BARCELONA KNUTSEN

A strike by dockworkers on the U.S. East Coast and Gulf Coast that disrupted much of the nation's ocean shipping this week ended on Thursday, but a key issue driving labor unrest across the continent - the growing use of automation - was unresolved.Companies view automation as a path to better profit while unions see it as a job-killer. For North American dockworkers battling automation, Europe's port worker contracts may point a way to resolve the issue.Some 45,000 port workers from the International Longshoremen's Association union late on Thursday ended a three-day strike that had shut ocean shipping from Maine to Texas after reaching a tentative deal on wages.

U.S. East Coast and Gulf Coast ports began reopening late on Thursday after dockworkers and port operators reached a wage deal to settle the industry's biggest work stoppage in nearly half a century, but clearing the cargo backlog will take time.The strike ended sooner than investors had expected, weakening shipping stocks across Asia on Friday as freight rates were no longer expected to surge.At least 54 container ships queued outside the ports as the strike had prevented unloading and threatened shortages of anything from bananas to auto parts. Everstream Analytics was calculated the number queuing at 4:00 p.m. ET (2000 GMT). More ships are sure to arrive.

Finnish shipbuilder Meyer Turku has floated out Star of the Seas, the second Icon-class cruise ship for U.S. cruise giant Royal Caribbean.The float out was celebrated at the Turku, Finland shipyard with an event that included the firing of a ceremonial cannon. The dry dock gates were opened, and the dry dock—measuring 16 meters deep, 80 meters wide and 365 meters long—was filled with water, a 9-hour process. Once the dry dock was fully flooded, the ship was floated out and moved to the outfitting pier, where the final outfitting stages are now underway. Emptying the dock afterward took an additional 12 hours.

The navies of Britain, Australia and the U.S. were able to control uncrewed ships in Australia while sitting more than 10,000 miles away in Portugal as part of a series of military experiments, Britain's Royal Navy said on Friday.The AUKUS security pact between the three nations, which aims to counter China's growing influence in the Indo-Pacific region, is helping bring new military technology to the frontline at an "unprecedented" pace, the Royal Navy said."The successes experienced, including proving the ability of all three AUKUS navies to command-and-control vessels on the other side of the world in a tactically realistic scenario

U.S. dock workers and port operators have reached a tentative deal that will immediately end a three-day strike that has shut down shipping on the U.S. East Coast and Gulf Coast, the International Longshoremen's Association (ILA) union and the United States Maritime Alliance (USMX) said on Thursday.The tentative agreement is for a wage hike of around 62% over six years, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters. The workers union had been seeking a 77% raise while the employer group previously raised its offer to a nearly 50% hike.