Investing in Maritime AI in 2026: Where the Money Is Going and What Actually Pays Off
Investors are not betting on “AI for shipping” as a single thing in 2026. They are betting on specific painkillers that convert data into decisions fast enough to move money: fewer incidents, less fuel...
Solar on Ships in 2026: What’s working, what’s not, & where we’re headed
Solar on ships in 2026 is finally getting less hand-wavy because there are now real installs and trials that show where PV helps and where it does not. The pattern that looks legitimate is...
CMA CGM Launches Ocean Rise Express: Direct Japan and South China to North Europe Service
CMA CGM just created a direct Japan to North Europe option that does not rely on alliance partner loops, launching Ocean Rise Express (OCR) as a weekly standalone string that starts in Japan, sweeps...
US Gulf Crude Exports Hit a Freight Wall as VLCC Space Vanishes
A sudden tightening in VLCC availability has pushed U.S. Gulf Coast export freight back into the kind of rate stress last seen during the pandemic, with USGC to China lump-sum bookings reported above $17...
12 Smart Ways to Raise Passenger Fees (and how they’re structured)
Passenger fees work best when they feel predictable to the cruise line, defensible to residents, and easy to collect. In 2026 the “smart” structures are less about squeezing an extra dollar and more about...
South China Sea Patrol Posture Is Tightening Again
China’s Southern Theatre Command says it ran a routine South China Sea patrol over Feb 23 to 26 and accused the Philippines of “disrupting” peace and stability by organizing joint patrols with non regional...
VLCC MEG to China Freight Blows Out: TD3C Hits Highest Since 2020 as U.S.–Iran Risk Tightens Tonnage
Middle East to China VLCC freight just pushed into “extreme” territory, with benchmark earnings breaking above $200,000 per day, as U.S.–Iran risk keeps owners demanding a bigger premium for Arabian Gulf exposure and charterers...
12 Big Naval Maritime Contracts in the Last Year That Are Reshaping Shipyards and Fleet Readiness
Naval contracting has been unusually concentrated lately. A small number of awards are doing most of the work shaping shipyard capacity, submarine industrial base pacing, and fleet sustainment throughput. The list below stays tight...
Behavioral Risk Is the New Sanctions Trigger: 18 Vessel Behaviors That Get You Flagged
Behavioral risk is now one of the fastest ways a voyage gets escalated for extra screening. Not because an owner “did something wrong” on paper, but because the vessel’s track and operational pattern looks...
Smart Mooring Systems in 2026: What works, what’ doesn’t (yet) and where we are headed
Smart mooring is one of the few “port tech” areas where the value is visible immediately, fewer snapped lines and near-misses, fewer emergency re-mooring events, and fewer surprises when weather and surge loads build....
EU lines up G7 backing for a Russia maritime services ban that would rewrite the oil shipping playbook
The European Commission is pushing G7 coordination before moving ahead with a proposed ban on maritime services that support Russian seaborne crude exports, with the EU sanctions envoy describing alignment with partners, especially the...
Secondhand Tanker Sales Heat Up in 2026 as Owners Cash Out Older Tonnage
Tanker secondhand activity in 2026 is being driven by a simple mix: freight strength in parts of the market, heavy interest in mid-age crude tonnage, and a steady stream of owners selling older ships...
Iran Shadow Fleet Sanctions Widen Again, With LPG and Fuel Oil Trades in the Crosshairs
The U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control just sanctioned 12 additional vessels and their owners or operators tied to Iran’s “shadow fleet,” citing hundreds of millions of dollars in Iranian petroleum and petrochemical...
Shipyard Workforce Reality 2026 The Certified Skills That Decide Schedule Outcomes
Shipyard schedules in 2026 are often decided by a small set of certified roles that sit on the real critical path. It is not “do we have people,” it is “do we have enough...
Shore Power for Cruise: 30 Ports That Matter Most and the Real Plug In Constraints
Shore power for cruise is moving from “nice ESG story” to a practical operating constraint: if a port can plug you in and your ship can take the power, you can cut at-berth emissions...
OFAC Expands Iran Shadow Fleet Crackdown as 12 More Tankers and Gas Carriers Sanctioned
U.S. Treasury just widened its Iran “shadow fleet” net by designating 12 additional vessels and a slate of owners and operators tied to moving Iranian petroleum and petrochemical cargoes. The list is notable for...
Ballast Water Compliance and What Owners Get Wrong and What Inspections Target
Ballast water compliance in 2026 is less about what your manuals say and more about what an inspector can verify in 10 minutes: is the system operable, are records coherent, does the crew know...
Crew Fatigue Tech in 2026: What Works, What Fails, and What to Fix First
Crew fatigue tech is finally getting practical in maritime because it is being tied to two things operators cannot ignore, work and rest hour compliance risk, and the operational knock-on effects of overload like...
Energy Efficiency That Actually Works: 15 Proven Cruise Fuel-Save Moves for 2026
In 2026, cruise fuel saving is less about one big technology and more about stacking proven moves that cut propulsion demand, reduce hotel load at berth, and stabilize day to day variability. The pressure...
Venezuela Restarts VLCC Crude Exports to India After U.S. Supply Deal
Venezuela is moving to load bigger crude parcels for export by booking VLCCs for the first time since the recent Caracas–Washington supply arrangement took effect, with March loading windows at PDVSA’s Jose terminal and...
Newbuild Orders, Yard Capacity, and the Segments Heating Up across Shipbuilding Industry
Shipbuilding in 2026 is already splitting into three clear lanes: a surge of container and LNG newbuild activity tied to fuel strategy and network flexibility, a policy-driven push to expand yard capacity and workforce...
Navy Maintenance Delays in 2026 The Root Causes Behind Late Availabilities
Late availabilities in 2026 are usually not caused by one big failure. They come from stacked friction: growth work discovered after induction, missing material, workforce churn, delayed testing, and rework that cascades when the...
China–Japan Trade Controls Could Spill Into Maritime Supply Chains
China’s Commerce Ministry added 20 Japanese entities to an export control list and placed 20 more on a watchlist, tightening scrutiny on shipments of dual-use items into Japan’s industrial base. For shipowners, the signal...
Hungary blocks EU’s maritime services ban, keeping Russia oil shipping rules unchanged for now
EU foreign ministers did not secure agreement on the proposed ban on maritime services linked to Russia’s seaborne crude exports, delaying the EU’s 20th sanctions package. The hold up is being driven by Hungary,...
Crew Change Logistics 2026: 15 Failure Points That Cause Portside Chaos
Crew change failures almost never start on the gangway. They start weeks earlier, when one document is “basically fine,” one flight connection is “probably OK,” or one port approval is “still pending.” Then the...
GNSS Resilience on Ships: Jamming and Spoofing Response Plan for Ship Operators
GNSS disruption is no longer a rare edge case, it is an operating condition that crews are being warned to expect in certain regions, with jamming and spoofing risks explicitly raised by UN agencies...
Alternative Fuels in Cruise 2026: LNG, Methanol, Bio Blends, and the Retrofit Paths That Pencil Out
Cruise is now far enough into the decarbonization cycle that “fuel choice” is really three choices at once: (1) what you can burn safely on a hotel-heavy vessel, (2) what ports can bunker at...
Panama Pulls the Plug on CK Hutchison Canal Ports
Panama has moved to cancel CK Hutchison’s long-running Panama Canal port concessions for Balboa and Cristóbal, triggering an immediate operator handover that keeps boxes moving but injects legal, concession, and counterparty risk into a...
EU Locks In Red Sea Protection: Operation ASPIDES Extended Through Feb 28, 2027
EU just extended its Red Sea naval protection mission, Operation ASPIDES, through February 28, 2027, signaling the bloc expects elevated threat and escort demand to persist into 2027. For commercial shipping, this is less...
Naval Cybersecurity in 2026: 12 Platform Cyber Risks Buyers Are Pricing In
Naval buyers are pricing cyber risk differently in 2026 because ships now run blended environments: traditional IT, mission networks, and operational technology that controls real equipment. The questions are getting more specific, especially around...