Every other summer, thousands of sailors converge on the south coast of England to compete in one of the marquee events on the yacht racing calendar.

This year’s Fastnet Race took place over seven days from July 22 to July 28. It was the 50th edition of the biennial race, and featured the largest fleet ever assembled, with 430 yachts taking part.

The 625-nautical mile course begins near Cowes on the Isle of Wight, rounds Fastnet Rock off the Irish coast, and finishes in the Normandy port of Cherbourg-en-Cotentin.

The South China Sea is home to significant mineral deposits, oil & gas reserves, and major shipping lanes, making it one of the world’s geopolitical hotspots.

With much at stake, China has been locked in a years-long contest with its neighbors over competing claims of sovereignty.

One of the techniques to assert de facto control has involved hundreds of Chinese fishing boats, which cluster in large groups as a display of force, comprising an unconventional naval force, known as the People’s Armed Forces Maritime Militia (PAFMM).

With a grain export deal set to expire November 19, President Volodymr Zelensky made his case to world leaders gathered at the G20 Summit to extend the agreement that guarantees safe passage of ships leaving Ukrainian ports.

“The right to food is a fundamental right of every person in the world,” Zelensky said.

The fusion of AIS data and synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imagery helps monitor ‘dark’ ships that may be engaging in illegal activity

The timing could hardly have been worse for anyone trying to monitor ship congestion at Chinese ports, a topic of critical importance to understanding today’s global economy.

One manifestation of this year’s supply chain chaos has been the record number of ships anchored outside the world’s busiest ports, a function of COVID-related factors leading to increased wait times to load and offload cargoes.