Reliability-Centred Maintenance is proving vital to maximising fleet availability and operational performance in challenging economic conditions. Using real-world experience from the Maldives’ essential ferry network, this work demonstrates how data-driven maintenance optimisation can reduce downtime, improve reliability and lower costs, offering valuable lessons for diverse maritime fleets worldwide at scale.

Understanding surfaced submarine performance is vital for safe and efficient operations. Experimental towing-tank trials on a generic submarine generated hydrodynamic load and flow-field data, revealing the effects of wave-making resistance, bow-wave forces, and pitching moments. The findings support improved seakeeping prediction, powering assessments, and validation of advanced numerical models today.

Innovative LNG transfer infrastructure is improving safety, efficiency and operational flexibility across maritime energy operations. By examining specialised manifold design, transfer interfaces and ship-to-shore integration, the work addresses key engineering challenges in fuel handling. Insights highlight opportunities to streamline LNG logistics, strengthen reliability and support evolving low-carbon maritime energy networks.

Offshore transportation of large energy infrastructure demands rigorous stability assurance throughout loadout, transit and installation. Examining heavy transport vessels and cargo barges, this research explores advanced ballast management, damage stability analysis and enhancement measures such as sponsons and pontoons, offering critical lessons for safer, more resilient marine operations worldwide.

Designing sustainable high-speed vessels requires balancing hull efficiency, propulsion performance, and lifecycle impacts. Focusing on stepped aluminium hulls, the analysis explores how material selection, recyclability, weight reduction, and hydrodynamic optimisation can lower fuel consumption and emissions. The findings provide practical guidance for developing efficient, environmentally responsible craft today worldwide sustainably.

Seventeenth-century French naval expansion transformed shipbuilding, blending engineering excellence with powerful symbolism. Centered on vessels such as Royal Louis, the movement combined advanced construction techniques, strategic state investment, and elaborate aesthetics to project royal authority. The story illustrates how warship design served as both military capability and national expression today.

The widely cited claim that 80% of failures stem from human error is challenged through a fresh examination of safety and automation. By testing the concept against realistic scenarios, this analysis reveals why mature systems naturally attract higher human-error attribution and identifies more meaningful measures of operational risk today onward.

Finite Element Modelling is enhancing the design of ice-class vessels by enabling detailed analysis of bow structures exposed to extreme ice and hydrostatic loads. Applied to the conversion of a tanker into a research vessel, this approach demonstrates how structural optimisation can improve strength, reduce weight and support reliable performance in demanding polar environments.

Composite materials are poised to expand beyond traditional vessel size limits as researchers tackle durability and certification challenges. Findings from the FIBRESHIP initiative show how seawater exposure affects structural performance of large FRP laminates, providing critical evidence to support future composite ship design, regulatory acceptance and maritime innovation worldwide efforts.

Autonomous surveillance vessels are enhancing coastal security through remote operation, reduced crewing requirements and improved mission flexibility. This study combines hull design, stability, resistance, powering and seakeeping analysis to develop a cost-effective unmanned craft capable of operating in challenging conditions while delivering precise manoeuvrability in constrained coastal and canal environments