After the death of the Iranian commander, Qassem Soleimani by a US drone, the US Maritime Administration (MARAD) officially published an advisory in order to warn the US ships located across the Middle East waterways of the possible Iranian maritime threats. 

The UK Maritime Minister, Nusrat Ghani MP,  has launched the inaugural Maritime Safety Week, running from 9 to 13 July, as part of the government's efforts to share knowledge of safety practices and to highlight the work which is already being done across the diverse shipping industry to strive for safety excellence. 

Petrobras agreed with US and Brazilian authorities to pay $853.2 million in penalties to resolve the US government’s investigation into violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act in connection with Petrobras’s role in facilitating payments to politicians and political parties in Brazil, as well as a related Brazilian investigation. 

TAIC issued an investigation report on the collision of the passenger ship 'Seabourn Encore' with the bulk cement carrier at Timaru, on 12 February 2017, after its breakaway from wharf. The Commission found that the mooring failed because the bollards on the wharf failed. 

The National Defence Authorisation Act for Fiscal Year 2020 (NDAA 2020) was signed by President Trump on December 2019, and includes several sanction-related measures mostly targeting specific European energy programmes in which Russia participates in.

Five seafarers have been abandoned off the coast of Umm Al Quwain, in the United Arab Emirates, while also they haven't received their wages for 32 months and are unable to go ashore for not having the right documents.

 A change to MARPOL Annex 1 (Chapter 9, Regulation 43) prohibits the use of heavy grade oil (HGO) as ballast in the Antarctic area, which is defined as the sea area south of Latitude 60°S. This new requirement applies to both new and existing ships operating in the Antarctic area from March 1, 2016, and is in addition to the existing Antarctic area ban on carriage of HGO in bulk as cargo or carriage and use as fuel.The remainder of Regulation 43 remains the same. The specification of HGO is unchanged. If previous operations have included the carriage or use of HGOs, cleaning and flushing of oil pipelines is not required. The ban does not apply to vessels engaged in securing the safety of ships or in search and rescue operations.Shipowners and operators need to ensure that ships have the capability to discharge all heavy grade oil to available shore facilities before entering the Antarctic area. Shipbuilders and designers need to ensure that ships intending to travel in the Antarctic area are designed and built to be able to comply with the new regulation. Find further details by reading IMO Circular MEPC.256 (67) on the Amendment to MARPOL Annex ISource: LR In the origin,...

According to One Sea's press release, three major industry players joined One Sea boosting the future of autonomous ship technology in the maritime sector. Specifically, Inmarsat and MIT (Monohakobi Technology Institute) joined One Sea as full members, whereas RINA, the Royal Institution of Naval Architects, signed a Memorandum of Understanding to become an associate member. 

As the Indian Register of Shipping informs, the regulation 12 of MARPOL Annex VI bans the installation of equipment containing ODS, including hydrochloroflurocarbons on ships constructed on or after 1st January 2020. This aligns with the requirements of an international agreement on substances that damage the ozone Layer, called the Montreal Protocol 1987.

UK P&I Club informs about an oil spill incident. Namely, a tanker was ready to load a petroleum product cargo at an offshore anchorage by ship to ship transfer (STS). During the operation, the cargo hose ruptured causing oil to spray on deck and overboard. A small quantity of oil was released into the sea, because of the effective response of the crew.