The number of attacks worldwide climbed by 46% in the January-September period compared with 2024, with the Singapore Strait seeing 73 attacks – the same number it recorded in 1991 – yet hands-on threats to crews remained “inexplicably unresolved” despite security and enforcement upgrades around the region.
Accidents involving at least one vessel colliding and running aground, in the South China Sea, Strait of Hormuz, the Black Sea and near Singapore show how the risks of maritime accidents is rising amid tensions and tricky situations in crowded conduits. Warships, oiler and ferries have been involved, leading to death, pollution and delays that provoke calls for better traffic management and vigilance.
Tanker shipping have recently been operating under intense security pressure and regulatory scrutiny. Bulgaria successfully managed the drift of damaged crude carrier Kairos after drone strike destruction in November; Bangladesh provided repatriation of injured crew. Russia-linked tankers were damaged off Dakar, while Iran released Talara, causing oil trades additional geopolitical risk.
On November 15th 2025 in Panama City Florida, the US Navy commemorated the commissioning of USS Pierre (LCS 38) - the last of the Independence-class littoral combat ships: marking the end of a class perhaps best exemplified by unexpected hiccups or hiccoughs (we still don’t know the correct spelling!) that delayed some ships and contributed to an overall rocky start to a class that eventually served with distinction. As the rest of the Navy prepared to commission Ship #1 in this new class, tensions in the maritime regions simmered as Chinese naval modernization, Russian exercises in Southeast Asia, and Venezuelan mobilization in response to US Carriers in the Caribbean showed how emboldened global powers were willing to be.
Iran seized a Marshall Islands-flagged tanker in the Strait of Hormuz, and U.S. Navy seized several Russian-flagged ships delivering diluent to Venezuela - signs of increased maritime tensions in mid-November 2025.