OCEAN CAPITAL

Zach Martin examines how blue finance is shifting from early pilot projects to a standardized global market. Focus on Sierra Leone reveals how essential infrastructure, regulatory rulebooks, and pipeline plumbing transform ocean rights into investable assets.

Show Notes

• [PDF] ministry of communication, technology and innovation republic of sierra ...: https://mocti.gov.sl/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/TOR-for-Second-Landing-Cable.WBcomments.pdf

This episode follows the money behind ocean finance, from UNCLOS rights and blue economy estimates to the hidden infrastructure that turns seawater into bankable assets. It breaks down the Seychelles blue bond, de-risking tools, and why Sierra Leone shows the gap between policy ambition and real capital flow.

Show Notes

• Commonwealth launches practical guide to unlock blue bond finance ...: https://thecommonwealth.org/news/commonwealth-launches-practical-guide-unlock-blue-bond-finance-ocean-protection

This episode follows Sierra Leone’s shift from a state-run port system to a landlord model, showing how long leases and private operators turned Freetown’s shoreline into a financial asset. Along the way, we examine the legal and economic power of quays, natural harbors, and port chokepoints—from container terminals to bulk cargo and the contested Pepel rail-port deal.

Show Notes

• Sierra Leone Ports and Harbours Authority: Home: https://slpha.sl/
• 2.1 Sierra Leone Port of Freetown: https://lca.logcluster.org/21-sierra-leone-port-freetown

We unpack how UNCLOS carves the ocean into legal zones and why that matters for who captures value from fish, energy, cables, and offshore structures. Using Sierra Leone as a case study, the episode turns maritime rights into a business question about assets, access, and unrealized offshore revenue.

This episode breaks down the hidden infrastructure of submarine cables, from the physics of fiber optics and repeaters to the legal rules that govern who can lay cables in a country’s waters. Using Sierra Leone as a case study, it explores why a single landing point can make national connectivity vulnerable to accidental cuts, shipping traffic, and coastal bottlenecks.