Currents of Change

What trends will shape global seaborne trade in the years to come? Experts and leaders set the scene for the Annual Summit 2024 by outlining key issues and choices ahead for the maritime industry.

Welcome remarks by Jan Dieleman, President, Cargill Ocean Transportation; Chairman, Global Maritime Forum

Panellists:

• Laure Baratgin, Head of Commercial Operations, Rio Tinto

• Arsenio Dominguez, Secretary-General, International Maritime Organization (IMO)

• Takeshi Hashimoto, President and CEO, Mitsui O.S.K. Lines

• Dr Naoko Ishii, Special Presidential Envoy for Global Commons, Director, University of Tokyo

Moderated by Johannah Christensen, Chief Executive Officer, Global Maritime Forum

The programme ends at 20:00 JST.

With geopolitical tensions running high and the global economic outlook uncertain, the maritime industry must deliver on its major investments and adjust dynamically to supply chains in flux, all while remaining focused on its sustainability goals. Join two accomplished experts in exploring the impacts of global power struggles, regional conflicts, and shifting economic policies.

Welcome remarks by:

• Jan Dieleman, President, Cargill Ocean Transportation; Chairman, Global Maritime Forum

Panel discussion with:

• Shruti Mehrotra, Managing Director, Seismic Ventures; Former Special Advisor, Soros Economic Development Fund

• Hiromichi Mizuno, Special Advisor to CEO of MSCI, Inc., the former Special Envoy of U.N. Secretary General on Innovative Finance and Sustainable Investments, and the former Executive Managing Director and Chief Investment Officer of Government Pension Investment Fund of Japan (GPIF)

Moderated by:

Randall Krantz, Senior Adviser, Global Maritime Forum

Engage with and learn from high-level champions of transformative initiatives that showcase our community's impactful work in areas such as shipping decarbonisation; diversity, equity, and inclusion; talent attraction; ship recycling; and more.

You will have the chance to hear about the following initiatives:

All Aboard Alliance
The All Aboard Alliance seeks to drive industry collaboration that will make the maritime industry more diverse, equitable, and inclusive. Learn more about its most recent efforts.

• Mikael Skov, Chief Executive Officer, Hafnia

• Meei Wong, Executive Director, SOL-X

Getting to Zero Coalition
The members of the Getting to Zero Coalition are moving from ambition to action. Find out about a new Action Framework that will capture and communicate the work they’re doing.

• Jesse Fahnestock, Director, Decarbonisation, Global Maritime Forum

Global Maritime Professional Initiative (GMP)
The GMP initiative is intended to meet the needs of industry and a rapidly evolving educational and career context. Learn how the GMP initiative does this whilst catering to the professional development aspirations of individual seafarers.

• Takeshi Nakazawa, Executive Director, International Association of Maritime Universities

Global Centre for Maritime Decarbonisation (GCMD)
The GCMD helps the shipping sector accelerate its decarbonisation efforts through pilots and trials conducted in conditions close to commercial operations with an ecosystem of partners. Learn more about a significant milestone in which a GCMD-led coalition safely and successfully executed ammonia transfers between two vessels at anchorage in the Pilbara region to mimic bunkering operations.

• Lynn Loo, Chief Executive Officer, Global Centre for Maritime Decarbonisation

Poseidon Principles
Is the pioneering global framework for responsible ship finance impacting the climate alignment of investments? What key challenges await, and can the Poseidon Principles approach be used to address other sustainability challenges?

• Michael Parker, Chairman, Global Shipping, Logistics and Offshore, Citi

• Paul Taylor, Global Head of Maritime Industries, Société Générale

Poseidon Principles for Marine Insurance
Find out how this framework can help marine insurers clarify and report on the climate impact of their complex portfolios – and what doing so can mean for insurers and shipowners alike.

• Patrizia Kern, Marine Strategy Consultant, Swiss Reinsurance Corporate Solutions

• Sundeep Khera, Global CUO Marine Hull, Head of Marine, Axa XL

Sea Cargo Charter
The global transparency framework for chartering has taken a step towards expanding impact, now allowing both charterers and shipowners to disclose their emissions using one methodology and report.

• Eman Abdalla, Global Operations and Supply Chain Director, Cargill Ocean Transportation

• Rasmus Bach Nielsen, Global Head Fuel Decarbonisation, Trafigura Maritime Logistics

The Silk Alliance
The Silk Alliance brings together fleets that operate across the Indian and Pacific Oceans. Find out how this Green Corridor cluster initiative is fostering partnerships with stakeholders along the supply chain.

• Philippa Charlton, Chief Marketing Officer, Lloyd’s Register

Zero Emission Buyers Alliance (ZEMBA)
ZEMBA, a first-of-its-kind buyers’ group within the maritime sector, reached a milestone in 2024 with its first successful tender for low-emission freight services. Find out what lessons were learned from that tender, and gain insight into what is shaping ZEMBA’s next request for proposal.

• Ingrid Irigoyen, Senior Director, Ocean and Climate, Aspen Institute Energy and Environment Program; President and Chief Executive Officer, ZEMBA

Security pressures, an uncertain energy future, and changing societal expectations are reshaping the decision landscape for shipping. Industry leaders reflect on the need for strategies that can meet these issues at their nexus and point the way forward to a secure, sustainable, and responsible future for the sector.

Moderated by

• Randall Krantz, Senior Adviser, Global Maritime Forum

In three rounds of parallel learning sessions, experts and thought leaders provide key insights on new opportunities and challenges ahead for the maritime industry.

Technological efficiency: The other lever for decarbonising shipping
Where do efficiency-related technologies fit into shipping’s green transition and evolving compliance landscape, and what synergies are there with zero-emission fuels?

• Bo Cerup Simonsen, Chief Executive Officer, Maersk McKinney Møller Center for Zero-Carbon Shipping

The tipping point: IMO’s forthcoming mid-term measures
The IMO’s so-called mid-term measures are under negotiation. How are these key IMO negotiations developing and what impact will they have on the industry?

• Harry Conway, Alternate Permanent Representative of Liberia to the IMO; Chair, Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC)

Zero-emission opportunities in the Global South
Many countries in the Global South are well-positioned to produce the zero-emission fuels the industry needs to decarbonise. How is this opportunity being acted on in practice in Namibia, and how can progress be accelerated?

• James Mnyupe, Advisor to the President and Green Hydrogen Commissioner, Namibian Presidency

• Alexander Saverys, Chief Executive Officer, Compagnie Maritime Belge

Cracking the chicken and egg dilemma
While ships capable of burning zero-emission fuels are coming and projects to produce millions of tonnes of the fuels have been announced, few shipping companies have yet to secure supply. What has held back the market, and how are mechanisms like H2Global trying to break the deadlock?

• Susana Moreira, Executive Director and Co-Chair, H2Global Foundation

Diversity@Sea: Insights from the bridge
This session will provide preliminary learnings from the Diversity@Sea pilot, focused on making life at sea both more inclusive and attractive.

• Captain Radhika Menon, Captain, Synergy Ship Management

• Susanne Justesen, Director, Human Sustainability, Global Maritime Forum

Leaders as allies and allies as leaders
Allyship: what does it mean, why is it important and how can we apply it – in practice - both at sea and onshore?

• Simon Grainge, Chief Executive, International Seafarers Welfare and Assistance Network (ISWAN)

The next challenge for the green boardroom: Shipping and biodiversity
Shipping's impact on the oceans goes beyond climate concerns. Will ocean health and biodiversity be the next frontier for decision-makers?

• Mary Wisz, Professor, Marine Science, World Maritime University

Plotting a course for the future of ship recycling
Where does the ship recycling industry stand today, and what might the future hold, considering the Hong Kong International Convention, the prospect of renewing fleets to meet decarbonisation goals, and a growing focus on circularity?

• Chintan Kalthia, Chief Executive Officer, R.L. Kalthia Ship Breaking

Resilience and adaptation in a warming world
What can be done to build shipping's resilience to climate impact and enable the industry to continue facilitating trade in a warming world? What lessons can be learned from the Panama Canal Authority's response to drought conditions that impacted both global trade and the livelihoods of local communities?

• Ilya Marotta, Deputy Administrator and Chief Sustainability Officer, Panama Canal Authority

Five perils for the future of seafaring
An uncertain world is creating new challenges in attracting seafarers. What factors pose the greatest risks to a sustainable maritime workforce and what role is there for collective action to address them?

• Joshua Hutchinson, Vice Chair, Sailor’s Society

Ship happens: Flags of (in)convenience
The use of flags of convenience is commonplace in the industry. What light does a new book shine on the impacts and risks posed by flags of convenience?

• Mark Pieth, Founder and former President, Basel Institute on Governance

Across four themes, participants discuss the key challenges and opportunities facing the maritime industry and potential ways to address them through collective industry action and leadership. Running concurrently, with expert discussion leaders at the helm, each interactive working session will explore unsolved questions and help shape the discussions on the second day of the Summit. The themes are:

Theme 1: Decarbonisation (Industry action)

Groups will set themselves tasks related to defining the first-mover business case, solving the fuel offtake puzzle, sharing risks and opportunities in green corridors, and finding synergies between new fuels and efficiency strategies.

Theme 2: Decarbonisation (Policy and finance)

Groups will set themselves tasks related to ensuring a broad transition that reaches all regions and segments, identifying the ways in which different combinations of measures from the IMO might impact investments and operations, and showing how public and private finance can be combined to complement IMO measures and fund the transition at scale post-2030.

Theme 3: Human sustainability

Groups will set themselves tasks related to defining and implementing standards for seafarer safety and well-being, the role of financial institutions, cargo owners and other stakeholders in establishing accountability for human sustainability at sea, and how to make maritime more inclusive both at sea and on shore.

Theme 4: Governance and accountability

Groups will set themselves tasks related to better understanding shipping's responsibilities when it comes to ocean health, enhancing the resilience of the sector towards future risks, and addressing the impacts of the dark fleet and what can be done about it.

In the wake of the latest meeting of the Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC82) at the International Maritime Organization, Secretary-General Arsenio Dominguez will discuss the role of industry in the IMO’s decarbonisation strategy, the challenges facing shipping’s workforce, and the role of leadership in times of uncertainty.

• Arsenio Dominguez, Secretary-General, International Maritime Organization (IMO)

• Christine Loh, Chief Development Strategist, Institute for the Environment, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology

The programme ends at 17:30 JST.

Participants come together for an informal dinner at the Palace Hotel Tokyo

The Summit dinner finishes at 21:00 JST.

Introduced by Randall Krantz, Senior Adviser, Global Maritime Forum

Unveiled in 2022, the Bridgetown Initiative has driven a new global conversation on how the financial system can better direct capital to achieve societal goals and spur climate action. Meet one of the architects of this effort and learn about how a new approach to global finance could support resilient global trade and shipping's energy transition.

• Avinash Persaud, Special Adviser on Climate Change to the President of the Inter-American Development Bank

Participants work in groups to develop actionable ideas to address the challenges and opportunities outlined on the first day of the Summit.

Working in groups, participants consider what it takes to lead the transformative change needed to unlock the potential of the maritime industry.

Drawing together ideas from across the two days of the Annual Summit, this final plenary discussion will cover the concrete outcomes of each working group and consider how to lead transformative change within global seaborne trade.

Moderated by

Randall Krantz, Senior Adviser, Global Maritime Forum

Closing remarks by

• Jan Dieleman, President, Cargill Ocean Transportation, Switzerland; Chairman, Global Maritime Forum

• Johannah Christensen, Chief Executive Officer, Global Maritime Forum

The programme ends at 15:00 JST.