One does not wish to provoke any sort of angry response from readers, but is it not time that the definition of piracy was updated? It was not that long ago that such was a crime punishable by ferocious penalties, even under quite liberal regimes, which were repealed only after somebody pointed out...
Best Security Landing Craft – Island Guardian – Norman R. Wright and Sons This fast, truly multi-purpose craft from Queensland’s renowned Norman R. Wright and Sons has a multitude of roles. It combines those of patrol boat, landing craft, Ro-Pax ferry, research vessel, general work boat and more...
The Electric Thames project, a collaboration between UK Power Networks, LCP Delta, and Marine Zero, is assessing the viability of using electric vessels to feed stored electricity back into London’s energy network. Using a principle similar to night storage heaters, battery-powered vessels on the...
Norwegian naval architecture firm YSA Design has unveiled a concept for a new type of sail-powered catamaran cruise ship that offers the flexibility to access waters where larger vessels will have difficulty operating. YSA Design said the design includes a host of features to attract premium-end...
Offshore is one of the industries with the biggest risk profiles in the world. When bad things happen in offshore, people die, often there are explosions and sinkings, fires and oil spills, and the environment can be badly polluted, killing seabirds, fish, dolphins and coral, and inflicting...
The strategic potential of Submarine Rotational Force-West, the AUKUS initiative that commits the United States and United Kingdom to forward-deploy a small flotilla of nuclear-powered attack submarines to HMAS Stirling, near Fremantle, isn’t adequately appreciated. Fortunately, history has set an instructive if insufficiently known precedent. During World War II, from a precarious start, Fremantle was […]
The post OPINION | Fremantle’s wartime past serves as AUKUS submarine prologue appeared...
Best Feed Barge – 485-tonne feed barge – GroAqua Fish farm support vessels are, of necessity, becoming larger as they have to operate ever further offshore. Faroe Islands based designer/builder GroAqua has considerable experience with such vessels. This 485-tonne feed barge illustrates its talents...
The vulnerability of Australia’s trade routes to military coercion was highlighted by both last year’s Defence Strategic Update and by government commentary on the rationale for AUKUS. In his critique of ASPI’s new report, The trade routes vital to Australia’s economic security, Richard Dunley...
Harold Macmillan was supposedly once asked what the most troubling problem of his time as British Prime Minister was. “Events, my dear boy, events,” was his reply. I thought I had this week’s column nailed well in advance, but offshore is an industry especially susceptible to unexpected and hard to predict “events”. So, we must […]
The post COLUMN | Correcting course: Aramco and jackups; Siem Offshore and Kristian Siem; Ferguson Marine; MMA Offshore; Maersk/Svitzer [Offshore Accounts] appeared...
It’s a mark of our turbulent times that China’s dangerous and illegal actions against the Philippines at the Second Thomas Shoal currently only sit in the second tier of international security headaches confronting the United States and allies such as Australia. It’s worth stating the obvious...