ULA announced that it has signed agreements with Bollinger Shipyards in Lockport, Louisiana and Bristol Harbor Group, Inc. in Bristol, Rhode Island, to design, oversee and build a new ship to transport Vulcan rockets from the factory in Decatur, Alabama to the launch sites at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida and Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.

Fairbanks Morse Defense (FMD), a portfolio company of Arcline Investment Management, has been awarded a purchase order by HII’s Ingalls Shipbuilding division to deliver an FM PC2.5 STC common rail technology retrofit kit, which will upgrade existing PC2.5 STC engines currently installed on the US Navy’s San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock ships.

ABS awarded approval in principle (AiP) to two critical autonomous functions on a proposed offshore platform in the latest phase of its pioneering collaboration with HD Hyundai Group.

BlueHalo, the company transforming the future of global defense, and Kraken Technology Group, a maritime technology leader specializing in disruptive high-performance platforms, announced a strategic partnership to integrate BlueHalo’s cutting-edge Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning (AI/ML)-backed autonomous mission systems into Kraken’s littoral security platforms to develop next-generation uncrewed surface vehicles (USV) and uncrewed surface/sub-surface vehicles (USSV) along with multi-domain, ‘marsupial’ capabilities.

The VARD Shipbuilding Group has contracted TMC Compressors (TMC) to supply a complete marine compressed air system to a newbuild cable laying vessel that it is constructing for Prysmian.

Discharge from ships with so-called scrubbers cause great damage to the Baltic Sea. A new study from Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, shows that these emissions caused pollution corresponding to socio-economic costs of more than EUR 680 million between 2014 and 2022. At the same time, the researchers note that the shipping companies' investments in the much-discussed technology, where exhaust gases are "washed" and discharged into the sea, have already been recouped for most of the ships. This means that the industry is now making billions of euros by running its ships on cheap heavy fuel oil instead of cleaner fuel.

DNV announced at OTC Houston that its new rules and standards for the offshore industry will be published in July after receiving industry feedback. The new DNV rules cover several segments, including underwater systems and installations, offshore units, diving systems, structural design, and drilling systems. The DNV rules and standards undergo an extensive external hearing process before their publication and entry into force.

Optimarin is expanding its position in the market for ballast water treatment systems with a deal to acquire peer player Hyde Marine from De Nora Marine Technologies that will significantly boost its installed base of BWTSs and give Hyde customers access to its global aftersales network.

The Bluestone Group has secured a contract for plan approval and site supervision of two new cutting-edge cable-laying vessels operated by Prysmian, who is a world leader in the energy and telecom cable systems industry and is leading the way in energy transition and digital transformation. The contract acquisition follows Prysmian’s announcement in December 2023 of a €350 million investment to expand its cable-laying vessel fleet to facilitate the global power grid upgrade for the energy transition.

ChartWorld has launched a ‘Radar as a service’ model, providing Raymarine’s Pathfinder™ Solid State IMO X-Band radar system on a subscription basis. Pathfinder is an award-winning solid-state radar technology designed for CAT 2 and CAT 3 SOLAS vessels. This business model optimizes a shipping company’s operations by reducing the burden of maintaining and updating essential navigation equipment.

The Department of Commerce’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) held a groundbreaking ceremony for a new facility on Naval Station Newport in Rhode Island that will serve as the future home of the NOAA Marine Operations Center-Atlantic.

Motive Offshore Group (Motive), which specializes in engineering, inspection and rental equipment for the energy sector, has secured a six-figure contract with Briggs Marine, a leading provider of marine and environmental services, to design and manufacture a 300Te spooler package. The new equipment will allow Briggs Marine to future-proof its planned operations with the spooler set to be deployed across eight UK renewable projects within the next two years.

All around the world, new regulations are coming into force that will require maritime operators to report—and reduce—the carbon impact of their fleets. To say this presents a challenge to the industry is to understate the situation.

South African Nouum Engineering, a leading provider of diesel engine services for marine, power, locomotive, and generators globally and Mauritius-based ship repair and conversion yard Taylor Smith Shipyard have signed a cooperation agreement, expanding both companies’ commercial and operational scopes.

Unseenlabs, a pioneer and global leader in radio frequency (RF) intelligence from space, is set to redefine global surveillance standards once again with the scheduled launch of a new satellite constellation in 2026. Founded in 2015 by a group of visionary entrepreneurs and headquartered in Europe (France), Unseenlabs has consistently led the way in technological innovation in spacebased RF detection.