SEAEMPRESS

HD Hyundai Heavy Industries and five other HD Hyundai affiliates are embarking on the development of a robot and data-based integrated hull management solution that automates the entire process—from hull diagnosis to cleaning and performance verification—for the first time in the shipbuilding industry.HD Hyundai Heavy Industries signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the joint development and commercialization of the "Total Hull Care Solution" with affiliates HD Korea Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering, HD Hyundai Robotics, HD Hyundai Marine Solution, and Avicus, as well as with KCC, a specialist in marine paints, and TAS Global, a specialist in underwater robots.

ABS, Polaris Shipping, HD Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) and autonomous navigation solutions provider AVIKUS have signed a four-party Concept Study Agreement for the implementation of a Conditional Unmanned Bridge.Under the agreement, the parties will jointly develop an autonomous navigation concept enabling unmanned bridge operation during deep-sea voyages, when defined conditions are met, on one of Polaris Shipping's 325K Very Large Ore Carriers (VLOCs).The concept is not a fully unmanned operation across the entire voyage. Rather, it is a phased autonomous navigation concept under which the bridge is left unmanned only under specific low-risk conditions, such as open-ocean passage.

British commandos boarded and intercepted a sanctioned Russian shadow fleet oil tanker in the Channel on Sunday, leading for the first time an operation to disrupt the oil revenue that helps fund Russia's war in Ukraine.The vessel Smyrtos, sailing under a Cameroonian flag, was boarded by Royal Marine Commandos and National Crime Agency (NCA) officials in the early hours on Sunday, with support from Chinook helicopters and other aircraft, a frigate and a minehunter."This successful operation delivers yet another blow to Russia and reminds those fuelling Putin's war in Ukraine that we will not let them hide," Prime Minister Keir Starmer said in a post on X.

OPEC maintained its forecast for robust global oil demand growth in the next four years on Thursday and nudged up its longer-term view, citing a worldwide shift towards more supportive policies for oil use and saying there was no sign demand would peak.The 11-member Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries depends on oil for a large part of government income, and its views on demand are higher than those of others in the industry, such as the International Energy Agency.World demand will rise to 113.3 million bpd in 2030 from 105.1 million barrels per day in 2025, OPEC said in its 2026 World Oil Outlook on its website.

Germany is deploying two ships to the Red Sea in preparation for a possible military mission in the Strait of Hormuz, Germany's defence minister, Boris Pistorius, said on Thursday.Hours after U.S. President Donald Trump signed a deal with Iran to end a war that has disrupted global energy supplies, shipping and insurance industry officials called for the urgent deployment of mine-clearing vessels to the strait."As we speak, our minesweeper Fulda and the supply ship Mosel are sailing through the Suez Canal towards the Red Sea," Pistorius told reporters as he arrived for a meeting with his NATO counterparts in Brussels.