Another year over, a new one just begun. As the clock ticks down on 2024 and 2025 begins, shipping is braced for another unpredictable year.

Reading the runes of this industry is often a futile and thankless task – predictions are regularly wiped out just hours after they are made.

But nevertheless, to prepare you for the New Year the Lloyd’s List editorial team is going to be bringing you several mini episodes of the podcast over the next couple of weeks, in which they will discuss the things they are looking out for in 2025.

We’ll be talking about decarbonisation, risk and compliance, the container, tanker and dry bulk markets, as well as the marine insurance sector too.

But to kick things off, editor-in chief Richard Meade and our Asia Pacific editor Cichen Shen sat down to take a bird’s eye view of the industry, and reveal what they will be waiting for in 2025.

The volume and frequency of sanctions being targeted against shipping has never higher, or more visible, Sanctions are now a daily part of the Lloyd’s List news agenda, so it’s sometimes difficult to see how and how fast things are changing.

But the risk and compliance landscape has noticeably changed this year – we’re seeing more targeted sanctions, and in response we’re seeing an ever-evolving shift of circumvention tactics, from an ever growing dark fleet that is looking more and more dangerous by the day.

And the politics are also shifting.

Much of Donald Trump’s sanctions strategy remains unclear, and on past experience, unpredictable.

It’s a fair bet that Tehran can expect to be under more pressure post January 20 next year.

But what happens with Russia – that’s the big question. And what does that mean for the rest of shipping that has been left to navigate its way around not just an increasingly hefty compliance burden, but what is essentially a tiered trading system where one part of the industry is jumping through hoops to apply regulation and decarbonise and pay for carbon burned…

While another section sails without basic adherence to safety regulations, no insurance, no legitimate flag – they are outside of the rules based order and they are earning a premium for it.

So when Lloyd’s List hosted its annual Outlook Forum in London earlier this month, this was the context to our discussions around sanctions risk and compliance.

If you haven’t already listened to the previous edition of the podcast where we brought you highlights of the first panel from our outlook event, then now would be a good time to hit pause and go back to listen to that one first.

For the rest of you though, this is the second and final part of our edited highlight series that you’re going to be listening to today.

Joining Richard on the panel were:

Michelle Linderman, partner, Van Bael & Bellis

Daniel Martin, partner, HFW

Michelle Wiese Bockmann, principal analyst, Lloyd’s List

Bridget Diakun, maritime risk analyst, Lloyd’s List

Each year, Lloyd’s List likes to gather a group of industry leaders, lock them in a room and not let them leave until they have divined the fate and fortunes of the shipping industry for the year to come.

And that’s what we did earlier this month in London at the annual Lloyd’s List Outlook Forum, sponsored by Lloyd’s Register.

Having gathered a baseline of crowdsourced knowledge from Lloyd’s List readers, we invited an all star line up of shipping’s sharpest minds to join us for a discussion of the opportunities and threats that will be shaping shipping next year and beyond.

Understanding the tipping points that will determine the future of the industry is absolutely critical, and you can learn what to look out for in 2025 in this week’s episode, which brings you highlights from the event in London.

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• Nick Brown, chief executive, Lloyd’s Register

• Karrie Trauth, senior vice-president and head of shipping and maritime, Shell

• Tanuj Luthra, chief operating officer, Zodiac Maritime

• Andrea Olivi, global head of shipping, Trafigura

• Michael Parker, Citi global shipping, logistics and offshore chairman and chair of the Poseidon Principles

Want more insight? Download our Lloyd’s List Outlook Forum: 2025 and beyond Summary and Key Takeaways document, including the results from our Outlook survey and key quotes and charts from the event here: https://info.lloydslistintelligence.com/lloyds-list-outlook-forum-2025-and-beyond

EVER wanted to know what it’s like to operate ships where half the crew are women? Well, this week’s podcast is going to tell you.

Lloyd’s List’s principal analyst, Michelle Wiese Bockmann, spoke to Hafnia, the New York and Oslo listed shipowner about a trailblazing initiative that has seen them crew five product tankers with 50% women. But I also want to highlight some of the positive steps being taken to integrate women to a seafaring career and international maritime industry generally.

But there’s also an important piece of history to mark. Michelle catches up with the two women who founded the Women’s International Shipping and Trading Association at the very same pub in London where its first meeting was held 50 years ago.

It’s important to highlight and recognise the treatment women receive at sea. But it’s also important to highlight some of the positive steps being taken to integrate women to a seafaring career and international maritime industry generally.

After enduring social unrest, geopolitical tensions and the Covid-19 pandemic, this Asian financial and shipping hub — long seen by many as in decline — has finally found an opportunity to stage a comeback.

The Action Plan on Green Maritime Fuel Bunkering and accompanying incentive scheme unveiled a few weeks ago is seen by the local shipping community as a step by the Hong Kong government in the right direction — but only a step.

The ambition is big, because behind it is not just a Hong Kong story, but a China story. Here, promoting renewables and ensuring energy security are closely intertwined, and its massive scale and cost advantage in this sector has led people to believe that the country will become the world’s largest supplier of low-emission fuels, such as green methanol and ammonia.

Hong Kong, a former British colony and the most outward-looking and free trading part of Chinese territory, despite Beijing’s tightening grip over the past decade, should become one of the most important exporters, or a trading hub for these fuels to reach the world, some argue.

In the words of Hong Kong Chamber of Shipping chairman Hing Chao, the vision is to “provide a Chinese solution to global maritime decarbonisation¨ through Hong Kong.

Can this vision succeed? What more does Hong Kong need to do? For example, does it need to implement its own carbon pricing mechanism with neighbouring Chinese ports, say those in the Hong Kong-Macao-Guangdong Greater Bay Area, or GBA, before the International Maritime Organization’s mid-term measures roll out?

More importantly, can China fulfil its ambition to become the “world’s factory” for green fuels? What challenges need to be overcome?

Also, will geopolitics, which is accelerating the reconfiguration of global trade and supply chains, and arguably also affecting the pace of global decarbonisation, hinder the realisation of this ambition?

Joining Cichen on this week’s episode are:

Hing Chao, chairman of the Hong Kong Chamber of Shipping and Wah Kwong Maritime Transport

Roberto Giannetta, chairman of the Hong Kong Liner Shipping Association

Sanjay Kuttan, chief strategy officer of the Global Centre for Maritime Decarbonisation

After enduring social unrest, geopolitical tensions, and the COVID-19 pandemic, this Asian financial and shipping hub—long seen by many as in decline—has finally found an opportunity to stage a comeback.

The Action Plan on Green Maritime Fuel Bunkering and accompanying incentive scheme unveiled about half a month ago is seen by the local shipping community as a step by the Hong Kong government in the right direction – but just a step.

The ambition is big, because behind it is not just a Hong Kong story, but a China story. Here, promoting renewables and ensuring energy security are closely intertwined, and its massive scale and cost advantage in this sector has led people to believe that the country will become the world's largest supplier of low emission fuels, such as green methanol and ammonia.

Hong Kong, a former British colony and currently the most outward-looking and free trading part of Chinese territory – despite Beijing's tightening grip over the past decade – should become one of the most important exports or a trading hub for these fuels to reach the world, some argue.

In the words of Hong Kong Chamber of Shipping chairman Hing Chao, the vision is to "provide a Chinese solution to global maritime decarbonization" through Hong Kong.

Can this vision succeed? What more does Hong Kong need to do? For example, does it need to implement its own carbon pricing mechanism with neighboring Chinese ports, say those in the Hong Kong-Macao-Guangdong Greater Bay Area, or GBA, before the IMO's mid-term measures roll out?

More importantly, can China fulfil its ambition to become the "world's factory" for green fuels? What challenges need to be overcome?

Also, will geopolitics, which is accelerating the reconfiguration of global trade and supply chains, and arguably also affecting the pace of global decarbonization, hinder the realization of this ambition?

Joining Cichen on this week's episode are:

Hing Chao, chairman of Hong Kong Chamber of Shipping and Wah Kwong Maritime Transport

Roberto Giannetta, Chairman of Hong Kong Liner Shipping Association

Sanjay Kuttan, chief strategy officer of Global Centre for Maritime Decarbonisation

This episode of the Lloyd’s List podcast is brought to you by Lloyd’s Register and Columbia Shipmanagement

Sign up for the Lloyd’s List Outlook Forum here: https://info.lloydslistintelligence.com/lloyds-list-outlook-forum-rsvp

The maritime industry is evolving faster than we often realise. Just a few years ago, high-frequency data collection was groundbreaking. Today, cloud-to-cloud connectivity and AI-powered optimisation platforms are a normal part of operations. Advanced vessel connectivity is scaling rapidly, and generative AI and machine learning are poised to accelerate those changes dramatically.

If you missed the previous edition of this podcast, go back and listen to the experts explain what has happened, is happening and will happen, because there is progress there - the industry innovating faster than we often recognise. You can find it here.

But it’s important to not just focus on the tech, the widgets, the data and the artificial intelligence. The bit often missed in all this is the human intelligence. And to me that’s the more interesting part of the story. It’s where the greatest opportunities lie, but it’s also the biggest risk.

This episode of the Lloyd's List podcast is brought to you by Lloyd's Register and Columbia Shipmanagement

Sign up for the Lloyd's List Outlook Forum here: https://info.lloydslistintelligence.com/lloyds-list-outlook-forum-rsvp

The wave of techno-optimism that began to spread in the wake of pandemic-related breakthroughs should be visible by now.

Forced to embrace digitisation out of remote working necessity, firms outlined juicy research-and-development plans and governments promised to spend big on science.

While it would be a stretch to say that the pandemic fuelled optimism, it certainly catalysed investment in technology research across sectors, and crucially coincided with an innovation arms race that was already escalating between China and the US.

The principal project of the era, decarbonisation, spawned hundreds of funded technology projects, with as many again in the pipeline.

And then of course there is AI. If some in the sector were to be believed, AI should have revolutionised shipping and everything else by now.

All things considered, we should be living through a golden age of innovation.

And yet it is often hard to see the evidence for that in shipping.

Where are the breakthroughs? What do the great leap forwards looks like? There is no single unifying answer here and that’s part of the problem, but it’s also a huge opportunity.

Joining Richard on the podcast this week are:

Alexander Saverys, chief executive CMB.Tech

Søren Meyer, chief executive of ZeroNorth

Richard Buckley, chief executive of Ninety Percent of Everything

Eman Abdalla, global operations director at Cargill Ocean Transportation

Saskia Mureau, digital director at the Port of Rotterdam Authority

Chakib Abi-Saab, chief technology officer at Lloyd's Register

This episode of the Lloyd’s List Podcast was brought to you by Veson. Visit veson.com/decision-advantage for more information.

Ten years or so ago, when the University of Plymouth ran their first cybersecurity symposium, the number attendees barely made double figures.

This week, held in the main hall of the International Maritime Organization on London’s Albert Embankment, the same event attracted more than 300, from shipping companies in almost every sector.

Clearly, the topic has gained attention and traction, partly down to the repeated warnings of horror stories the industry continues to receive, right the way up to hackers being able to remotely control very large crude carriers.

There have been several high-profile cyber incidents in shipping since the devastating NotPetya attack which cost Maersk more than $250m in 2017.

The Port of Seattle, the Port of Lisbon and class society DNV can all count themselves of cyber attacks in the last two years.

But the apocalyptic vision that has been painted for the industry time and time again hasn’t materialised yet.

So, how worried should we really be about cybersecurity in shipping?

Joining Joshua on the podcast this week are:

Kevin Jones, professor of computer science and director of the Maritime Cyber Threats Research Group, University of Plymouth

Daniel Ng, chief executive of Cyberowl

Svante Einarsson, head of cybersecurity maritime for EMEA and APAC, DNV

Knut Ørbeck-Nilssen, maritime chief executive, DNV

When the International Association of Classification Societies (IACS) issued a paper in September setting out its position on the human element, its implications were clearly going to be far reaching. Its publication followed an IACS presentation in June to the Human Element Industry Group, which is made up of a number of maritime NGOs and it says that IACS’ aims “to highlight and emphasise the importance of … human element aspects when developing new IACS requirements applicable to the ship and ship systems.”

RINA’s Secretary General Roberto Cazzulo currently chairs IACS’ Council, giving the Italian organisation a particular significance in any discussion about its implications and, in this podcast, RINA’s North Europe Region Senior Director for RINA’s marine activities Fiorenzo Spadoni, puts IACS’ approach into context, saying that it reflected significant industry changes driven by digitalisation, decarbonisation and increasingly complex ship systems.

He also discussed whether these developments can help move the industry closer to net-zero emissions. “One critical factor in achieving net zero is the role of the human workforce” and by providing seafarers with skills and motivation to manage these technologies, “we are accelerating their adoption and the path toward net-zero,” he said.