The Palau registry is defending the actions it took in the Middle East Marine LLC seafarer abandondment cases. The Dubai tug operator was accused last week by the ITF perpetrating the ‘worst case of serial seafarer abandonment ever seen’, while Palau was called out by the union for irresponsiveness

If convicted, Yan may face a long prison sentence. His former superior at SIPG, Chen Xuyuan, was sentenced to life in prison by another Chinese court in March

Australia says complaints about breaches of the Maritime Labour Convention fell in 2023, which suggested seafarers trusted its regulator to take their welfare seriously. But abuses by employers continued to come to light

India-flagged bulk carrier banned from Australia for 180 days after inspectors at Melbourne found a litany of deficiencies, including defective main engine control and monitoring systems

After seven years at the helm Guy Platten has announced it is time to step aside and let someone else lead the global trade association for shipowners

Two ship engineers face potential jail time in the US for violating pollution laws. The US says the two admitted oil was illegally dumped from their vessel when it was in New Jersey in 2022, and they instructed crew to cover up the act

Researchers in Sweden estimated the cost of marine ecotoxicity damage from the discharge of scrubber water in the Baltic Sea from 2014-2022 was more than €680m, while shipowners quickly recouped the cost of installing scrubbers

Next year’s P&I general increases expected in line with inflation, but Dali incident could have lasting impact on reinsurance levy

Amid an alarming rise in seafarer abandonment cases, the ITF is accusing Dubai tug operator Middle East Marine of ‘systemic abuse and neglect’, with 17 abandonments reported since November 2022

Mediterranean Shipping Company argues that the FMC enforcement bureau has gone too far — way too far — in seeking a record $63m penalty for the carrier’s alleged behaviour during the supply chain crisis. It calls for a much smaller fine of $2m-$3m

Laconia Bay, a ship-to-ship transfer hotspot for Russian crude off the Greek coast, is free from Russian oil-carrying ships for the first time in the past 18 months amid reports of a Greek naval exercise taking place

The onus to sort this mess out rests with the politicians, not marine insurers. Given the inordinate amount of time the US Congress took just to agree Kyiv’s request for more shells, hopes can sadly not be high

The UK’s Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act is expressly worded to have extraterritorial effect. Big multinational shippers could choose to mitigate the risk of falling foul of the law by using stronger charterparty wording

Maersk introduced a €23 per dry teu ETS surcharge on the east Asia to north Europe route during the first quarter based on an ETS price estimate of €82 per tonne of CO2

Human Rights at Sea is seeking greater visibility on its Geneva Declaration on Human Rights at Sea, including adoption by UN bodies

Shake-up in Guangzhou port’s top management is part of broader results from Beijing’s anti-graft drive, which has impacted many public and private sectors, including shipping