UK Launches Accelerated Auction for Abandoned Offshore Wind Site

UK looks to maintain momentum by accelerating the rebidding of a site in the Irish Sea (The Crown Estate)

Published Jul 27, 2026 6:57 PM by The Maritime Executive

In what is seen as a key test for the UK’s offshore wind energy development plans, The Crown Estate announced that it is launching a new competitive tender for a large offshore wind farm in the Irish Sea. It reports that it has designed the process to derisk the project for new bidders while also accelerating the process to keep the UK’s offshore wind energy development on schedule.

The Morgan project is located in the Irish Sea and calls for approximately 1.5 GW of capacity. It was originally awarded in 2021 and was held in a joint venture between EnBW and what is now JERA Nex BP. The joint venture was dissolved in January 2026, with JERA Nex BP acquiring all rights to the adjacent Mona 1.5 GW wind farm and the lease abandoned back to the Crown Estate for the Morgan site. The Crown Estate had said it would move to quickly rebid the lease.

“Morgan is a strategically important offshore wind project that has already achieved significant development milestones. Our priority has been to move quickly and maintain the momentum already built behind the project,” said Gus Jaspert, Managing Director, Marine at The Crown Estate.

It points out that there has already been substantial progress on the development of Morgan, and that the goal is to preserve, wherever possible, the steps that had already been completed. A Development Consent Order was issued for Morgan in August 2025, and a decision on the order for the transmission assets is expected in September. A grid connection agreement was already reached with the National Energy System Operator.

The tender process was also streamlined in what The Crown Estate terms a “proportionate tender process.” It says there will be a transparent “rising clock auction” where bids will address a Site Exclusivity Fee as a lump sum paid over 20 years and payable when the project enters lease.

Bids are expected over the summer. The Crown Estate says it will select a preferred bidder toward the end of the year. This is ahead of the planned next round for offshore wind projects, tentatively set for the first half of 2027 and targeting 6 GW of additional capacity.

The UK government has set a target to reach an operational capacity of 50 GW of offshore wind by 2030. It currently has over 16 GW of operational offshore wind power with a total of over 30 GW either installed or committed. A further 7.2 GW of capacity is in the consent process. Losing the 1.5 GW Morgan project, however, could delay the ability to reach goals and send a signal of continued challenges in the industry.

Broken Wind Turbine Blade in North Sea Was a Menace to Shipping

The blade was towed to the patrol vessel and pulled aboard in pieces (Photos courtesy of Federal Police)

Published Jul 28, 2026 2:19 PM by The Maritime Executive

German police report they were able to recover a broken wind turbine blade that was drifting in the North Sea, creating a significant risk to navigation. The blade was recovered north of the German island of Borkum and is believed to have come from an under-construction offshore wind farm.

The Federal Police report they were advised that the blade was floating in a position between the Hohe See wind farm, which has been in operation since 2019, and the He Dreiht wind farm, which is under construction and expected to be commissioned in a few months. Both projects are owned by EnBW, and the police were advised that the companies had first attempted to recover the blade but were unsuccessful.

“Due to its size and composition, it posed a significant risk to maritime navigation,” said the Federal Police. It said the object floating in the water was 20 meters (approximately 66 feet) long and two meters (6.5 feet) wide and made of fiberglass coming from a wind turbine. Furthermore, it said the blade was floating just below the surface and was therefore difficult to spot.

 

Blade was pulled aboard the patrol vessel and cut up (Federal Police)

 

The Waterways and Shipping Administration dispatched its patrol vessel Bad Duben (BP83) to the location, and it was redirecting shipping traffic in the area. The blade was floating between Hohe See, which is approximately 55 miles from Borkum, and He Dreiht, which is also over 50 miles from the island and approximately 65 miles from Heligoland. He Dreiht will consist of 64 wind turbines when it is completed.

The patrol vessel was able to locate the blade, and one of its launches was used to secure a line to the blade and tow it. The patrol vessel using its stern well was used to pull the blade out of the water. Because of its length, the crew used a saw to cut the blade into sections so that it could be entirely pulled aboard the patrol vessel.

The sections of the blade were unloaded in Cuxhaven on July 26. EnBW and Vestas, which manufactured the turbines, have not commented on how the blade ended up in the water. Cadeler was reported to be handling the installation, which was 70 percent complete as of June. The Waterways Authority said there would be an investigation.

 

UAE Resumes Cross-Gulf Trade with Iran

Jebel Ali Port, usually the biggest and busiest port in the Middle East

Published Jul 31, 2026 11:22 AM by The Maritime Executive

A little-appreciated consequence of the all-out war that broke out in the Gulf on February 28 has been the disruption to the United Arab Emirates’ trade with Iran.

A foundation of the Emirates’ extraordinary growth since 1979 has been its role as the import-export gateway to Iran. Not so long ago, about 90 percent of Iran’s trade with the outside world passed through DP World’s massive container terminal at Jebel Ali, where, from a central distribution point, global container liners transferred cargo to smaller ships servicing numerous Iranian ports within the Gulf. This was a hugely profitable business for DP World, the revenue stream for the Dubai government providing capital for the early phases of the Emirate’s explosive growth. The growth and profitability of Emirates Airline followed a similar pattern, with Dubai acting as a hub for Iranians wanting to switch from local networks and use the services of Emirates Airline’s unmatched global footprint. Business and trade with the supposedly isolated Islamic Republic were a huge engine for growth.

So, in this regard, Iran has not really been isolated since 1979 – it has been thoroughly integrated with the economies of the GCC, notwithstanding the strictures of global sanctions applied on Iran. There has been a strong mutual inter-dependency. So, while there have been political differences between the GCC and Iran, principally over Iran’s desire to be seen as the dominant nation in the region, the strategic aim behind its regional expansionism program, which sought to subvert the political system in many neighboring countries, there have always been strong economic reasons to maintain a working relationship. Expatriates in Dubai who never meet any locals may not appreciate just how many Iranians and Iranian businesses operate in Dubai, and how a large proportion of the Emirati citizen body has roots in Iran.

Private enterprise and commercial interest are powerful forces in the Emirates, and therefore it is no surprise that trade has once again started flowing across the Gulf, notwithstanding that Jebel Ali is temporarily cut from global supply through the Strait of Hormuz. Kpler analyst Rebecca Gerdes, who keeps a close eye on container movements in the Gulf, reports that more than 60 containerships made cross-Gulf passages in July, up from 10 in June. In the period up until July 31, traffic was averaging a daily container liner in each direction between Jebel Ali and the Rajaei civilian port in Bandar Abbas. Five container-carrying vessels, all flying flags of convenience, are apparently shuttling to this route, namely the Yekta 4 (IMO 9303675), Mehran 1 (IMO 1111117), Farahi 2 (IMO 9034688), J. Pioneer (IMO 9116711), and Capilano (IMO 9358577). 

 

The route followed by Capilano and other container liners between Jebel Ali and Bandar Abbas Rajaei (red), keeping towards the Iranian coastline (Google Earth/CJRC/Kpler data)

 

The conflict between Iran and the United States has in recent days settled into what appears to be an economic contest of endurance, pitching the U.S. desire to limit inflation and oil price rises against Iran’s need for finance to fuel its war effort and to keep the population happy with essentials. The U.S. naval blockade of Iranian ships and ports being enforced from outside the Gulf applies most of the leverage the United States needs to have to keep an advantage in this battle, and the volumes being carried on the Jebel Ali to Bandar Abbas route will not make a substantial impact. The contents of the containers on the route one can expect are being closely monitored, and will tend towards medicines and foodstuffs rather than dual-use electronics and fertilizer.

Still central to the trade is Jebel Ali, with its sophisticated cargo handling and logistic facilities. The difference with the pre-war era is that Jebel Ali is now being serviced from the landward side, with goods being trucked (or railed) in and out from Fujairah, Khor Fakkan, Sohar, and Salalah, and from Europe and beyond by trucks coming from the Mediterranean and Saudi west coast ports. Clearly, these elongated trade routes, involving switches between transport means en route, are economically inefficient – but needs must. Moreover, between the UAE and Iran, there is a baseload of bilateral trade; the fresh fruit and vegetables in the Spinneys supermarkets in Dubai, amongst many other classes of goods, come largely from Iran.

Oman’s Foreign Minister has been an advocate for a new security regime in the Gulf, calling for the end of the containment of Iran and its integration into a legal and practical framework shared by all Gulf states. There is already a degree of economic integration between all Gulf states, as the resumption of cross-Gulf trade shows. But the bar to deeper integration at both the economic and political level appears to be an unwillingness on Iran’s part to observe legal and practical frameworks which the others all have, most noticeably the United Nations Convention on Law of the Seas (UNCLOS), the 1968 UN Non-Nuclear Proliferation Treaty, and the IMO’s 1968 Traffic Separation Scheme covering the Strait of Hormuz. 

 

Iran ties Hormuz reopening to end of US strikes and naval blockade

Iranian foreign ministry spokesman. / CC: State media, Iran.Facebook

TwitterLinkedInTelegramFlipboardFeedly

By bnm Gulf bureau August 3, 2026

Iran will not reopen the Strait of Hormuz to normal shipping while US military action and its naval blockade against the country continue, foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said, Iranian state media reported on August 2.

The conditions harden Tehran's position on the waterway it effectively closed after the war with the United States began in February, through which about a fifth of the world's seaborne oil passes, signalling that a technical deal with Oman on shipping lanes will not by itself restore traffic. The Iranian official's comments also follow Donald Trump's statement that talks were underway later on August 3. 

Baghaei said the strait's problem stemmed not from any Iran-Oman disagreement but from what he called US and Israeli military aggression since February.

"Agreement on a safe transit route is a necessary condition for reopening the Strait of Hormuz, but it is not a sufficient one," Baghaei said, according to the report. He said that as long as US actions, the naval blockade and what he described as aggression against Iran continued, no particular change in the strait's status should be expected.

Baghaei said Iran was not holding negotiations with the United States, and that the current talks were with Oman and focused on agreeing a temporary route to provide for safe passage through the strait.

He characterised these as bilateral talks between two coastal states, adding that others could play a constructive or destructive role but that the core matter concerned Iran and Oman.

The spokesman said matters relating to Iran and the United States would have to be examined at later stages depending on how the situation developed.

Baghaei used the briefing to accuse the United States of continuing to cause civilian casualties, citing what he said were the deaths of a taxi driver and members of his family on Qeshm island, and of several Iranian nationals killed in a US air strike in Iraq.

He also referred to the killing of a 23-year-old man from the northern port of Bandar Anzali in an attack on an Iranian merchant vessel in the Caspian Sea, which he attributed to Israel. The accounts could not be independently verified.

Baghaei said the foreign ministry's diplomatic activity was continuing at regional and wider levels, aimed at protecting Iran's national interests and security.

Trump said negotiations with Iran would resume on August 3 after he held off on a strike he had threatened over the weekend, telling reporters aboard Air Force One that a deal to end the war was imminent, several US outlets reported on August 3.

Trump said the emerging framework would include the immediate and total reopening of the Strait of Hormuz and an end to what he termed Iran's nuclear threat, and that Israel had joined the commitment to hold off on strikes while terms were worked out. He said Iran wanted an agreement, adding that this remained to be tested.

A regional official involved in the mediation said the proposal called for the United States and Iran to return to talks, for the reopening of the strait and a halt to attacks across the region including by Iran-backed militias, and in exchange for Washington to lift its naval blockade and allow Iran to export oil under the terms of the earlier ceasefire.

Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi separately described parallel negotiations with Oman over the strait as in their final stages, telling the cabinet the talks were on the way to being finalised. The foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said Iran had no direct negotiations with the United States and that agreement on a safe-passage route was necessary but not sufficient to reopen the waterway while US military action continued.

The United States and Israel attacked Iran on February 28, igniting a war during which Tehran laid claim to the Strait of Hormuz, through which about a fifth of the world's seaborne oil passes. An April ceasefire led to a memorandum of understanding signed in June, but implementation stalled in a dispute over shipping routes and fighting resumed in July.

Iran says talks with Oman on new Strait of Hormuz shipping route nearing conclusion

Boats situated off the coast of Iran. / CC: Iranian media.Facebook

TwitterLinkedInTelegramFlipboardFeedly

By bnm Tehran bureau August 2, 2026

Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said talks with Oman on a new shipping route through the Strait of Hormuz were in their final stages, in a report to the cabinet, news agency Fars reported on August 2.

The talks aim to establish a new traffic separation scheme through the strait that Tehran says would protect its sovereign rights, but Iran has stressed that any agreement with Oman would not by itself reopen the waterway, which it has kept closed to shipping during its confrontation with the US. The strait normally carries about a quarter of the world's seaborne oil.

The Iranian position sits against US President Donald Trump's claim, in a Truth Social post late on August 1, that the outlines of a deal to end the war had been agreed, including the immediate, complete and total opening of the strait and an end to Iran's nuclear threat.

Trump said he would order US forces to hold off on new strikes, claiming Middle East allies had reached the (parameters) of a deal to end the five-month war. Iran's acting defence minister Majid Ebn-e-Reza dismissed the pullback as psychological warfare, saying Iran's forces treated every threat as real.

Foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said the understanding with Oman was a necessary but not sufficient condition for reopening the strait, in an interview with state television.

"The closure of the Strait of Hormuz was not because of Oman, but because of US treaty violations, the naval blockade of Iran and the harassing actions the US has taken against Iran," Baghaei said. He said reopening the strait was a completely different equation.

Baghaei said the talks with Oman had run for about two months, beginning shortly after the ceasefire that ended the war, and that Iran had shared route maps prepared by its relevant agencies with the Omani side. He said the aim was to agree a route that was neither the northern nor the southern corridor, but one that secured both sides' sovereign rights.

He said the internationally recognised route approved by the International Maritime Organisation had, from 1968 until the war, passed entirely through Omani territorial waters. Under the ceasefire understanding, management of the strait was to be handled by Iran in consultation with Oman and regional states, he said.

The Fars news outlet said numerous ships remained stuck in the northern corridor of the strait in Iranian waters, able to pass only if Iran's armed forces allowed.

Baghaei said US intervention had repeatedly disrupted the talks rather than facilitating them, and that Iran would not let its national interests be affected by threats from US officials.

Iran issues Gulf-wide energy hit list if Trump carries through on threats to destroy Iran’s energy sector

Tehran named seven of the region's biggest oil and gas facilities - in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain and Israel - as retaliation targets for a threatened US-Israeli bombing campaign that Trump cancelled on August 2 pending a Hormuz deal. / bne IntelliNewsFacebook

TwitterLinkedInTelegramFlipboardFeedly

By Ben Aris in Berlin Ben Aris in Berlin August 2, 2026

US President Donald Trump threatened to destroy Iran’s energy sector in a joint operation with Israel, prompting Tehran to issue a hit list of some of the most valuable assets in the Gulf if he carried through with the threat.

Panicked that they would lose their biggest cash cows, which would also have serious implication for the already chaotic global energy markets, Gulf leaders called Trump persuaded him to backdown. But tension remain high after the failure of the 60-day ceasefire agreed in a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) deal earlier this month.

The list included Saudi Arabia's Ghawar oil field and Qatar's Ras Laffan LNG complex – two of the biggest complexes of their kind in the world – if the US and Israel go ahead with a threatened new bombing campaign.

The state-linked Fars news agency reported the seven targets on August 1-2:

• Saudi Arabia's Ghawar field, the world's largest onshore oilfield;
• Saudi Arabia's Abqaiq and Khurais processing complex, together with Ghawar handling more than 7mn barrels a day;
• the UAE's Ruwais refinery;
• the UAE's offshore Zakum field;
• Qatar's North Field gas reserve;
• Qatar's Ras Laffan LNG terminal, which handles roughly a fifth of the world's LNG trade;
• Kuwait's Burgan field;
• Bahrain's Sitra refinery;
• Israel's Leviathan and Tamar gas fields.

The threat follows reporting by CBS News that the US and Israel are planning what would be one of the harshest bombing campaigns of the conflict against Iranian power plants and refineries. “The US is locked and loaded,” Trump posted on social media on August 1 in the latest of string of extreme threats as he continues to flip flop between peace offers and threats of extreme violence. An Israeli official told CBS News that Israel had not been asked to join in the attack. The plan reportedly came up at a Trump cabinet meeting at Camp David on July 31, where some White House aides argued against it.

Iran-linked media framed the list as a deterrent rather than an imminent strike order, invoking the earlier, roughly six-week US-Israel-Iran war this summer, during which Tehran struck Qatar's South Pars gas processing facility in response to an attack on the field, prompting a public apology from Trump on Truth Social promising "it will not happen again."

The renewed threat lands as the Strait of Hormuz remains a live flashpoint: Iran said on July 21 the strait, through which roughly a fifth of the world's oil trade passes, would stay closed even as Qatar, Egypt and Pakistan proposed a 10-day truce. A separate US strike in late July on the Darkhoveyn nuclear plant construction site drew a similar warning of retaliation from Tehran.

Trump said on August 2 he was cancelling the planned attack after Saudi Arabia and other regional powers, including Qatar, the UAE, Turkey and Pakistan, pressed Washington to hold off, citing progress toward a deal that would reopen the Strait of Hormuz, with ships entering the Gulf routed through Iranian territorial waters and those leaving routed via Oman - contingent on Iran agreeing "rapidly." Tehran has not responded to the offer by the time of writing.

Biofouling From Hormuz Shutdown Poses Major Invasive Species Risk

A thriving community of biofouling organisms on a fixed platform (BOEM file image)

Published Jul 30, 2026 7:31 PM by The Maritime Executive

For months, industry analysts have noted that biofouling accumulation on vessels stuck in the Arabian Gulf would be a slow-down factor in restarting shipping operations through the Strait of Hormuz. Fouling pressure in the Gulf is intense, and hull cleaning services in the GCC nations' ports have reportedly been in high demand. But all of that biofouling also poses a risk to regional ecosystems in overseas ports, according to a new research paper: once the 1,500 affected ships in the Gulf get under way and begin moving around, they will be carrying a forest of invasive species on their hulls wherever they go.

"If you had to design the worst-case scenario, I don’t know if you could have done it differently. It is a perfect storm," environmental scientist and co-author Prof. Mario Tamburri told The Guardian. 

In a new paper in the journal Biological Invasions, Tamburri and his colleauges noted that the Hormuz standoff is the largest single forced shutdown for the global fleet in modern history: 1,500 merchant ships have been waiting at anchor and accumulating fouling for months. sd

"Given the unprecedented scale and duration of this mass lay-up of ships, conditions are primed for a large-scale, marine bioinvasion 'super-spreader' event as regular maritime trade in the region resumes," Tamburri and his co-authors argued. "The combination of extensive biofouling growth and species accumulation, and the sheer number, size, and global reach of affected vessels, has created an immense international biosecurity threat."

The vessels arrived with fouling from other regions, and will pick up new species that reside in the warm waters of the Gulf. The timing - spring and summer, when waters are warmest - is highly conducive to invasives' growth and reproduction. The specific strains of barnacles, algaes, aquatic plants found in the Gulf are likely to have higher heat tolerance and overall hardiness from surviving in a hot, competitive environment, and might be especially invasive compared to similar examples of the same organisms elsewhere. 

Inevitably, the ships will carry these collections with them when they leave, spreading invasives around the world. IMO guidance recommends "immediate actions" to clean off the hull after a layup of more than 18-30 days. The researchers advised performing in-water cleaning before departure in order to scrape off the fouling, helping to reduce the risk of invasives and reduce the ship's fuel consumption at the same time - but acknowledged that for most ships, this will not happen. 

In the Gulf, there is limited in-water cleaning capacity to service 1,500 ships, especially on shifting, uncertain timelines for the reopening of Hormuz. Most of the trapped vessels will take the first possible opportunity for departure, without waiting for optimal hull cleanliness. This will push the need for cleaning to the next port of call, or the one after that. "We therefore strongly encourage a coordinated global network of safe and effective [in-water cleaning] services," the researchers concluded. 

Ideally, each ship would try to visually estimate the degree of fouling on the hull before leaving, and would calculate the change in fuel efficiency while under way. This information could then be used to prepare other ports to receive these ships in a prepared manner, with adequate resources for providing hull cleanings. In-water monitoring for new invasives (at high-risk ports of call) would help local authorities to respond if necessary to contain any outbreak of invasives. 

"Whether it becomes a global bioinvasion super-spreader event will now depend less on the biofouling communities already present on vessels than on the speed, coordination, and effectiveness of the responses that follow," the team concluded. "Prevention is consistently recognized as the most effective and cost-efficient management strategy compared with post-introduction control."

 

Report: Houthi Strike Took Saudi Refinery Offline Through Mid-August

Smoke pours from a damaged storage tank after a Houthi strike on the Jizan refinery, upper left (Sentinel-2)

Published Jul 30, 2026 5:45 PM by The Maritime Executive

The effects of the Houthi attack on Saudi energy infrastructure will continue on well into the next month, according to state oil company Saudi Aramco. The Houthi strike on the giant Jizan refinery complex near the Yemeni border caused damage to its sophisticated Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) on-site powerplant, which consumes heavy residual products and generates electricity, steam and hydrogen gas. A tank farm also sustained damage, Industrial Info Resources (IIR) told Reuters. The report aligns with the location of infrared heat signatures at the site on the day of the attack. 

The 400,000 bpd plant has shut down in order to make repairs, and the work will take until mid-August, per IIR. In the meantime, one of the biggest producers of fuel in the region is offline, adding to global restrictions on the availability of diesel. 

In addition to the effects at Jizan, the processing complex at Abqaiq also took a hard hit. Apparent strikes to the stabilization trains - where crude is desulfurized and lightly distilled to remove light fractions - could affect pipeline volumes, but Saudi Aramco has not yet commented on the facility's status. Public satellite imagery shows clear burn scars around four out of the six spheroid pressure vessels used during the degassing process at the facility. 

Some portion of these strikes may have been launched by Houthi forces operating alongside Iran-backed militias in Iraqi territory, according to Reuters -  a sign of a deeper level of coordination between the different regional militant groups sponsored by Tehran, and a new willingness on the Houthis' part to mount operations abroad. 

At seven million barrels of capacity per day, Abqaiq is the most important single location for the global oil supply chain. Despite the potential ramifications of the attack - and any further attacks that might potentially follow - the Brent crude oil benchmark has settled below $90, down compared to one week ago. 

Red Sea instability

Yemen's Houthi rebels have vowed to blockade Saudi exports as a means of applying pressure to the U.S. and to Saudi negotiators, with whom the group wishes to settle a long conflict dating back to the Yemeni civil war. The group has attacked multiple ships to enforce its blockade, but Chinese tankers are reportedly exempt, and have been passing through Houthi-controlled waters without difficulty. 

While it is creating disruption in its own home waters, the Houthi group denies involvement with an attack on two LNG carriers at Damietta, Egypt earlier this week. Egyptian officials have confirmed that the two-ship simultaneous strike was carried out with drones. 

ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTERS AGENCY

EPA Refers California's Harbor Air Pollution Rules to Congress for Review

Product tanker enters Port of Los Angeles with harbor tug escorts (Downtowngal / CC BY SA)

Published Jul 27, 2026 10:58 PM by The Maritime Executive

The Trump administration has forwarded two of California's harbor-focused Clean Air Act rules to the Republican-controlled Congress for legislative review, reversing precedent and angering environmentalists. 

The first California Air Resources Board rule in question is the Ocean-Going Vessels at Berth (CARB at Berth) standard, which requires ports and ships to arrange for cold-ironing during port calls. Half of all boxships are required to run on shore power while at berth in California, and in addition, each carrier's fleet must reduce its overall emissions by 70 percent.

The second is controversial among towage providers. The Commercial Harbor Craft rule limits particulate matter emissions from harbor tugs, and the restrictions are in excess of the requirements of EPA Tier IV standards. In January 2025, shortly before the end of the Biden administration, the EPA approved half of the CHC amendments, allowing most of the rule to move forward. Operators have protested the rule, noting that diesel particulate filter (DPF) systems for tugs do not yet exist in class-approved form in the United States, and would create installation issues if they did. The Coast Guard has stated that DPFs in tugs could cause fire safety concerns, since the filters become unusually hot during regeneration cycles.

Both of these CARB rules are more stringent than the standards found elsewhere in the United States. Under a long-term waiver provision within the Clean Air Act, California has the right to set its own, stricter air pollution rules - a legacy of the smog that afflicted Los Angeles in the 1970s, when the Act was written. Prior administrations have allowed these "waiver rules" to continue; the Trump administration is subjecting them to the Congressional Review Act, which provides a mechanism for Congress to repeal agency regulations. If the House and Senate vote to disapprove of an agency rule, and the president agrees, the rule is suspended. 

"For more than 50 years, Clean Air Act waiver programs have been respected by Republican and Democratic administrations alike. Until now, no administration had attempted to use the Congressional Review Act to overturn these waivers," said Davina Hurt, climate policy director at Pacific Environment. "Instead of playing politics with our health, undermining the regulatory certainty businesses rely on and jeopardizing billions of dollars in public and private investments made under these life-saving rules, Congress should recognize this blatant overreach." 
 

 

Port and River Tyne to Close to Clear Damaged Containership and Crane

A section of the crane is resting on the containership after the allision (Port of Tyne)

Published Jul 29, 2026 2:06 PM by The Maritime Executive

The Port of Tyne, along with a section of the River Tyne, will be closed for nine hours on Thursday, July 30, as the recovery operation continues from the allision in the port on July 19. Specialized teams have been working with the port to secure damaged containers and the vessel BG Orange, along with removing the gantry crane that collapsed as the container vessel was struck.

Several containers were badly damaged when the WTIV Wind Orca struck the container vessel. The 170-meter (558-foot) container vessel was alongside when it was struck. Built in 2024, the vessel, which is registered in Portugal, has a capacity for approximately 1,400 TEU.

The port strung a containment boom around the vessel in an attempt to capture some of the debris, specifically plastic nurdles, which were released when two containers broke open. Pictures showed multiple containers crumpled on the deck of the ship.

 

Damaged containers on the deck of the vessel after the allision and container collapse (Port of Tyne)

 

In addition, a 750-tonne gantry crane collapsed, with a section coming to rest on the BG Orange. Teams worked to stabilize the crane and the containers, and as of Tuesday, the port said specialized teams had completed cleaning the two containers and the loose nurdles on the vessel.

The next step of the recovery plan calls for separating the collapsed gantry crane from the BG Orange. They will then relocate the ship into the river. They are asking the public to stay away from the area while the work was being carried out.

A Port of Tyne spokesperson said, “This remains a complex and critical operation, and we thank all river users for their patience while the work is carried out.”

 

Boom was strung in an effort to stop the spread of the nurdles from the damaged containers (Port of Tyne)

At the same time, a larger clean-up operation continues along the river after the nurdles washed up at several points. Environmentalists have estimated that about one billion of the small beads were released. Volunteers have been working to aid in the cleanup on the shoreline.

The Wind Orca also remains at the port as the investigation is ongoing. The Port of Tyne in 2025 secured a significant contract in offshore wind. It is supporting Ørsted’s Hornsea 3 marshalling operations with Cadeler.

Officials are still working to restore port operations after the incident 10 days ago. In addition to its support for the offshore wind sector, the Port of Tyne handles automobiles and vehicle transports and bulk cargo.