After putting together the world’s biggest shipping empire in little over five decades, it’s safe to say this guy knows what he’s doing

Reduced capacity could soon be the new normal for at least three years in every decade

Marine insurance is proving its value after the past week’s spectacular casualty in Baltimore

Most seafarers won’t even know the beneficial ownership of the vessels on which they serve. But they have every reason to be afraid if the Houthis get it wrong

It’s 2024 and we still still have vessels ‘owned’ by anonymous brass plate companies, ‘flagged’ with fictitious ‘registries’, ‘IMO numbered’ with digits based on mum’s birthday, ‘classed’ by little-known ROs and ‘insured’ by shaky fixed premium providers. This isn’t progress

Wording of Conwartime and Voywar clauses are matters BIMCO could usefully revisit before the next crisis

Substantive regulatory measures should be the last resort. But last resorts are sometimes unavoidable

The murder of Alexei Navalny and the second anniversary of the Ukraine invasion have seen measures targeting the Kremlin proliferate. The West should pay more attention to ensuring the ones we have already actually hit home

Shipowners sometimes argue that they are merely humble ‘taxi drivers of the sea’. But few professions are as extensively regulated as driving taxis

Why bother with creative destruction when good old-fashioned destruction will do instead?

Much more of this and Narnia, Utopia, Middle Earth, Freedonia, La-La Land and Big Rock Candy Mountain will be offering their capitals as home ports

Flag states have a legal and moral duty to enforce the hard won safety standards that underpin global maritime trade, but the rise of the dark fleet supported by a growing list of opaque, outsourced flag administrations is undermining the rules-based order of global shipping

The impact on the Suez Canal will not be permanent. But it is now effectively closed to those who are risk adverse, and/or allied to Western countries seen as supporting Israel

Until the full extent of the Houthi threat is known, we can only hope the tensions will ease and thank the brave sailors who continue to make trade possible

Say thank you to the navies that are working together to keep the Red Sea open for business. Not to mention the thousands of seafarers putting themselves in harm’s way to ensure the world keeps trading

Let gunboat diplomacy be confined to the past. But there are legitimate uses of gunboats in the 21st century; the continued flow of world trade is one of them

One was the better product. The other actually succeeded in the marketplace

Of course there are viable alternative routes. But simultaneous widespread disruption would be a strain on much of the shipping industry, not to mention the global economy

The EU Emissions Trading System is going to be difficult and expensive for shipping. It is without doubt flawed and there are many questions to be answered, but it will start to sift those who have been genuinely charting a new course from those who have been secretly hoping all this will just go away

If the West wants to up the ante, increasing the scrutiny of attestation documents is a no-brainer. The proposal that the Danes would inspect Russian tankers would need to be part of a wider push to leverage choke points

Food for thought aplenty at the annual Eisbein celebrations and in German shipowners’ boardrooms amid numerous industry challenges ahead. But the illustrious shipping nation is well versed in adversity

Our lifetimes may never again see an era in which sailing vessels from A to B generates returns that make Gates, Zuckerberg and Bezos envious

Everyone with a well-paid desk job in white-collar shipping services should be properly grateful to the workforce that keeps the industry moving

More Russian oil than ever before is being carried on sanctions-busting tankers exploiting regulatory loopholes. The entire scheme of sanctions stands or falls by an attestation mechanism that patently isn’t working

Alexander Saverys’ perspective for tanker shipping is built around a business model that is radically different to the one Fredriksen exemplifies

For the IMO’s proceedings to represent anything more than a drinks reception accompanied by a token press release, shipping’s contribution to the fight for a better environment needs to be stepped up

There is a growing realisation in shipping that nebulous net zero pledges are starting to require action and investment, and will be harder to achieve than first thought. The divide between those who can and can’t be relied upon is widening

Maersk is to be applauded for its ambition. But for mass adoption of methanol fuel to make environmental sense, the molecule shipping uses must be truly green — and there is plenty to suggest it won’t be

Britain’s schools are crumbling. So is UK maritime policy

For those seeking guidance on what to do next, the MEPC80 targets may have been too weak a signal

The dark fleet may be coming out of the shadows, but the cloud it casts over the rest of the industry is not going anywhere

Until now, shipping has always found a workaround to restrictions on using this key waterway. But it won’t be able to do so indefinitely