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The collision between the 'Colombia-Colombia II' and the 'Eiltank 65' on the Volkerak on Jan 7, 2023, near Dinteloord was primarily the fault of the barge 'Colombia' (MMSI: 205253090). However, the 'Eiltank 65 was not entirely blameless and bears 15% of the blame, the Rotterdam District Court ruled. The vessels were sailing on opposite courses in the dark, with winds of force 5 and gusting to force 7. The 'Eiltank 65' struck the 202-meter long barge combination 'Colombia-Colombia II' almost amidships. At that moment, the barge was sailing in the wrong direction, in line with the 'Eiltank 65', and was simultaneously overtaken on starboard by another vessel. In the case brought by the owner of the 'Eiltank 65' against the 'Colombia', the latter was accused of being at fault for the collision. The 'Colombia' was not only sailing on the wrong side of the fairway, but also allegedly altered its course at the last moment in such a way that a collision became unavoidable and wrongly failed to yield right of way to the 'Eiltank 65'. Furthermore, the 'Colombia' failed to contact the radio or take any other measures to avoid the collision, according to the German company Eiltank. The Belgian owner of the 'Colombia' was invoking force majeure due to strong winds. In the event of force majeure, each party must bear its own damages. The owner of the 'Colombia' believed that both parties were 50% at fault for the collision. The Rotterdam District Court determined that there was no force majeure. In this case, the 'Colombia' is 85% at fault. This leaves Eiltank with a "minor contributory negligence" of 15%. The court based this assessment on several factors: While the wind was strong and the vessels were affected, it was not so strong that the collision was unavoidable. At the same time, it has not been established that the 'Colombia' indeed altered its course to port just before the collision. Eiltank did assert this, but did not substantiate it properly. Furthermore, under the circumstances, the 'Colombia' should have yielded to the right of way. This did not happen, according to the court. The court further argued that it was primarily up to the skipper of the 'Colombia' to contact his colleague on the 'Eiltank 65' by radio. This did not happen, and the 'Colombia' did not take any other precautions to prevent the collision. At the same time, the skipper of the'' Eiltank 65' could have foreseen the collision and contacted the 'Colombia' about it. Because this also did not happen, Eiltank bears a small portion of the blame. The hull damage, loss of time, and expert assessment costs amounted to over €96,000 for Eiltank. The owner of the 'Colombia' must pay 85% of this, or almost €81,700. The €56,300 already paid will be deducted from this, leaving an outstanding invoice of almost €25,400. This amount will be increased by the interest on several of the aforementioned amounts. There will also be an additional €7,000 in legal and collection costs. Because the 'Eiltank 65' was not entirely unscathed in the collision, some money must also be transferred in the opposite direction. The owner of the 'Colombia' will receive approximately €6,800 in damages, as well as approximately €2,000 in collection and legal costs.

As the summer maintenance season has started, the first Arc7 ice-class gas carriers in service of the Yamal LNG project have arrived at the Fayard A/S shipyard in Odense. The 'Nikolay Urvantsev' (IMO: 9750660), chartered to Novatek’s Yamal LNG project, arrived at the drydock on June 26, 2025, and sailed around a week later. The Arc7 LNG carrier 'Fedor Litke (IMO: 9768370)', operated by Dynagas, arrived at the Fayard A/S yard on July 17, following a delivery at Dunkerque, and remained in drydock as of July 24. Repairs and maintenance schedules have been significantly condensed for the Arctic LNG carriers due to their harsh operating conditions along Russia’s Northern Sea Route. The Damen ship repair focuses on hull maintenance, which the LNG carriers regularly require breaking a path through thick Arctic sea ice. The Damen Shiprepair stated that the company was in compliance with all international sanctions legislation against Russia. As the vessels have not been directly sanctioned by the U.S. or the EU the yards’ activities do not violate international law. Though procuring spare parts has become increasingly difficult, suppliers of gas chromatographs and flow meters used on LNG carriers have placed restrictions on the end user and no longer deliver parts to the vessels of the Yamal fleet, related to the fear of sanctions. A number of sanctioned LNG carriers, including an Arc7 and several Arc4 ice-class vessels, have recently resorted to receiving maintenance at Chinese yards. The Arc7 LNG carrier 'Christophe de Margerie' spent months at a Zhoushan Island yard east of Shanghai in summer 2024. Currently two additional sanctioned Russian gas carriers, the 'Sputnik Energy' and the 'Nova Energy' (IMO: 9324277), remained at Zhoushan yards.

The commercial port in Libya’s second city Benghazi is working round the clock three years after reopening, attempting to raise revenues for its restoration and expansion. The port was caught in the crossfire as rival factions battled for control of Benghazi from 2014 in a conflict that left parts of the eastern Libyan city in ruins. It suspended operations as the main gate and some buildings were destroyed and the roads strewn with shells. Forces led by Khalifa Haftar eventually declared victory in Benghazi in 2017. Repairs and reconstruction have been limited — two out of three damaged tug boats are still out of service. But the port is now doing brisk business and trucks loaded with cars and containers carrying foodstuffs, motor oils and other goods can be seen streaming out of the main gate near the city center. Port manager Yzaid Bozraida said monthly revenues stood at more than seven million Libyan dinars ($4.9 million) before the war, though the income had not been used to develop the port.

NSW Ports and Patrick Terminals have commenced work on a A$190 million project to double on-dock rail infrastructure capacity at Port Botany’s Patrick Terminals - Sydney AutoStrad in Australia. The project includes investment of A$120 million from NSW Ports to deliver on-dock rail infrastructure and A$70 million from Patrick Terminals to deliver automated rail operating equipment at the container terminal. The project will deliver capacity to handle one million TEUs on rail and improve train turn-around times by 33 percent. It will be opened in stages to allow existing rail operations at the terminal to continue throughout the construction period. Once fully operational in 2023, the project will increase rail capacity of the Patrick Terminals – Sydney AutoStrad from 250,000 to one million TEU. It is anticipated to reduce the truck kilometers travelled in Sydney by at least 10 million per year, saving over two million liters of diesel per year – the equivalent of a net reduction of more than 5,400 in CO2 emissions tonnes per year.

An incident between an iranian military helicopter and the USS 'Fitzgerald' took place on July 23, 2025, in the Gulf of Oman. The Iranian helicopter instructed the Arleigh Burke-class Aegis guided missile destroyer to change course. The U.S. warship was intercepted at approximately 10 a.m,. LT, as the vessel was entering Iranian-controlled waters. Iran responded by dispatching a navy helicopter, which passed over the warship and hovered nearby. Iran claimed the 'Fitzgerald' responded by telling the helicopter to leave the proximity and threatened twice to engage the helicopter. Iran further claimed that after repeated warnings, the 'USS Fitzgerald' changed course and continued in a southern direction. The U.S. Central Command and the U.S. Navy have not yet acknowledged the incident. Video: https://x.com/i/status/1948005842663694491

As the summer maintenance season has started, the first Arc7 ice-class gas carriers in service of the Yamal LNG project have arrived at the Fayard A/S shipyard in Odense. The 'Nikolay Urvantsev' (IMO: 9750660), chartered to Novatek’s Yamal LNG project, arrived at the drydock on June 26, 2025, and sailed around a week later. The Arc7 LNG carrier 'Fedor Litke (IMO: 9768370)', operated by Dynagas, arrived at the Fayard A/S yard on July 17, following a delivery at Dunkerque, and remained in drydock as of July 24. Repairs and maintenance schedules have been significantly condensed for the Arctic LNG carriers due to their harsh operating conditions along Russia’s Northern Sea Route. The Damen ship repair focuses on hull maintenance, which the LNG carriers regularly require breaking a path through thick Arctic sea ice. The Damen Shiprepair stated that the company was in compliance with all international sanctions legislation against Russia. As the vessels have not been directly sanctioned by the U.S. or the EU the yards’ activities do not violate international law. Though procuring spare parts has become increasingly difficult, suppliers of gas chromatographs and flow meters used on LNG carriers have placed restrictions on the end user and no longer deliver parts to the vessels of the Yamal fleet, related to the fear of sanctions. A number of sanctioned LNG carriers, including an Arc7 and several Arc4 ice-class vessels, have recently resorted to receiving maintenance at Chinese yards. The Arc7 LNG carrier 'Christophe de Margerie' spent months at a Zhoushan Island yard east of Shanghai in summer 2024. Currently two additional sanctioned Russian gas carriers, the 'Sputnik Energy' (IMO: 9256602) and the 'Nova Energy', remained at Zhoushan yards.

Freeport LNG on Sept. 03 announced that it has shipped the first LNG commissioning cargo for Train 1 from its liquefaction facility located on Quintana Island in Freeport, Texas. Approximately 150,000 cubic meters of LNG were loaded aboard the LNG Jurojin, which departed from the Freeport LNG terminal on September 3. “This first cargo loading is another significant step that gets us one step closer towards our start of commercial operations which is anticipated later this month,” said Michael Smith, Founder, Chairman and CEO, Freeport LNG. “We are very pleased that it took less than 45 days to load our first cargo since gas was first introduced to our liquefaction facilities.” Freeport’s Train 2 is advancing pre-commissioning to support an in service date of January 2020. Train 3 is nearing completion to support an in service date of May 2020. Source: Freeport LNG

Singapore-based port operator PSA International has completed the acquisition of Penn Terminals, located on the Delaware River in the US, from Macquarie Infrastructure Partners. According to PSA, Penn Terminals is one of the best equipped, privately owned multipurpose marine terminals on the Eastern Coast of the US. The deal marks PSA’s first acquisition in the US. Penn has recently undergone a significant capacity upgrade with the addition of two new post-panamax ship-to-shore (STS) cranes in late 2018.

The 'Nautilus' has found the ship's bell of the lost frigate USS 'De Haven- (DD-469,', the latest in a series of discoveries in a survey of the so-called "Iron Bottom Sound" off the Solomon Islands. The Fletcher-class destroyer was commissioned in September 1942and immediately departed for the Solomon Islands campaign. She escorted a convoy of troopships to Guadalcanal, then patrolled the archipelago to interdict Japanese forces for the next several months. On Feb 1, 1943, the 'De Haven' was escorting a small group of landing craft and a seaplane tender to a new beachhead on Guadalcanal. As she returned to the base with two of the landing craft, nine Japanese planes approached, and six turned to attack her. The 'De Haven' was hit by three bombs, killing the commanding officer and sinking the ship just off Savo Island. 167 crewmembers lost their lives. The wreck was discovered by Dr. Robert Ballard in 1992, and the the 'Nautilus' returned to the site in July to re-survey the vessel. With the assistance from live-stream video viewers, the research team found the bell dislodged from its mount and resting atop a torpedo mount amidships. Signs of deterioration and marine life colonization suggested that the timing of the find was lucky: some areas of the wreck have become heavily encrusted, and one of the other torpedo mounts has tilted due to deck collapse since the last survey. The team also conducted the first ever wreck exploration of the USS 'Walke', a Sims-class destroyer that sank off Savo Island during the Second Naval Battle of Guadalcanal on (Nov. 15, 1942. The 'Walke' fired off about 300 five-inch rounds at three Japanese warships in a nighttime battle; she was hit by a torpedo in return, then by multiple rounds of shells. As she went down, her depth charges detonated, killing survivors in the water. The ROV exploration showed the ferocity of the fight: the bridge had been blown off and was found separately, and only about half of the length of the hull could be identified as a single structure. Both the bow and stern were missing. Videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8oqLozxPV0g&t=416s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pfSGpiZ4WY&embeds_referring_euri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.maritime-executive.com%2F&source_ve_path=MjM4NTE

As the summer maintenance season has started, the first Arc7 ice-class gas carriers in service of the Yamal LNG project have arrived at the Fayard A/S shipyard in Odense. The 'Nikolay Urvantsev' (IMO: 9750660), chartered to Novatek’s Yamal LNG project, arrived at the drydock on June 26, 2025, and sailed around a week later. The Arc7 LNG carrier 'Fedor Litke, operated by Dynagas, arrived at the Fayard A/S yard on July 17, following a delivery at Dunkerque, and remained in drydock as of July 24. Repairs and maintenance schedules have been significantly condensed for the Arctic LNG carriers due to their harsh operating conditions along Russia’s Northern Sea Route. The Damen ship repair focuses on hull maintenance, which the LNG carriers regularly require breaking a path through thick Arctic sea ice. The Damen Shiprepair stated that the company was in compliance with all international sanctions legislation against Russia. As the vessels have not been directly sanctioned by the U.S. or the EU the yards’ activities do not violate international law. Though procuring spare parts has become increasingly difficult, suppliers of gas chromatographs and flow meters used on LNG carriers have placed restrictions on the end user and no longer deliver parts to the vessels of the Yamal fleet, related to the fear of sanctions. A number of sanctioned LNG carriers, including an Arc7 and several Arc4 ice-class vessels, have recently resorted to receiving maintenance at Chinese yards. The Arc7 LNG carrier 'Christophe de Margerie' spent months at a Zhoushan Island yard east of Shanghai in summer 2024. Currently two additional sanctioned Russian gas carriers, the 'Sputnik Energy' (IMO: 9256602) and the 'Nova Energy' (IMO: 9324277), remained at Zhoushan yards.

The first berth of the Lamu Port is now 98 per cent complete and is set to be unveiled next month. The construction has been ongoing for three years. Stakeholders are optimistic that it will have a socio-economic transformation of the region through trade. It will open up the corridor counties to the rest of the country and neighbouring states. At least 33 shipping companies have shown interest and their representatives have either toured the site or will do so before the opening date. Lamu Port will be actively involved in the transhipment business as its depth can accommodate big ships from which cargo can be loaded to smaller ships bound for Mombasa, according to Abdullahi Samatar, Kenya Ports Authority general manager in charge of Infrastructure development.

Two workers were killed and three others injured after a cable attached to a ship collapsed on them at a shipbreaking yard at Sitakunda in Bangladesh on Saturday evening. The accident happened at the Ziri Subedar shipbreaking yard and is the latest in a series of deaths at Bangladeshi yards this year. On July 31, three workers died after inhaling toxic fumes from a gas leak while dismantling a tanker in the same shipbreaking yard.