AQUATRAIN

When artificial intelligence (AI) and digitalization are discussed in maritime, attention still gravitates toward autonomous ships. Yet the market is not about de-crewing but, rather, applying vessel and shore data to make operations safer, more fuel-efficient, and easier to maintain.As of 2024, the maritime AI market stood at $4.13 billion, with a projected five-year CAGR of 23%. Market-size estimates should be treated cautiously, but the direction is hard to miss – AI solutions have advanced from trials into voyage planning, machinery monitoring, bridge decision support, port coordination, and digital assurance.

Accelerating demand for subsea power and telecoms cable network construction is fuelling major expansion of the world fleet of purpose-designed cable laying, maintenance and repair vessels.Driven by the growth of the offshore renewables sector and its advance into deeper waters, as well as by widening investment in cables connecting electrical grids in different countries, emergent generations of cable ship are distinguished by scale, productivity, and technological intensity.  Ongoing geopolitical tensions are also giving a fillip to the development of subsea cable infrastructure

Norwegian maritime technology company Kongsberg Maritime has unveiled the Arctic Hunter USV, a new class of uncrewed surface vessels designed for rapid integration and deployment into Hybrid Fleets.In response to the UK Royal Navy’s development of its hybrid fleet of crewed and uncrewed assets, the Arctic Hunter USV combines commercial ship design with Kongsberg Maritime’s remote and autonomous technologies to deliver anti-submarine warfare (ASW) capability in the High North.Kongsberg Maritime has selected one of its Arctic commercial vessel designs to adapt and optimize for the Royal Navy’s Type 92 ASW requirement.

"Between January and October 2026, dry bulk ship recycling fell 36% y/y to 3m DWT, its lowest level in 18 years. Only 70 ships were recycled, primarily smaller ships in the handysize and supramax segments, as strong freight rates have extended the operational lives of older ships,” says Filipe Gouveia, Shipping Analysis Manager at BIMCO.Dry bulk ship recycling has been at a low level since 2021 due to strong freight rates. Several disruptions have tightened the supply/demand balance. These include high congestion in 2021, longer sailing distances due to sanctions on Russian coal, which caused ships to be rerouted away from the Red Sea, and growing shipments from the Atlantic to Asia.

Technology previously demonstrated aboard the U.S. Navy's Stiletto test platform will advance to operational evaluation aboard a Legend-class National Security Cutter.Israel-based maritime technology company Sealartec has secured a U.S. Coast Guard contract under the Foreign Comparative Testing (FCT) Program to supply its ALR-S autonomous launch and recovery system for installation, testing and operational assessment aboard a Legend-class National Security Cutter (NSC).The award advances the technology from an experimental U.S.