Major container ports around the world experienced severe operational disruptions in late December 2025 due to severe weather conditions and capacity restrictions, with European and UK ports dealing with fog and wind effects while Asian and North American gateways had to manage congestion ahead of Chinese New Year peak season.
At the close of 2025, the containership charter market showed resilience despite freight market challenges; one-year time charter rates across feeder, midsize and large vessel segments remained stable across one-year time charter rates across feeder, midsize and large vessel segments despite freight market challenges. According to MSI reports on tight supply conditions boosting rates; 2026 deliveries may put downward pressure on them though multipurpose rates had slight gains according to Toepfer Transport.
On December 19th, the US Navy revealed plans for a new FF(X) frigate class based on the Legend-class cutter design to bolster its small surface combatant fleet by 2028. Meanwhile, Indonesia launched their largest surface combatant (KRI Balaputradewa) on 18 December, marking a key step in Southeast Asian naval capabilities and underscoring global naval modernization efforts. These developments highlight global efforts in this regard.
Early November 2025 saw two more initiatives in maritime innovation. On November 5, RINA launched an Open Innovation Hub in Singapore in cooperation with the Maritime and Port Authority, to support digitalization and decarbonization activities at sea. At the same time, Lloyd's Register opened its International Maritime Future Technologies Innovation Centre, again in conjunction with COSCO Shipping Group and a number of academic partners, to incubate zero-carbon, intelligent ship systems.