Wendy Laursen
Contributing Writer-
21 May 2026
Australian Quantum Sensor Company Raises Seed Funding
Deteqt, an Australian deep tech company building one of the world's most compact quantum magnetic sensors, has closed a A$5 million ($3.6 million) seed round led by Main Sequence, with participation from ATP Fund, BOKA Capital, Beaten Zone Venture Partners, Uniseed, and the University of Sydney.Deteqt's breakthrough is a chip-scale quantum magnetometer: an exquisitely sensitive sensor that combines a diamond crystal with a custom semiconductor chipâŠ
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14 May 2026
Somali Piracy on the Rise
Palaemon Maritimeâs maritime security report this week points to some of the clearest indicators yet that piracy activity off Somalia is escalating again.âTaken alone, these incidents might appear isolated. Taken together, they point to something more important: the conditions that enable piracy are building again in the Western Indian Ocean.âMost recently, Palaemon cites a possible hijacking of a dhow off the southern Somali coastâŠ
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07 May 2026
Australian Quantum Technology to Support National Defence Strategy
A new quantum clock technology developed in Australia has now been deployed in space.Developed by QuantX Labs, TEMPO delivers up to 10 times the performance of current GNSS-based timing systems. In space, that translates to more resilient communications, more accurate navigation and harder-to-disrupt synchronization between satellites and ground systems â capabilities that matter when GPS is jammedâŠ
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07 May 2026
South Korea Could Be Asiaâs Green Ammonia Hub
It was March that South Koreaâs LOTTE Fine Chemical announced that it has successfully completed the worldâs first commercial cross-border import of green ammonia. Then on April 23, the Ulsan Port Authority announced the successful completion of the worldâs first ammonia bunkering operation involving a gas carrier at the port â a world first port-to-ship ammonia bunkering operation.This milestone builds on Ulsan Portâs earlier achievementsâŠ
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23 Apr 2026
Gearing up for MEPC 84
The shipping industry is getting ahead of discussions at MEPC 84 next week by reaffirming their commitment to the IMO.BIMCO, CLIA, ICS, INTERCARGO, INTERFERRY, INTERTANKO and WSC, representing the global commercial shipping fleet, issued a statement saying they remain committed to pursuing the ambition established within the 2023 IMO Strategy on Reduction of GHG Emissions from Ships, having investedâŠ
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16 Apr 2026
Wind Power and the Charter Party Challenge
This week, wind-assist company BAR Technologies published an article on LinkedIn titled The Charter Party Challenge, the challenge being how do shipowners reap the benefits of installing wind-assist technology when it is the charterer that usually benefits from lower fuel consumption.Even though thereâs around 100 vessels now sailing with wind-assist systems, and that number is expected to double over the next 12 monthsâŠ
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09 Apr 2026
The Politics of a Subsea Data Cable Link to Antarctica
Antarctica is the only continent without a fiber-optic connection.The technology required to get one there is available, but the creation of such infrastructure raises geopolitical questions, including its potential military use, say researchers from Germany.The US National Science Foundation has plans to build a subsea data cable link from New Zealand or Australia to its McMurdo research base in Antarctica.
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07 Apr 2026
Tech Talk: Time to Rethink Watchkeeping
Itâs time to consider the role of âdigital watchkeepersâ as the become an increasingly complex tool for bridge teams.Releasing its annual report in July 2025, the UK Marine Accident Investigation Branch said that significant collisions between merchant vessels show no sign of reducing. The collision between Scot Explorer and Happy Falcon, the fatal collision between Verity and Polesie and the dramaticâŠ
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19 Mar 2026
Quantum: The Bigger the Battery, The Quicker it Charges
Australian scientists have demonstrated proof-of-concept for a quantum battery.Like conventional batteries, it charges, stores and discharges energy. However, unlike conventional batteries, it leverages unique properties of quantum mechanics such as superposition and entanglement rather than chemical reactions.The battery has a multi-layered organic microcavity and is wirelessly charged with a laser.
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19 Mar 2026
New Fuels Studies Still Require Apples with Apples Comparisons
It was back in 2022, that industry group SEA-LNG said: The industry is making newbuild investment decisions now that will impact greenhouse gas emissions today and for the next 25-30 years, the typical lifetime of a vessel. It is essential their assessments of alternative marine fuel pathways are made on a like-for-like, or âapples with applesâ basis.The issue was that discussion of alternative fuelsâŠ
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12 Mar 2026
Bio-Methanol Gaining Traction as Alternative Fuel
This week, CMA CGM and SIPG Energy successfully completed the bunkering of 3,643 tons of bio-methanol for the CMA CGM Osmium at Yangshan Port in Shanghai. This operation marks CMA CGMâs first bio-methanol bunkering worldwide and sets a new national record for the largest single bio-methanol bunkering operation carried out at a Chinese port.As part of its commitment to achieving Net Zero Carbon by 2050âŠ
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26 Feb 2026
Necropolitics: The Disposability of Migrant Fishers
The term necropolitics was first coined with reference to concentration camps, apartheid regions, and historical slave plantations.It is the exercise of sovereignty which resides, to a large degree, in the power and the capacity to dictate who may live and who must die.Now researchers from Australia and New Zealand have extended the concept to fishing vessels where captains control medical decisionsâŠ
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19 Feb 2026
Taking Quantum Logic to the Edge
Jason Turner, Chairman and CEO of Entanglement, started the AI quantum computing company in 2017. He quickly realized it was too early. Rather than focus on quantum computing hardware, which is still on the journey to maturity, he chose to focus on quantum logic, and quantum inspired algorithms applicable to existing compute technologies.He and his team therefore turned their attention to using quantum logic.
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29 Jan 2026
Teamwork Required to Thwart Illegal Wildlife Trade
Last week, Governor Gavin Newsom announced that California had disrupted several major wildlife trafficking operations, including seizing hundreds of illegal products made from ivory, rhino horn, walrus tusks, suspected bear gall bladders, saiga antelope, and turtle shells.âThe international illegal market for these products encourages poaching and threatens global biodiversity â California wants no part of it.
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15 Jan 2026
Subsea Cable Risk a Mix of Bathymetry and Geopolitics
A new study undertaken by a group of researchers from the UAE, Canada, Japan, and Taiwan collates a range of statistics and expert opinion to address an urgent puzzle: Where and under what conditions do states prioritize cable security?The researchers focused on three contrasting cable systems: Unity/EAC Pacific (JapanâU.S.), Asia-America Gateway (GuamâHawaii), and Tata TGNTata Indicom (IndiaâSingapore).The risk to such cables varies predictably with geopolitical tensionâŠ
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15 Jan 2026
Clean Energy Start and Restart
This week, a US federal judge cleared Danish offshore wind developer Orsted to resume work on its nearly finished Revolution Wind project, which US President Donald Trump's administration halted along with four other projects last month.The halt was costing Orsted $1.5 million a day, noted the judge.The project is now expected to begin generating power later this year.Also this week, Ireland-based clean energy company ETFuels joined the SASHA CoalitionâŠ
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08 Jan 2026
The Challenges and Rewards of Pushing Ahead with Autonomous Ships
In his 2026 goal setting message, IMO Secretary-General Arsenio Dominguez noted that all eyes will be on the finalization of the autonomous ships code.The MASS Code is a framework for the safe, secure, and environmentally friendly operation of remotely operated and autonomous ships.Maj. Joseph DeFlorio, U.S. Army 8th Theater Sustainment Command, National Security Law Team, highlighted in a DecemberâŠ
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18 Dec 2025
2025: Fascinated with Subsea Discovery
Our fascination with the depths of the ocean revealed itself in some of our most-read stories of 2025.Whatâs really down there? asked New Wave Media President Greg Trauthwein in his interview with Matt Grove, Regional Segment Manager Offshore at Seequent in September, in the most watched Offshore Engineer TV show.Working underneath the worldâs waters is a challenge in and of itself, a challenge exacerbatedâŠ
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11 Dec 2025
Real Zero, Not Just for Australia
The December issue of Maritime Reporter magazine includes a feature story on Australian mining company Fortescueâs pioneering ammonia fuel trial on the platform supply vessel Green Pioneer.The Green Pioneer was named one of TIMEâs Best Inventions of 2025.The conversion journey of its diesel-electric power system to dual-fuel ammonia started in 2022, on land, when Fortescue converted a four-stroke CumminsâŠ
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20 Nov 2025
Is There a Viable LNG to Ammonia Fuel Pathway?
Is LNG to ammonia a viable pathway for helping shipowners get to net zero?From an engine point of view there is a pathway, but there are two points to consider, says Lars Tingbjerg Danielsen, Two-Stroke Promotion Manager â Newbuildings at Everllence. First, the case where an engine is capable of burning both methane and ammonia; second the case where an engine starts its service burning methane andâŠ
