ANGOLA: Seadrill Limited’s activity in Angola has been included in a list of contract extensions announced yesterday.

Media reports highlight the issues facing merchant ships. Over two days in early October, drones struck four merchant ships in the Black Sea. On 5 October the Turkish-owned grain carrier Royad Mammadov, sailing from the Ukrainian port of Izmail to Ravenna in Italy, caught fire and sank inside Romania's exclusive economic zone.

South Africa, together with Chile and Georgia, has brought the key findings of a wide-ranging study before the International Maritime Organization (IMO), arguing that underwater noise from ships should be formally recognised as a form of marine pollution. The findings were submitted to the 85th session of the IMO's Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC).

SENEGAL: International Maritime Organization (IMO) consultants undertook a needs assessment mission last week to inspect existing port processes and institutional frameworks to identify requirements for establishing a maritime single window system (MSW). 

SOUTH AFRICA: The V&A Waterfront Marina has once again been awarded Full Blue Flag Marina status for the current season, following approval by the International Blue Flag Jury.

South African, Radia Razack, chaired the 48th Consultative Meeting of Contracting Parties to the London Convention and the 21st Meeting of Contracting Parties to the London Protocol which took place at International Maritime Organization Headquarters in London this week.

MOZAMBIQUE: The commissioning of a new fluids system plant in Pemba is set to strengthen in-country capacity to prepare, store and deliver drilling and completion fluids for offshore operations, reinforcing the infrastructure needed as Mozambique's offshore activity grows and its role as a strategic energy hub for East Africa continues to expand.

The resurgence of piracy in the Gulf of Aden is highlighted as one of the top eight maritime risks of the third quarter of 2026 by Windward Report, which is described as the “most dangerous quarter for global shipping in recent history”.