There are signs that the global boating market is returning to normal after sales surged during the Covid-19 pandemic. Online marketplace, Boats Group, reports that the total number of boats sold worldwide decreased last year for the first time since before the pandemic.
The change towards more typical market conditions emerged in 2022 as the total number of boats sold dipped by just 4.3% compared to the same period pre-pandemic in 2019. By comparison, boats sold in 2020 and 2021 were down 15.9% and 11.8% respectively, compared to 2019.
“For the first time in three years, we’re seeing consumer demand soften,” said Courtney Chalmers, vice president of marketing at Boats Group. Continue reading “Has the post Covid boating boom bubble burst?”
The European Maritime Safety Agency (
In recent years, 
Following a recent marine casualty resulting in an engine room fire onboard a commercial fishing vessel, the US Coast Guard (
hips, bridges and wind turbines can all be made safe using sensors that are just a few millimeters across. Researchers have borrowed the principle behind the technology from a vibrating guitar string.
Combustible materials left unprotected near hot work led to a fire on the passenger vessel Natchez in New Orleans, the National Transportation Safety Board (
Oil Companies International Marine Forum (OCIMF) and the inland navigation sector, with the support of the Central Commission for the Navigation of the Rhine (CCNR), have collaborated with other European organisations to produce the second edition of the International Safety Guide for Inland Navigation Tank-barges and Terminals (
Ship operations take place in hostile and corrosive environments meaning that the structural strength of the ship’s hull may deteriorate with time leading to buckling or structural instability. Buckling has long been recognised as one of the main modes of failure of ship structural elements and 