. The ship’s captain then spent a day unsuccessfully searching the area to rescue him, before returning to fishing, Kowikai said.
The vessel returned to port in Thailand roughly two months later. Police, company and insurance officials eventually concluded that Khunsena’s death was likely a suicide. This claim seemed to be backed up by the onboard footage, which did not show anyone near him when he went over the side of the boat.
In September 2024, a reporting team from the Outlaw Ocean Project visited Khunsena’s village. Settled by rice farmers about a century ago, Non Siao is located in Bua Lai District, Nakhon Ratchasima, roughly two hundred miles to the northeast of Bangkok. The reporting team interviewed Khusena’s mother and cousin as well as the local labor inspector, police chief, aid worker and an official from the company that owned the ship. While the police and company officials said the death was likely a suicide, Khusena’s family avidly disagreed. “Why would he jump?” said Palita, Khunsena’s cousin, explaining why she highly doubted that Khusena took his own life. “He didn't have any problems with anyone.” Sitting on the ground under an overcast sky as she spoke with the reporter in a follow-up conversation by video chat, Palita went silent and looked down at her phone. “He wanted to see me,” added Khusena’s mother, Boonpeng Khunsena, who also doubted his suicide, since he kept saying in calls that he intended to be home by Mother’s Day. His family instead speculated that Khusena had likely witnessed a violent crime and therefore to silence him, he had been coerced to jump overboard.
As is often the case with crimes at sea, where evidence is limited, witnesses are few and frequently unreliable, it is difficult to know whether Khusena died due to foul play. Perhaps, as his family speculated in interviews with The Outlaw Ocean Project, he had witnessed a violent crime and, consequently, had been forced to jump overboard. Perhaps, instead, he jumped willingly from the ship, a suicidal gesture likely driven by depression or mental health issues. In either scenario, the point remains the same: these distant-water ships are traveling so far from shore that the working and living conditions are brutal and sometimes violent. And these very conditions are likely playing a role in sinister outcomes.
And yet, the human tragedy that criss-crosses this remote patch of high seas is not just tied to fishers. The Saya de Malha Bank has also become a transit route for migrants fleeing Sri Lanka. Since 2016, hundreds of Sri Lankans have attempted to make the perilous journey on fishing boats to the French-administered island of Reunion in the Indian Ocean, some making the journey directly from Saya de Malha. Those who do succeed in making landfall on Reunion are often repatriated. In one case, on December 7, 2023, a Sri Lankan vessel that had spent the previous three months fishing in Saya de Malha, the Imul-A-0813 KLT, illegally entered the waters around Reunion. The seven crew members were apprehended by local authorities and repatriated to Sri Lanka two weeks later. Joining them on the repatriation flight were crew members of two other Sri Lankan fishing vessels that had previously been detained by Reunion authorities.
With near-shore stocks overfished in Thailand and Sri Lanka, vessel owners send their crews further and further from shore in search of a worthwhile catch. That is what makes the Saya de Malha—far from land, poorly monitored, and with a bountiful ecosystem—such an attractive target. But the fishers forced to work there live a precarious existence, and for some, the long journey to the Saya de Malha is the last they ever take.
Ian Urbina is the director of The Outlaw Ocean Project, a non-profit journalism organization based in Washington D.C. that produces investigative stories about human rights, environment and labor concerns on the two thirds of the planet covered by water.
Reporting and writing was contributed additionally by Outlaw Ocean Project staff, including Maya Martin, Joe Galvin, Susan Ryan, and Austin Brush.
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A rare species nicknamed the Caspar octopus but not yet scientifically described, seen on the Nazca Ridge. The area boasts exceedingly high marine endemism, meaning species found only there (Image: ROV SuBastian / Schmidt Ocean Institute, CC BY NC SA)
(Map: Dialogue Earth)
Courtesy T&E
Wafiq Safa (left, 
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