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Six Men Removed From Cruise Ship After Faking Emergency Over Intercom
Six young men were removed from the cruise ship MSC Divina and handed to Italian authorities after broadcasting a false announcement over the ship's intercom that the captain had lost control.

US Navy Reclassifies Nineteen Virginia-Class Boats As Guided-Missile Submarines
The United States Navy is reclassifying nineteen Virginia-class submarines as guided-missile boats, days after awarding a 42.1 billion dollar contract for nine more.

Trump's 6.8 Billion Dollar Icebreaker Programme Draws Scrutiny Over No-Bid Awards
President Trump's plan for eleven Arctic icebreakers has produced nearly 6.8 billion dollars in contracts awarded without competitive bidding, at a time the Coast Guard had said it needed four or five.

Indian Dhow Sunk In Red Sea With Fourteen Crew Rescued
An Indian-registered dhow was sunk in the Red Sea off Yemen after an attack, with all fourteen people aboard rescued by the Yemeni coast guard and landed at Mokha.

Sanctioned Russian Ship Delivered Armoured Vehicles To Mali Through Togo
A sanctioned Russian cargo ship delivered a consignment of armoured vehicles to Mali through the port of Lome in Togo, having switched off its transponder after clearing the English Channel.

Investigation Links Dozens Of Sanctioned Tanker Operators To One Email Domain
An analytics firm has traced nearly two dozen nominally independent operators of sanctioned tankers back to a single private email domain also used by Russia's state shipping group.

Sovcomflot Assembles Sanctioned Tanker Convoy For Arctic Run To Asia
Russia's state shipping company is assembling a flotilla of sanctioned tankers in the Kara Sea for a convoy passage to Asia along the Northern Sea Route, reportedly carrying more than 950,000 tonnes of crude.

ADNOC Vessel Struck In Hormuz As Houthi Drone Hits Saudi Refinery
An ADNOC-owned vessel was hit by a missile in the Strait of Hormuz early on Saturday and a Houthi drone struck Saudi Aramco's Jazan refinery a day later, widening the pressure on Gulf energy infrastructure.

Ukraine Agrees To Spare Tankers Lifting Kazakh Crude At Novorossiysk
Ukraine has agreed to stop attacking non-Russian tankers and Black Sea infrastructure tied to Kazakhstan's oil exports, after United States officials brokered a deal covering the Caspian Pipeline Consortium terminal near Novorossiysk.

Drone strike on Damietta gas carriers widens Middle East maritime conflict
A drone strike on a floating regasification unit and an LNG carrier at Egypt's Damietta terminal has pushed the Middle East maritime conflict into the Mediterranean.

Indonesian Ferry Fire Leaves Five Dead And Missing Total Still Unknown
Five people are confirmed dead and 231 have been rescued after the ferry Mutiara Sentosa 2 caught fire at sea off Indonesia, but authorities have been unable to establish how many people remain missing.

World's First Methanol Escort Tug Heads For British Columbia
The escort tug SD Aisemaht, described as the world's first purpose-built dual-fuel methanol tug of her type, has been spotted west of Gibraltar bound for Las Palmas on the first stage of a delivery voyage to Canada.

South Korea Signs Destroyer Contract Ending Three-Year Shipbuilder Dispute
South Korea has signed a contract worth about 882 billion won with Hanwha Ocean for the first KDDX destroyer, ending nearly three years of dispute over which shipbuilder would get the work.

Russia Floats Out Yasen-M Submarine Ulyanovsk At Severodvinsk
Russia's Sevmash shipyard floated out the nuclear-powered cruise missile submarine Ulyanovsk on 28 July 2026, completing hull construction and moving the boat into the final stages of fitting out and testing.

Saipem And Subsea 7 Merger Clears United States Antitrust Review
Saipem has confirmed that all applicable waiting periods under United States antitrust legislation have expired in connection with its proposed merger with Subsea 7, allowing the parties to close the transaction in the United States.

Singapore Issues Eight New LNG Bunkering Licences From September
Singapore will issue eight new LNG bunkering licences from 1 September 2026, running five years and requiring end-to-end supply, with methane slip monitoring built into the selection criteria.

Satellite Images Reveal Novatek Terminal And Tank Farm Rising In Kola Bay
Satellite imagery shows at least fifteen gas reservoir tanks and a sea terminal rising at Belokamenka in the Kola Bay, which Novatek has confirmed form part of its heavily sanctioned Murmansk LNG project.

Tanker With Russian Naphtha Turns Back From Bab El-Mandeb And Sails Round Africa
A Panama-flagged tanker carrying Russian naphtha attempted to pass through the Bab el-Mandeb strait in the final week of July before changing course to sail around Africa instead, according to trade sources and ship-tracking data.

Brent Climbs 24 Percent In July As Chokepoint Disruption Reprices Oil
Brent crude rose 24 percent in July and WTI gained 21 percent as tanker disruption in the Strait of Hormuz and threats in Bab el-Mandeb pushed shipping data to the centre of oil price formation.

Shipbuilding Veteran Named As Scorpio Tankers' VLCC Partner
Scorpio Tankers is understood to be partnering with Chinese shipbuilding veteran Ren Yuanlin on eight scrubber-fitted VLCCs under construction in China, taking a minority stake of less than 15 percent.

NYK Takes Majority Voting Stake In LNG Investment Vehicle For 221 Million Dollars
NYK will invest 221 million dollars in Diamond Gas MidOcean for 87.4 percent of its voting rights, taking an indirect position in MidOcean Energy alongside a partnership on LNG marine transport.

US Navy Relieves Commander Of Ballistic Missile Submarine West Virginia
The commander of the Ohio-class ballistic missile submarine USS West Virginia has been removed from his post after less than a year in the role, the United States Navy said.

ADNOC Overhauls Abu Dhabi Crude Pricing From November
From 1 November 2026 ADNOC will price its Abu Dhabi crude grades on a prompt-month Dubai-linked basis plus a differential, replacing a futures mechanism that set prices two months ahead of loading.

Regulator Flags Second Potentially Fatal Dropped Object On Hibernia Platform
Canada's offshore regulator is monitoring a second potentially fatal incident on the Hibernia platform in ten weeks, after two casing joints fell from a gantry crane and struck a worker's leg on 18 July.

Eni And TotalEnergies Approve Cyprus Gas Development With Egyptian Export Route
Eni and TotalEnergies have taken a final investment decision on the Cronos gas field offshore Cyprus, with production from 2028 routed through Egyptian infrastructure and liquefied at Damietta for export to Europe.

COSCO Approves Fifteen Newcastlemax Bulkers Worth 7.9 Billion Yuan
COSCO Shipping Development has approved an order for fifteen Newcastlemax bulk carriers of 210,000 tonnes capacity each, to be built at two Chinese shipyards for a total contract value of 7.92 billion yuan, around 1.1 billion dollars.

Stealth Maritime Lifts Korean Newbuilding Programme To Around 1.3 Billion Dollars
Greek owner Stealth Maritime, part of the Harry Vafias group, has returned to South Korea with a fresh order that takes its total investment in newbuilding projects to approximately 1.3 billion dollars.

HMM Halts Container Ship Orders To Pivot Into Energy Shipping
HMM has halted plans for at least ten new 13,000 teu container ships and is redirecting investment into tankers, LNG carriers and very large gas carriers, stepping out of the boxship ordering wave.

Pan Ocean Lifts Quarterly Profit As Grain Sales More Than Double
Pan Ocean lifted second-quarter net profit attributable to the parent by 11.9 percent to 137.5 billion won, with operating profit up 57.5 percent and grain sales more than doubling.

CMA CGM Second-Quarter Revenue Rises 19 Percent To 15.7 Billion Dollars
CMA CGM has reported second-quarter revenue of 15.7 billion dollars, up 19.2 percent year on year, carrying 6.3 million teu as maritime and logistics both grew despite disruption in the Middle East.

Iceland Storms And Seizes Anti-Whaling Ship In Biggest Operation In Decades
Iceland's coast guard and special police units have boarded and taken control of the anti-whaling vessel Bandero after the ship allegedly ignored orders to leave Icelandic waters and to stop.

Low Water Strands Viking River Cruise Ship In The Danube
A Viking river cruise vessel has run aground in the Danube after coming into contact with a sandbank in extremely low water, and efforts to refloat her are reported to have been unsuccessful.

Engine Failure Grounds Bulker In Dardanelles, Closing Strait For Twelve Hours
Traffic through Turkey's Dardanelles Strait resumed after a bulk carrier that suffered an engine failure and ran aground was refloated with tug assistance, Turkish authorities said.

India Monitors Six Ships And 166 Seafarers Near Hormuz After Crew Death
India is monitoring six Indian-flagged vessels and the safety of 166 Indian seafarers operating in the Persian Gulf and near the Strait of Hormuz, as attacks on merchant shipping continue across two separate conflict zones.

Houthis Deny Plan To Charge Ships For Red Sea Transit
Yemen's Houthi movement has denied that it is planning to charge vessels for passage through the Red Sea, insisting that transit remains free.

Saudi Arabia Leads Fourteen Nations In New Red Sea Defence Alliance
Saudi Arabia and thirteen other states have declared a new maritime defence alliance to protect shipping through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, with a permanent headquarters in the kingdom.

Sanctioned Tanker Leaking Crude Off Oman After Onboard Blast
A crude oil tanker linked to Russia's sanctioned export trade is leaking cargo off the coast of Oman, and satellite imagery indicates the slick around the vessel has spread significantly over recent days.

Seafarer happiness falls again as workload and wages bite
Seafarer morale has fallen for a second consecutive quarter, with the leading welfare index recording 6.87 out of ten for the second quarter of 2026 against 7.18 in the first quarter.

Strike threat hangs over exports from world's largest bulk export port
Industrial action is threatened at Port Hedland in Western Australia, the world's largest bulk export terminal, where around 450 BHP workers have been bargaining over a new enterprise agreement for some eight months.

Sanctioned Russian cargo ships carry military equipment to West Africa
Sanctioned Russian cargo ships have been delivering military equipment to West Africa for onward movement to Mali, according to an investigation combining vessel tracking data, satellite imagery and state television footage.

Saudi crude keeps loading despite Houthi blockade threat
Saudi crude exports through the Red Sea have continued at close to normal levels despite a Houthi maritime blockade declared on 20 July.

Clarksons posts record first half as Hormuz disruption drives volatility
Shipbroker Clarksons has reported a record first half, with revenue of 413.5 million pounds for the six months to the end of June, up 39 percent year on year.

Sweden arrests cargo ship master after fatal collision off Tjorn
Swedish prosecutors have arrested the master of a Norwegian-flagged cargo ship on suspicion of causing death by negligence, after a collision off the country's west coast that killed a woman and a child.

Indian yard to build four platform supply vessels for ONGC
Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers has won a contract worth 1,032 crore rupees including tax, around 123 million dollars, to design, build and deliver four platform supply vessels for Oil and Natural Gas Corporation.

Larsen & Toubro wins ultra-mega offshore order from ADNOC
The offshore arm of Indian engineering group Larsen & Toubro has secured what the company classifies as an ultra-mega order from ADNOC Offshore, placing the award above 15,000 crore rupees, or roughly 1.7 billion dollars.

Washington moves to ease Arctic offshore drilling rules
The United States Department of the Interior has proposed a rule making what it calls targeted updates to the regulations governing exploratory oil and gas drilling on the Arctic Outer Continental Shelf.

Viking Reach sold to Greek subsea contractor for trenching work
Eidesvik Offshore and Reach Subsea have agreed to sell their jointly owned inspection, maintenance and repair vessel Viking Reach, with the buyer subsequently identified as the Greek subsea contractor Asso.subsea.

DryDel fixes four capesize newbuildings to K Line on five-year charters
Greek owner DryDel Shipping has secured long-term employment for all four of its capesize newbuildings, fixing the vessels to Japan's Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha on five-year time charters that begin on delivery.
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