China is handing out new subsidies for buying ships to help its beleaguered shipbuilders, confounding a government pledge to reduce support for sectors with over-capacity in order to reform the economy.

Driven by rising domestic demand in China and by increased intra-Asian and so-called South-South trade, international seaborne trade performed relatively well in 2012, with volumes increasing by 4.3 percent, reaching 9.2 billion tons for the first time ever, according to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development's Review of Maritime Transport 2013 reports.

Canadian police have arrested a Toronto man suspected of seeking to give China classified information about Canadian shipbuilding procurement policies, security officials said on Sunday.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers and Consumer Product Safety Commission investigators have seized more than 200,000 toy dolls arriving from China due to high levels of phthalates, a group of banned chemical compounds.

The United Nations Security Council reiterated its calls on the international community to fight piracy and armed robbery at sea, which continue to pose a threat to the delivery of humanitarian aid to Somalia.

After four years in the doldrums, the specialized chemical tankers that ply the seas between the United States and Asia are set to generate bumper profits for the handful of companies that own and operate them.

Clean Energy Fuels Corp. announced that it has placed a purchase contract on property where it hopes to build a liquefied natural gas (LNG) fuel terminal in Jacksonville, Fla. This would be the first LNG facility on the Eastern seaboard to specifically supply LNG for the maritime, heavy-duty trucking and rail industries.