SIGAS SONJA

U.S. forces disabled an unladen oil tanker in the Gulf of Oman on Monday after it attempted to sail to an Iranian port in violation of the ongoing blockade against Iran, the U.S. military said.U.S. Central Command said in a post on X that the M/T Marivex, a Palau-flagged vessel, was transiting international waters in the Gulf of Oman toward Iran when it was targeted.An F/A-18 Super Hornet from the USS Abraham Lincoln fired a precision munition into the ship's engineering and steering spaces after the crew failed to comply with directions from U.S. forces, CENTCOM said."Marivex is no longer sailing to Iran," it said.

A dual fuel combustion system developed by Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) in collaboration with Caterpillar Inc. addresses the challenge of methanol ignition in diesel engines, with clear relevance for inland and coastal marine vessels.Methanol is typically produced from natural gas, an abundant domestic resource, and converting it into a liquid allows easier storage and handling. However, methanol does not ignite easily, creating a barrier for vessels that rely on compression-ignition diesel engines.ORNL’s approach pairs methanol with a small amount of diesel used as a pilot fuel to start combustion, enabling methanol dual fuel operation across a much wider range of conditions.

The U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) identified a safety concern after a prototype component used in a mechanical shaft-seal system failed onboard a USCG inspected deep draft vessel.On February 19, 2025, a U.S. flagged crude-oil tanker transiting near Delaware Bay experienced simultaneous failures of its port and starboard shaft seals, resulting in substantial seawater ingress.The crew deployed emergency collars supplied by the seal manufacturer and used the vessel’s emergency bilge system to remove the water.

Connecticut Maritime Association has decided to move its annual meeting and exposition to Houston for the coming year. In the last few years attendance has shrunk and I suppose leadership thinks that Houston has more potential to draw interest from the maritime community. This leaves me to wonder what the “Maritime Community” actually is.Connecticut Maritime Association had an interesting origin. In the late 1970’s and early 1980’s many bulk ship owner/operators got sick of the long commute into New York City and decided to move their offices to Stamford Connecticut, where a number of these owners lived.

Following the divestment of Wärtsilä Water & Waste to Solix Group AB, Hamworthy recently launchedas an independent specialist in marine water and waste systems. The business enters its next chapter with full operational continuity for customers worldwide, bringing together more than a century of engineering heritage, established installed-base expertise and global lifecycle support capabilities under the historic Hamworthy name.The launch marks the return of Hamworthy as a standalone marine environmental systems company and brand, with Serck Como, the freshwater generation business previously operating within Wärtsilä Water & Waste, continuing as Serck Como – A Hamworthy Business.