THIS week’s edition of the podcast comes to us from Stamford, Connecticut in the US. Which is probably not the first place you would think of when it comes to shipping.

But for historic reasons, this commuter belt part of the US east coast is where the country’s shipping executives clustered after they moved out of New York in the 1970s.

Thus it was that the Connecticut Maritime Association was born. For the past 30 years or more, it has held an annual conference that brings in international and local maritime guests to discuss the state of the industry.

It’s a social event as much as it is a business one, and traditionally it ends with a gala dinner at which a “commodore” is appointed and forced to wear a silly hat.

This year, cousins Cesare and Paulo d’Amico, shipowners of Milan-listed d’Amico Shipping, were the honoured recipients of the silly hat. By all accounts, they wore it with style.

Also in the crowd was our markets editor and analyst, Michelle Wiese Bockmann, proudly wearing the Lloyd’s List hat. In between offering her considered opinion on millinery style choices, she was bothering the great and good for insights about how the industry is shaping up right now.

This being America, and with tanker rates hitting $100,000 daily for the biggest ships, and bulk carriers on the rebound as well, she was confronted with a smiling crowd for once and even managed to grab two of them sit around the Lloyd’s List microphone for a quick chat.

Our first interview this week is with Mark O’Neil, chief executive of Columbia Shipmanagement, which manages about 400 ships worldwide and is regarded as one of the top-performing companies in the sector.

He stirred the pot at one of the CMA forums by promoting the continuing role of fossil fuels and carbon capture and storage.

Our second is a very chirpy Lois Zabrocky, chief executive and president of International Seaways, a New York-listed owner of a fleet 77 product and crude tankers. It reported $380m in profits in the past year.

You will find out why Ms Zabrocky is so happy in the second half of this week’s edition, but, spoiler alert — most of it relates to tanker owners’ supply discipline. Despite earning so much money — and no end in sight to the cash machine running out —  they’re not going out and spoiling by ordering new tonnage at shipyards. Box listeners, take heed!