Global marine vessels market
International experts provided a global forecast for the marine vessels market from 2025 to 2034.
- The market value in 2024 was $112.3 BN, projected to grow to $155.4 BN by 2034.
- The Commercial Vessel segment held a market size of $81.9 BN in 2024.
- The U.S. market size was $12.7 BN in 2024.
- The report forecasts a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 3.4 percent between 2025 and 2034.
Ports around the world are decarbonizing?
Did you know that 80 percent of international trade and the goods we use in our everyday lives travel by sea from port to port? These goods generate 3 percent of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, so reducing these emissions is critically urgent to protect our climate, oceans, economy, and human health. Of the 50 ports around the world that ship the most, 42 are located around cities, where they generate jobs and support local and national economies.
Despite their economic importance, ports pose dilemmas for the environment. Maritime air pollution and emissions of greenhouse gases are serious contributors to global GHG emissions, with projection of the shipping industry is projected to grow on average at 2.1 percent annually for the next four years. The International Maritime Organization (IMO) has set robust goals to curb GHG emissions from international shipping so as to align with the Paris Agreement. The IMO aims for a reduction of 20 percent, by 2030 and 70 percent by 2040 in relation to former 2008 levels. Can a 100 percent reduction by 2050 to achieve net-zero emissions in ports around the world really happen?
Rising pirate attacks off Somalia endanger major trade route
Instability in Yemen and the Horn of Africa is fueling a resurgence in maritime piracy off Somalia, a cause for concern in one of the world’s busiest shipping corridors.
At least three recorded incidents have taken place off the Horn of Africa nation this month alone, according to the UK Maritime Trade Operations, a navy organization that links military forces with merchant ships, echoing the havoc that Somali pirates wreaked along the East African coast for more than a decade.
The attacks peaked at 176 in 2011 and a 2009 hijacking was the basis for the 2013 Oscar-nominated movie Captain Phillips, starring Tom Hanks. They only tapered off after increased international patrols by navies including the European Union Naval Force — known as EU Navfor — the use of armed guards on ships and a stronger central government in Somalia.
Ports of Los Angeles and long beach commit
The nation’s busiest port complex has taken a decisive step toward eliminating emissions from maritime operations, with the Long Beach Board of Harbor Commissioners voting unanimously to approve a binding agreement with the South Coast Air Quality Management District that establishes concrete deadlines for transitioning to zero-emissions infrastructure.
The cooperative agreement, which SCAQMD’s Governing Board approved on November 7, commits the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles to developing comprehensive infrastructure plans in three phases, beginning with a draft plan in May 2027 and concluding with approved plans for all equipment categories by the end of 2029. The accord marks a significant evolution from the voluntary Clean Air Action Plan that has driven emissions reductions at the ports since 2005.
Nigeria seizes over one ton of cocaine at lagos port
Nigeria’s National Drug Law Enforcement Agency has seized approximately 1,000 kilograms of cocaine at Lagos’ Tincan Island Port, marking the largest single cocaine seizure in the port’s history and triggering an international investigation involving U.S. and British law enforcement agencies.
The massive drug haul, discovered last weekend in an empty container at the PTML Terminal, carries an estimated street value exceeding $235 million in international markets.Port operators first noticed the suspicious consignment and immediately alerted NDLEA, Customs, and other security agencies for a joint examination.
Red sea shipping faces uncertain future
The Houthi militant group’s announcement of a suspension of maritime operations in the Red Sea has sent ripples through the global shipping industry, offering potential relief to an industry battered by nearly two years of attacks—but experts warn that a swift return to normalcy remains far from certain.
The suspension, announced through a formal letter to Hamas’s military wing by newly appointed Houthi Chief of Staff Yousef Hassan Al Madani, marks a significant shift following the fragile peace deal between Israel and Hamas in October. The letter was first reported by the Associated Press.
The move indicates the Iranian-backed group has potentially moved to formally end its naval blockade of Israeli ports and attacks against vessels previously targeted over perceived links to Israel have now ceased. Thus far, however, the group has not offered any formal acknowledgment of the suspension.
Korean team tests ai-powered automatic firefighting system
South Korean researchers have developed an advanced AI-powered firefighting system that can independently identify a petroleum fire, activate, and concentrate the discharge of firefighting foam at the blaze. The team believes that it is the only system of its kind to successfully complete both shoreside and shipboard testing.The research group from the Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials took aim at the problem of oil fires on warships, caused by leaking distillate fuel from engines, generators or aircraft. Their goal was to engineer an autonomous firefighting system that could act on its own and extinguish a pool of burning oil in real-world shipboard conditions, including dealing with ship motion in higher sea states.