Vessel Maintenance Demands Rise, IMCA Urges Focus on Diver Safety
International Marine Contractors Association (IMCA) has reminded vessel owners and operators of the significant risks associated with underwater ship husbandry (UWSH) operations as activity in the Strait of Hormuz increases.As vessels begin returning to service following extended periods at anchor, demand for hull cleaning, inspection, and maintenance has risen sharply. These activities, commonly grouped under UWSH, play a critical role in restoring vessel efficiency by removing marine growth and biofouling.Bloomberg has reported that orders for crews to clean ship hulls fouled by algae, slime, and crustaceans
Hydromea, FAU Receive AUKUS Grant
at depth is practically impossible with conventional technologies: radio waves and GPS do not penetrate seawater, and acoustic systems offer severely limited bandwidth. Vast volumes of sensor data sit stranded on the seabed, inaccessible unless a vessel physically retrieves them.The joint FAU-Hydromea platform integrates two complementary technologies: long-range acoustic links for resilient wide-area command and control, and Hydromea's high-speed LUMA FSO optical modems for rapid, high-bandwidth data harvesting. This hybrid architecture resolves the fundamental trade-off that has constrained
US Supplies Autonomous Drones to Boost Philippine Maritime Surveillance
The United States has transferred four Ocean Aero Triton autonomous underwater and surface vehicles (AUSVs) to the Armed Forces of the Philippines to strengthen the country's maritime domain awareness and its ability to monitor and respond to maritime challenges.The delivery, valued at approximately $13 million, was completed on June 22 during a turnover ceremony at the Philippine Navy's Naval Operating Base Subic, attended by U.S. and Philippine military officials.The Triton systems are capable of collecting data above and below the ocean's surface through a resilient mesh network and can
Autonomous Vehicles Solve (and Create) Problems for Ports
Autonomous vehicles are increasingly sophisticated defensive tools for ports wanting to protect against maritime threats - including attacks from other autonomous vehicles.In December 15 last year, the Security Service of Ukraine reported that its underwater drone had struck a Russian submarine in Novorossiysk. The incident highlighted just how sophisticated potential threats have become. Harbor cameras were likely hacked, providing real-time visual evidence of the attack, with associated AI possibly identifying and guiding the autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) to its target.The value of AI is
Greenpeace Challenges Dutch Government on Deepsea Mining
Plans by Swiss-Dutch offshore giant Allseas to operate machinery for deep sea mining firm The Metals Company under unilateral U.S. authorization directly violate the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), according to a legal opinion commissioned by Greenpeace Netherlands.The legal opinion by Professor André Nollkaemper of the University of Amsterdam notes that the binding May 2026 Contract for Development Work and Commercial Production between Allseas and The Metals Company (TMC) includes activities prohibited under international law. According to Nollkaemper the threat is “no
Coral Reef Rescue Underway
decades ahead.Researchers from the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) and partners have established an interlinked network of weather stations, moorings, buoys and other sensor-loaded devices to collect data on tropical marine ecosystems and assembled a team of oceanographers to coordinate efforts and analyze the information.Weather station at Davies Reef (Image courtesy of Marie Roman / AIMS)“The instruments we use operate in difficult environments and can get damaged. A tenacious barnacle can ruin months of data,” said AIMS Oceanography and Shelf Processes Team Lead Simon Spagnol
US Coast Guard Outlines Commercial Dredge Fishing Safety Risks, Recommendations
. The CFV was operating in an area unfamiliar to both the Master and deckhand when the dredge was inadvertently dragged over a rock pile, which is a common hazard encountered in the region. The dredge accumulated a substantial load of rocks and clams, exceeding 1,000 pounds. When raised above the gunwale for retrieval, the heavy load created a significant heeling moment, with the weight positioned high and outboard, which also raised the vessel's center of gravity. This unfavorable condition degraded the vessel's stability and was deemed a contributing factor to the capsize and subsequent sinking
Battery Breakthrough: Mining Batteries, in a Microwave
phones and electric vehicles to grid-scale energy storage and earbuds, but their cathodes — the part of batteries denoted by a plus sign — are expensive to make and rely on minerals sourced from a limited number of countries, including lithium and cobalt. The Democratic Republic of the Congo, for example, is responsible for mining about 70% of the world’s cobalt.Sandia’s new method does more than recycle those cathodes: It upcycles them, transforming spent battery material into new cathodes that better match current industry needs while using less time and being more affordable
Venezuela: Trinidad and Tobago Oil Spill is Detrimental to Environment
;at risk."This event exceeds in magnitude the one that occurred in May and confirms the drift of pollutants toward Venezuelan waters," the government said in a statement without providing further details on the extent of the spill, which it said was confirmed by satellite imagery.Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yvan Gil asked Trinidad and Tobago in May for compensation for another oil spill that had affected areas in the far east of the country.Trinidad and Tobago's government said on Friday that it had deployed its Air Guard, Coast Guard and drones to find the purported oil spill and was
February 2026
