Last week, the Rolls-Royce led Advanced Autonomous Waterborne Applications Initiative (AAWA) project presented its first findings at a conference in Helsinki, expressing high hopes for vessel automation in commercial service -- and predicting that it will arrive soon.

The American Association of Port Authorities suggested that its member ports intend to spend over $150bn in combined infrastructure investments by 2020 - contrasted with a "best-case" government investment in port-related freight infrastructure of only $25bn over the same period.

Shipping consultants Drewry have released their container shipping review for the first quarter 2016, and the outlook does not look positive.

Section 54 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 has come into force in English law. The U.K. government has issued a practical guide on the section saying the measure is designed to create a level playing field between those businesses, whose turnover is over a certain threshold, which act responsibly and those that need to change their policies and practices.

Overall confidence levels in the ocean shipping industry fell to a record low in the three months ending February 2016, according to a survey by shipping advisory firm Moore Stephens.

London-based Drewry Shipping Consultants says that the global capacity of reefer container ships is expected to grow by 20 percent over the next three years. Drewry also reports that perishables moved over the seas in 2014 increased by nearly five percent to exceed 100 million metric tons.

Shipping analysts Alphaliner reported that the two carriers involved in recent container line megamergers – France's CMA CGM (merged with NOL / APL) and China COSCO (merged with CSCL) – are now looking at forming a shipping alliance to compete with Maersk and MSC's 2M.

The latest Dry Bulk Freight Forecaster from Maritime Strategies International reports a deterioration of the consultancy's cautiously optimistic view for improvement in the dry bulk market in the next six months.