Lloyd's List: The Shipping Podcast

Even before Donald Trump pronounced the end of gloablisation, the shipping industry was effectively operating in a self-induced state of paralysis. Uncertainty over a looming trade war, the regulatory cost of carbon and just how long the global current disruption can hide a fundamentally unbalanced shipping market had led executives across the industry to conclude that doing nothing for the moment...

WITH geopolitical risk changing seemingly by the day and policy from the world’s biggest economy updated on a weekly (and sometimes hourly) basis, it might seem impossible for the shipping industry to plan long-term. While this is a sector which thrives on volatility, when assets have 20-year lifespans, some degree of certainty is essential to make prudent long-term decisions. So how can shipowner...

This episode of the Lloyd's List Podcast was brought to you by Wirana - visit www.wirana.com/ for more information GREEN ship finance arrived a few years ago to much fanfare and hope. But times have changed. Lenders face many of the same hurdles as the rest of shipping: Uncertain regulation and technology, plus a lack of clear standards for what is and isn't green. But they also have another chall...

AI “might be the salvation to humankind, or the opposite, as some fear”, says Lars Riisberg, CEO of RINA Digital Solutions, in this Lloyd’s List podcast. Today, with large language models such as ChatGPT giving the general public some understanding of AI’s capabilities, he says that AI “will surely change the way we work dramatically”. During his career devoted to data and its application that goe...

If Chinese shipyards are feeling uneasy right now, it’s perfectly understandable. Last month, in an effort to revive its nearly non-existent domestic shipbuilding industry, the United States Trade Representative’s office unleashed its most potent tax weapon yet against Chinese ships. The US plans to levy exorbitant port fees — in some cases, over a million dollars — for every US port call by Chine...

For years the shipping industry lamented sea blindness among the global political elite. Particularly in Europe, where shipping was more often than not ignored unless it became a pollution problem. Now, amid unprecedented geopolitical challenges, shipping is finally visible and the great powers are scrambling to bolster national interests. Shipping is once again recognised as a strategic sector. D...

February comes with several notable dates for the calendar, but in marine insurance the end of the month means one thing: P&I renewals. Renewals for the International Group of P&I clubs are due on February 20th every year. This was traditionally the first date the Baltic ports were free of ice, and while shipping doesn’t halt for the seasons in the same way it once did, the date has stuck. Lloyd’s...

In 2020, 85 vessels were reported abandoned. In 2023, that number was 142 — a worrying increase, but nothing compared to what was to come. Because in 2024, some 310 vessels were reported as abandoned. That is a 118% increase in just 12 months, and gives 2024 the unwanted record as the worst year for seafarer abandonment, which incidentally it takes from 2023. Abandonment is not a new phenomenon by...

MONDAY February 17 kicks off the first of a crucial series of climate talks at the International Maritime Organization. There are just two intersessional working group meetings, and one Marine Environment Protection Committee left to approve regulations to bring shipping to net zero by or around 2050. Hundreds of negotiators will be working day and night to agree on some combination of a carbon pr...

Freedom of navigation — the legal principle that states ships from any country have the right to sail freely in international waters — is under attack. It has been for some time. But a confluence of geopolitical shifts, security threats and an accelerating frequency of legal assaults are finally starting to erode a fundamental principle of the law of the sea and a pillar of modern international la...

The world economy is still globalised, at least for the moment. But superpower rivalry and the decay of global rules and norms mean that geopolitical tensions are deepening and global maritime trade is being caught in the crossfire, both literally and figuratively. Some of this is happening in plain sight. In the Red Sea, the Houthis redirected maritime trade and the combined naval forces of Europ...

Decarbonisation is perhaps the biggest issue shipping faces, and it’s unique in that it affects everyone, whatever your politics. The question we, and much of the shipping industry asks, is not whether future fuels will become viable one day, but rather which of them will win the race. Of course, we’re often told things like “we see a multi-fuel future” or “we are fuel agnostic”. But besides looki...

Over the last few weeks, we’ve brought you several episodes from our experts here at Lloyd’s List briefing you on what to expect in each respective sector in 2025. Insurance editor David Osler is rounding that series off with a look at what the marine insurance market can expect over the next 12 months. The sector was thrust into the limelight in March last year, when containership Dali allided wi...

THE geopolitical landscape changed seemingly by the hour in 2024, and 2025 has started in a similar vein. Cable cutting, new tranches of sanctions from the outgoing Biden administration and Chinese shipping giant Cosco being placed on a US Department of Defense sanctions for links to the Chinese military – all of that has happened in the first 10 days of 2025. But before all of that though, our ri...

Decarbonisation is one of the most written-about topics in Lloyd’s List. Read our daily briefing on any given day and it will more than likely contain at least one story dedicated to the industry’s journey towards net zero. And there’s good reason for that too. It dominates shipping headlines and touches every corner of our industry and 2025 could be a pivotal year in shipping’s long history. Not...

Reading the runes of this industry is often a futile and thankless task – predictions are regularly wiped out just hours after they are made. Despite that, our markets team assembled to make sure you are as prepared as you can be in our unpredictable sector for the year ahead. Senior maritime reporter Greg Miller discusses tankers and dry bulk, asking why the year started off so well for both befo...

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...

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 s...

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...

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...

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...

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 a...

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...

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 attracte...

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 im...