The annual marine insurance confab, IUMI, was held in Chicago this year. So Lloyd’s List selflessly hopped on a flight with microphones in hand to gather insights from the sector’s most influential figures for this week’s edition of the podcast

It seemed clear to everyone gathering in New York that the acceleration needed to move the shipping industry closer to the 1.5°C scenario will require unprecedented regulatory intervention, radical scaling of alternative fuel production and fleet readiness, disruptive technology inventions and substantial willingness to invest. But is shipping making any progress towards those goals?

Shipowners appear to be feeling pretty sanguine about the introduction of new carbon ratings from January 2023. Yes, there might be some slowing down and some retrofitting, but the initial implications are pretty limited. Or are they? Has the industry genuinely understood the implications of CII? Or are the owners suffering from boiled frog syndrome?

Scorpio Tankers’ bullish president Robert Bugbee is one of the industry’s most resilient optimists. So what, if anything, keeps him awake at night and why he would need a lobotomy before getting serious about ordering alternative fuels? All these questions and more are answered in this week’s edition of the Lloyd’s List Podcast

What has the Apollo astronaut programme got to do with ageing Japanese seafarers and funding for autonomous shipping? Listen to this week’s edition of the Lloyd’s List Podcast to find out

Are you suffering with anxiety over the legal risk associated with carbon compliance, the EU ETS and generally how to navigate the oncoming train of regulatory hurdles for shipping? Fear not – the Lloyd’s List Podcast is on the case with a dose of free expertise to treat all that ails you this week. Listen twice a day and come back to see us in a week for your next check-up

Imagine pulling up to the petrol pump in your car and being confronted with 20 pumps, each offering various blends of different fuels. Now imagine a scenario where at each petrol station you visit next, that choice of different fuels is going to be entirely different. Welcome to the future of shipping

The deal to allow the safe transport of grain out of the Ukraine by sea is an unprecedented agreement between enemy combatants, but it is still a work in progress and the list of potential risks that could yet scupper it are long. This week we talk to war risk expert and head of marine and aviation at the Lloyd’s Market Association Neil Roberts about the insurance hurdles yet to be overcome. And we talk to Anna Biliuga, an agent for Eurogal Services, which acts as Lloyd’s agents inside Odesa, for a personal take on how the grain deal will play out on the dockside

Ship demolition rates may be at a 10-year low, but that is exactly the right time to look at the future of recycling. GMS chief Anil Sharma joins the podcast this week to talk about current market conditions, the impact of regulatory pressure and how shipping can create a more circular economy

Shipping’s darker episodes often read like true crime, but the case of the Brilliante Virtusoso raises important questions about the opaque underbelly of the shipping industry as well as the insurance and legal markets that support it. Kit Chellel, one of the writers who pieced together the astounding truth behind one of the most brazen financial frauds in history, joins the podcast this week to discuss his remarkable book that everyone should be taking away to the beach this summer — Dead in the Water.

Decarbonisation commitments, demand signals and pledges are great, but the true test of progress will be within shipping companies themselves and right now the vast majority are not clear what their strategy is. Shipowners exist in a grey area and it’s an uncomfortable place to be. This week’s edition of the podcast looks at the difficult balancing act that shipowners must perform as they weigh up their climate ambition against strategic uncertainty

Shipping has focused on fuels as the one factor it can control in the push to decarbonise, but the creation of a truly sustainable industry will require a more holistic ‘lifecycle’ approach. The concept of a circular economy requiring us to reduce, reuse, refurbish and recycle should be a sustainability slam dunk, but it requires cross-sectoral collaboration, global regulation and business model innovation — all challenges this industry has traditionally struggled to overcome. So how do we close the loop on the circular economy for shipping?