U.S. D.O.T., MARITIME ADMINISTRATION

Introduction. Looking back at history one could argue that it was French author Jules Verne in his book “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea”, published in 1869, who was speculating about a new power source much in the same out of the box thinking that H.G. Wells employed when he wrote about inter-planetary flight in “War of the World’s. Verne was writing about “electricity” from batteries using seawater which he created after studying the model of the newly developed French Navy submarine “Plongeur” at the Exposition of 1867.

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday he would briefly pause an operation to help escort ships through the Strait of Hormuz, citing progress toward a comprehensive agreement with Iran."We have mutually agreed that, while the Blockade will remain in full force and effect, Project Freedom ... will be paused for a short period of time to see whether or not the Agreement can be finalized and signed," Trump wrote on social media.There was no immediate reaction from Tehran, where it was very early on Wednesday morning.Only hours earlier, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio was briefing reporters on the effort to escort stranded tankers through the strait. The day before, the U.S.

The U.S. military said on Monday it destroyed six Iranian small boats and intercepted Iranian cruise missiles and drones as Tehran sought to thwart a new U.S. naval effort to open shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.U.S. President Donald Trump launched the operation, called Project Freedom, on Monday as he sought to wrest control of the critical waterway from Iran, which effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz after the U.S. and Israel started the conflict on February 28.U.S. Admiral Brad Cooper, the head of Central Command, declined to comment on whether he thought a ceasefire begun on April 8 remained in effect as Iran lashed out in region

President Donald Trump said on Sunday that the United States would begin an effort to free up ships stranded in the Strait of Hormuz on Monday morning.Trump, in a post on his Truth Social site, gave few details about the operation, including whether the U.S. Navy would be involved. He described the effort as a "humanitarian gesture" meant only to aid neutral countries that were not involved in the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran."For the good of Iran, the Middle East, and the United States, we have told these Countries that we will guide their Ships safely out of these restricted Waterways, so that they can freely and ably get on with their business," Trump wrote in the post.

Commodity trader Mercuria is suing the Baltic Exchange, the world's top provider of benchmark shipping indices, over losses it said were caused by oil tanker pricing data that did not account for the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a court filing showed.The U.S.-Israeli war with Iran, which began on February 28, has left hundreds of ships and 20,000 seafarers stranded inside the Gulf and unable to sail through the vital chokepoints with only a few ships willing to make the voyages daily.