Naval Surface Warfare Center test firing of a prototype rail gun in January 2008; a plume of flame is produced behind the projectile

"Warfighters of the future will experience a United States Navy that is safer, lighter, faster, stealthier, more affordable, energy efficient and autonomous than today’s US Navy," writes Dr. Lawrence C Schuette on the US Navy's official blog Navy Live, "thanks in part to the men and women at the Office of Naval Research and the Naval Research Laboratory."

The topics brought up during the lectures on "Improving Ferry Safety and Profitability in Southeast Asia" on the second day of Asian Work Boat 2013 in Singapore are indicators of how far passenger and cargo ferries have come in a figurative sense, but the topics are also indicators of how far these invaluable ships still need to go.

The world’s first LNG bunkering vessel delivered its first cargo to the world’s largest LNG-powered passenger ship, the 2,800-pax, 57,000GRT, 218 metre-long ‘Viking Grace’ in Stockholm’s central harbour last month.

The MV ‘Seagas’ had undergone an extensive re-build last year to convert the vessel from the 1974 Norwegian local car ferry MF ‘Fjalir’, after its purchase at the Fiskerstrand BLRT yard in Norway in June last year.

Australian federal government hypocrisy as refugee boats are sunk in tuna zone

When the Australian Labor Party, under pressure from the Greens, opened the nation's borders to alleged refugees, they unwound the Coalition’s Border Protection Policy and allowed some 32,000 potential Labor and Green voters and 545 vessels into Australian waters.

Marcon International's Bob Beegle looks ahead to what may be in store for the global maritime industry in 2013

Will 2013 be better or worse than 2012? It is again time to try to figure out what we may expect to face over the next twelve months. Marcon’s quarterly market reports regularly delve into financial reports from respected companies, such as Caterpillar, Wärtsilä and Tidewater, looking for insight.

Then we mix in predictions from the International Monetary Fund, World Bank, International Energy Agency, International Chamber of Commerce, and US Energy Administration and then toss in a sampling of cargo throughput from ports around the world for good measure. After all this we still end up wondering what the future may hold. There are many variables and many paths ahead. All we can do is give it our best shot and move forward.