AGRARI

A merchant vessel reported being hit by a projectile in the Red Sea off the coast of Yemen on Thursday, British security firm Ambrey said.No injuries or damage were reported in the incident, which occurred 84 nautical miles west of Yemen's port of Hodeidah, Ambrey added.The vessel was headed for city of Dammam in Saudi Arabia.The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations also said it had received a report of the incident.UKMTO added that the vessel and crew were reported to be safe and the vessel was proceeding to its next port of call."The nature of the attack is reported as a waterborne improvised explosive device," UKMTO said in an advisory note.

Greek coastguard officers will testify as suspects as part of a disciplinary investigation into their role in a deadly migrant shipwreck off Greece, three sources told Reuters on Thursday.Hundreds are feared to have died when a vessel, monitored by the Greek coastguard for several hours, capsized and sank in international waters off the southwestern Greek coastal town of Pylos on June 14, 2023.Up to 700 people were in the trawler which left Libya heading for Italy. Some 104 survivors were rescued but only 82 bodies were recovered. One year on, no one has been held accountable and relatives are still waiting for news of loved ones.

Shipbuilding group Austal on Thursday announced that its inaugural chairman, John Rothwell, is retiring from his position of Chairman of the company to serve on the Austal board as a non-executive director.Former U.S. Secretary of Navy Richard Spencer will replace Rothwell as Chairman, and will also join the board of Austal USA.Rothwell’s retirement as Chairman marks a significant milestone in the history of Austal, having served in the position for 37 years since he founded the company in 1987.

Global manufacturing activity and freight are showing signs of a recovery, after a downturn took hold in the second half of 2022 and lasted for most of 2023, which could support petroleum consumption and prices later in 2024.But indicators from the United States have been more mixed and manufacturers there may struggle until the central bank starts to cut interest rates to stimulate consumption of expensive durable items.Global industrial output was up by 1.6% in the three months between February and April 2024 compared with the same period a year earlier, according to the Netherlands Bureau of Economic Policy Analysis (CPB).

Yemen's Houthis said on Wednesday they targeted a ship in Israel's Haifa port with a number of drones in a joint military operation with the Islamic Resistance in Iraq.The operation targeted the Portuguese-flagged container ship MSC Manzanillo, the Iran-aligned Houthi group's military spokesman Yahya Saree said in a televised speech on Wednesday.The Israeli military is not aware of any such incident, a spokesperson said, and there was no indication of anything unusual at Haifa port.The Houthi group has been launching drone and missile strikes in shipping lanes since November, in what it says is in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.