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 this week in London at the annual Lloyd’s List Outlook Forum.

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

Now we do that because, well frankly it’s entertaining. But there is a real value in these conversations because as anyone who has been listening to this podcast will know, the industry is changing, radically in parts, less so in others, but the business of shipping is having to adapt.

Understanding the tipping points that will determine the future of the industry is important.

The forces that are determining the course of shipping’s zero-carbon transition — and, with it, the future of the commercial architecture of the industry – that’s all playing out in front us right now.

There has been a step change in the industry conversation this year.

It's messy.

Not all regulation is fit for purpose; not all companies are doing what they have pledged; and the industry is still off track from where it needs to be.

And yet the maritime conversation has finally shifted from aspiration to action.

• Dr Alexandra Ebbinghaus, GM Decarbonisation, Shell

• Eman Abdalla, Global Operations Director for Cargill Ocean Transportation

• Nikolaus H. Schües, President of BIMCO and CEO and owner of Reederei F. Laeisz

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