Wendy Laursen
Contributing Writer-
14 Aug 2025
Wine Down Under
Brad Adams, co-founder of Subsea Estate in Western Australia, has just retrieved vats of his latest wine from the seabed just off the coast of Augusta.Partnered with wife and co-founder Jodee Adams and chief wine maker Emmanuel Poirmeur, he is creating a product unique in the southern hemisphere.For the last two years, Subsea Estate has produced Semillon and Shiraz that has undergone its secondary…
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07 Aug 2025
Algorithm Accountability
When the maritime trade union Nautilus International asked memberswhat they thought of AI at a forum in January, there was some positive sentiment:“We shouldn’t automatically assume there will be problems with AI, as we’ve adopted other tech over the years without it being too intrusive for crew.”Others were not so sure:“There are worrying issues around liability and culpability if an incident happens involving a vessel operated using AI.
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31 Jul 2025
AI Agents: Like Owning a Pet Tiger
Geoffrey Hinton, the godfather of AI, has compared developing AI agents to owning a pet tiger.Speaking this week at the World AI Conference (WAIC 2025) in Shanghai, Yicai Global reported him saying: "Our current situation is like someone keeping a tiger as a pet. A tiger cub can indeed be a cute pet, but if you continue to keep it, you must ensure that it does not kill you when it grows up.”He says there are two choices: either train it so that it doesn't attack you or eliminate it.“For AI…
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24 Jul 2025
Good Ocean, Good Business
There is an estimated 3.5 million square miles of ocean space suitable for finfish mariculture and about five times that suitable for seaweed production. It’s a potential that is being realized around the world as new projects generate benefits for rural communities, cities and the environment.In Papua New Guinea, the UN Sustainable Development Group is focusing on creating meaningful, sustainable livelihoods for women and youth in Kimbe Bay…
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24 Jul 2025
The Challenges for Watchkeepers Continue
This week MarineLink reported on the NTSB’s analysis of a 2024 collision on the lower Mississippi that resulted from a tow pilot’s distraction caused by personal cellphone use.While navigating the tow for about 1.5 hours before the collision, the pilot engaged in non-operational, secondary tasks, including taking an administrative phone call from the company’s safety officer, making a personal phone…
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10 Jul 2025
Persevering with Hydrogen as a Maritime Fuel
Hydrogen fuel cell power plants for ships face the challenge of hydrogen’s low volumetric energy density at normal temperature and pressure and its low electricity-to-electricity energy conversion efficiency compared to batteries.The justification for persevering with hydrogen as a marine fuel, though, is that other leading candidates for future fuels (such as e-methanol and e-ammonia) require a hydrogen feedstock for production.
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02 Jul 2025
S-100 has Value Beyond ECDIS
The S-100 framework is a new global standard created by the International Hydrographic Organization (IHO), in collaboration with other hydrographic offices around the world, that enables the integration of diverse datasets within a single Electronic Chart Display and Information System (ECDIS).Mariners will be able to combine various data layers with Electronic Navigational Charts including detailed…
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02 Jul 2025
Ship Design, Maritime Accidents and There’s a Master on the Run
There’s a master on the run right now.It was 4am, about 10 years ago. Two crewmembers died, 15 others were hospitalized. The master didn’t receive prior notification of the cargo fumigation that occurred, yet it is the master who is being held accountable.Captain Kuba Szymanski, Secretary General of InterManager, recounts the story as he explains why he is pleased about some of the outcomes of MSC…
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26 Jun 2025
Humans Versus Robots
The outlook could be bleak or bright depending on how we view the rise of humanoid robots.Think of this quote from a book by Jacob Morgan:“While many futurists and business leaders believe that robots and automation are taking jobs from humans, I believe that it's the humans who are taking the jobs away from robots.”Or this one from a book by James Barrat:“A powerful AI system tasked with ensuring your safety might imprison you at home.
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19 Jun 2025
You Cannot be a Leader if…
“You cannot be a leader if you don’t know what is going on,” says Rik van Hemmen, President of marine consulting firm Martin & Ottaway.van Hemmen, writing in the June issue of Maritime Reporter magazine, recounts of some of his experiences in oil spill response to demonstrate that it’s a truth that is not always recognized.On one salvage operation, a high-ranking government official was laughed out of the room after loudly proclaiming: “I am in charge now…
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12 Jun 2025
The Best First Step for Shipowners Interested in Electrification
Ed Schwarz, Head of Marine Solutions Sales for Siemens Energy in the US and Canada, says education is the best first step for any shipowner interested in electrification.“Talk to someone who’s done it. Go aboard a vessel. Visit a hybrid ferry. Owners love sharing their stories and their hard-won insights.”The June issue of Maritime Reporter magazine has an in-depth interview with Schwarz where he says…
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12 Jun 2025
Ice “Memory” to be Protected in Antarctica
The Ice Memory Foundation is preparing for the upcoming transport of ice cores from mountain glaciers to the Ice Memory Sanctuary in Antarctica.The announcement was made as part of the launch of the UN Decade of Action for Cryospheric Sciences (2025-2034) during the third UN Ocean Conference in Nice on June 8.Preserved in the Ice Memory Sanctuary at Concordia Station, the cores will be available for…
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11 Jun 2025
Maritime Propulsion: Expanding Options for Waterjets
It’s no surprise that waterjets are great for shallow-draft, highly maneuverable craft, but vessel designers are busting out of the old stereotypes.Vessel designer Aircat Vessels has developed a surface effect ship (SES) crew transport catamaran, AIRCAT 35 Crewliner, that can sail at over 50 knots and manage offshore transfers in 2.5-meter seas. The air cushion system from ESNA dynamically adjusts to sea conditions so the vessel can reduce transit times…
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09 Jun 2025
Video: ATBs Unlock Stranded Iron Ore Down Under
Australia’s unique enclosed self-discharging transhippers ensure a dust-free supply chain for the Onslow Iron project.Onslow in north Western Australia is a desert. It receives less than 10 inches of rain a year, and for much of the year temperatures reach 95 degrees Fahrenheit. It’s known for dust storms that can turn the town red.It’s iron ore country, but the lack of a deepwater port meant that…
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05 Jun 2025
Ammonia Gets Popularity Boost
Before MEPC83, Höegh Autoliners CEO Andreas Enge had decided to commit to ammonia as the company’s new fuel of choice. Speaking to reporter Charlie Bartlett in the Maritime Reporter Norway Supplement, he said: “Ammonia is more scalable and will be cheaper than methanol, full stop.”He’s not alone in thinking that. A Global Maritime Forum study released this past week indicates that under the parameters principally agreed within the IMO Net Zero Framework at MEPC83…
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29 May 2025
250 Tons of Electric Power
The electric ferry Ampere went into service in 2015. It was the world’s first electric ferry, and it has now sailed the equivalent of over 17 times around the equator.The 80-meter vessel boasts about 11 tons of battery system.This month, the world’s largest electric ferry built to date was launched at Incat in Tasmania, Australia. This 130-meter vessel boats 250 tons of battery system. The electrical…
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29 May 2025
Some Things Have Remained the Same
President of New Wave Media, Greg Trauthwein, spoke to Knut Ørbeck Nilssen, CEO Maritime, DNV, for the latest episode of Maritime Reporter TV.Asked about what has remained the same over his 30+ year maritime career, Nilssen said: “If I look to the maritime industry, it has really maintained a fairly stable regulatory environment over all these 30 plus years. We still have the IMO, as a global regulator…
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22 May 2025
Harvest Now Decrypt Later
The threat that AI and quantum computing pose to cyber security is already here, even before these technologies are mature enough to crack today’s encryption methods. Bad actors are taking a “harvest now decrypt later” approach to cyberattacks.Classical encryption methods like Rivest–Shamir–Adleman (RSA) and Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC) rely on the difficulty of factoring large numbers or solving discrete logarithm problems.“Breaking these public…
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21 May 2025
Send in the Robots for High-Frequency Biofouling Control
The currents in Singapore can be so strong that divers cleaning fouling from a ship’s hull can feel like they are swimming in a river. There’s times when it’s just not safe for them to be there.The currents can be a problem for robotic cleaners as well, but for ship operators, the bigger problem is having to wait long after cargo operations have concluded while the hull is cleaned by either method.And yet…
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15 May 2025
Naturally Quiet
The Arctic’s bowhead whales can live for over 200 years. Imagine what they might hear in that time: screw propellers were only just being used to power ships 200 years ago, and diesel engines appeared some hundred years after that.The underwater radiated noise of shipping has grown globally, but the Arctic is a special place. It has been partially shielded from shipping noise. Sea ice shields and diffuses underwater sound…
