Repsol has completed what it describes as the first bioethanol bunkering operation in the Port of Barcelona, delivering 2,800 tonnes of the alcohol-based fuel to Maersk's 16,000 TEU container vessel Antonia Maersk.
Malaysia sits at one of the world’s busiest maritime crossroads, and the volume of marine equipment moving through its ports reflects that position. But the regulatory framework governing those movements is layered across multiple agencies, and the cost of misreading it lands directly on the importer’s timeline and budget.
Most physical crude oil offers that land in a buyer’s inbox are not real. The cargo does not exist, the seller is not who they claim to be, and the only thing that moves is the buyer’s money. Recognising the warning signs is the cheapest insurance in the business.
SOLAS life-saving appliance requirements are among the most detailed and most frequently deficient areas in port state control inspections worldwide. The gap between what operators think they are doing and what the Convention actually requires is wider than most realise.
Class surveys, flag state surveys, and Port State Control inspections each serve a different authority, follow different rules, and affect a vessel’s licence to trade in distinct ways. Understanding how they interact is fundamental to sound ship management, and to knowing which gaps in compliance carry the most commercial and operational risk.
Drones are now embedded in day-to-day operations across ships, ports, offshore platforms, refineries, and pipelines. The question for maritime and oil and gas organisations is no longer whether to deploy them. It is whether the workforce is trained to do so safely, legally, and to a standard that holds up under regulatory and insurer scrutiny.
