Maritime Vessels Directory

If 2025 proved anything for Germany’s shipbuilding and marine equipment sector, it is that the industry retains both resilience and relevance, even amid geopolitical turbulence. According to The Association for Shipbuilding and Marine Technology (VSM), the year closed with strong order activity, renewed investor confidence and a clear signal that German yards and suppliers remain essential to Europe’s maritime industrial base.One of the year’s most tangible confidence boosters came early. In January, the shipyards in Flensburg and Rendsburg found new owners from within the maritime industry just weeks after insolvency proceedings began.

China launched its most extensive war games around Taiwan on Monday to showcase Beijing's ability to cut off the island from outside support in a conflict, testing Taipei's resolve to defend itself and its arsenal of U.S.-made weapons.The Eastern Theatre Command said it had deployed troops, warships, fighter jets and artillery for its "Justice Mission 2025" exercises to encircle the democratically-governed island, conduct live fire and simulated strikes on land and sea targets, and drills to blockade Taiwan's main ports.

The White House has ordered U.S. military forces to focus almost exclusively on enforcing a "quarantine" of Venezuelan oil for at least the next two months, a U.S. official told Reuters, indicating Washington is currently more interested in using economic rather than military means to pressure Caracas."While military options still exist, the focus is to first use economic pressure by enforcing sanctions to reach the outcome the White House is looking (for)," the official said on Wednesday, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Australia’s Woodside Energy has finalized a long-term liquefied natural gas supply agreement with Türkiye’s state pipeline operator BOTAŞ, marking Woodside’s first long-term LNG contract with the Turkish market.Under the sale and purchase agreement, Woodside will supply BOTAŞ with about 5.8 billion cubic meters of natural gas equivalent, or around 0.5 million tons per annum of LNG, for up to nine years starting in 2030.The deal converts a non-binding heads of agreement signed in September into a binding commitment. LNG volumes will be supplied primarily from Woodside’s under-construction Louisiana LNG project in the United States, as well as from its broader LNG portfolio.

Oil prices fell by more than $1 a barrel on Friday as investors weighed a looming global supply glut, while also keeping an eye on a potential Ukraine peace deal ahead of talks this weekend between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and U.S. President Donald Trump.Brent crude futures fell $1.13 or 1.82% to $61.11 per barrel by 1:14 p.m. EDT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude fell $1.13 or 1.94% to $57.22.While supply disruptions have helped oil prices rebound in recent sessions from their near five-year low on December 16, they are on track for their steepest annual decline since 2020.