ALFIOS

As global reliance on subsea infrastructure grows, so do the risks. Discover how safeguarding undersea assets opens new frontiers for innovation and investment.Importance of Subsea InfrastructureSubsea infrastructure plays a critical role in maintaining the operational continuity of the modern society and the global economy. This vast network includes subsea data and communication cables, pipelines for energy transportation, electricity cables, and resource extraction systems. What’s important is that these components are increasingly vulnerable to damage, whether due to natural phenomena or intentional human interference.

President Donald Trump said that Elon Musk will lead an audit of the Pentagon, aiming to uncover what he claims could be "hundreds of billions of dollars" in fraud and abuse.During a Super Bowl interview with Fox News' Bret Baier, Trump revealed his plans to instruct Musk to broaden his oversight beyond the Department of Education to include the Department of Defense. “We're going to find billions, hundreds of billions of dollars of fraud and abuse,” Trump asserted, referring to the Pentagon, the largest federal department with a budget nearing $1 trillion annually.

The offshore wind sector is bracing for transformative changes as it navigates shifting political landscapes and evolving market demands. To shed light on the current state of the industry, Maritime Reporter TV interviewed Phil Lewis, Director of Research at Intelatus, an international offshore energy markets expert, to discuss the trends shaping the Service Operation Vessel (SOV) and Construction Service Operation Vessel (CSOV) markets and the future of U.S. offshore wind under the Trump administration.SOV/CSOV Market: Speculation Drives GrowthInterest in purpose-built SOVs and CSOVs has surged in recent years, driven by the rapid expansion of offshore wind farms, particularly in Europe.

The Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania completed a switch from Russia's electricity grid to the EU's system on Sunday, severing Soviet-era ties amid heightened security after the suspected sabotage of several subsea cables and pipelines.European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen hailed the move, years in the planning, as marking a new era of freedom for the region, in a speech at a ceremony in Vilnius alongside the leaders of the three countries and the Polish president."These chains of power lines linking you to hostile neighbours will be a thing of the past," von der Leyen said.

On the night of February 8, 2000, the crew of the British research vessel, Royal Research Ship (RRS) Discovery, were braced for a storm.Wind speeds had been increasing over the previous night creating conditions no one onboard had ex-perienced before – or would want to experience again.From mid-afternoon on the 8th to mid-morning on the 9th, wave heights were topping 20 m in height and even reached 29.1 m – the equivalent to a ten-storey building – peaking around midnight.Even for 250 km west of Scotland, out in the North Atlantic, these were abnormal conditions.