Shared Seas, Shifting Horizons

The Annual Summit takes place at a pivotal moment for global trade. The maritime sector is grappling with the far-reaching, often violent implications of a shifting geopolitical landscape and macroeconomic uncertainty that challenge its ability to safely maintain the lifelines that deliver food, energy, and essential goods to the global market.

Few are as qualified to speak about the state of the shipping sector in times of rupture as International Maritime Organization Secretary-General Arsenio Dominguez. In a wide-ranging session, Dominguez will touch on the IMO’s efforts to address the risks with false and fraudulent flags that currently jeopardise safety at sea, with the pending vote on the IMO’s Net-Zero Framework, and on how to equip the maritime workforce for the future.

Breakout groups

Learning sessions

Parallel sessions exploring urgent questions and new ideas

Topics include:

• Trading in conflicted waters: Examine how the Strait of Hormuz closure and threats of attack in the Red Sea are disrupting supply chains and threatening seafarer safety, and discuss how to improve maritime resilience in conflict zones.

• Leading through periods of extreme uncertainty: What does it take to be a leader in times of geopolitical upheaval, threats to safe passage, and trade volatility? Explore the unique leadership challenges facing today’s maritime sector.

• Lessons from the energy shock: Explore how learnings from the energy security vulnerabilities exposed by the Hormuz crisis and the Ukraine war can improve future resilience through fuel diversification and stronger regulations.

• Addressing gaps in maritime governance: Join the new maritime governance task force to discuss critical gaps in existing international frameworks. Learn how the industry can address freedom of navigation, deceptive practices, and substandard shipping.

• The High Seas Treaty: Understand the implications of its legal framework to protect biodiversity in international waters. What will the creation of marine protected areas and mandated environmental impact assessments mean for maritime trade?

• Advances in battery technology: Discover the latest breakthroughs in marine battery technology and explore the potential and limits of battery-electric propulsion in the sector’s energy transition.

• Fuel production in China: Learn how China is winning the global green fuel race by becoming the world’s biggest developer of green methanol and one of the top developers of green ammonia. What lessons can be drawn from China’s initial wave of projects, and what are the remaining bottlenecks?

• China’s five-year plan and what it means for shipping: Understand China’s 15th five-year plan and its direct implications on global seaborne trade, from reduced commodity imports and manufactured exports to the impacts of China’s minerals and rare earths strategy.

In conjunction with the release of a Global Maritime Forum report on green shipping corridors in China, participants will learn how China’s actions are helping to spur first-mover initiatives both domestically and internationally. The session will also look at the current state of the global green corridor movement and how these dedicated trading routes can lead where regulation has yet to follow.

Reflections on leadership.

Parallel sessions will dive into the key challenges and opportunities facing the maritime industry and seek potential ways to address them through collective action and leadership. The themes are:

Trade in a time of rupture
The rules-based order that shipping has long depended on is under extreme pressure, while the same geopolitical forces reshaping the global order have also reached the IMO. Regional wars are directly impacting shipping, closing key trade lanes and putting vessels and crew in the line of fire, and disrupting energy markets. An expanding segment of substandard shipping is exposing gaps in existing governance structures, while trade wars and tariffs have created an undercurrent of market uncertainty.

Topics:

• AI, accountability, and competitive advantage

• Multilateralism under pressure

• Energy security and shipping’s energy transition

• Operating through chronic conflict

• Shadow fleet and governance gaps

• Seafarer perspective

Leading by example through uncertainty
In a time of political uncertainty and inertia, leading by example is essential to drive change and put the maritime sector on a path to resilience, prosperity, and sustainability. Industry leadership, as well as public-private collaborations, individual states, and coalitions of the willing must help fill the void and forge progress.

Topics:

• Leveraging data and transparency for tangible action

• Lessons from first deployments of breakthrough ship technologies

• Coalitions of the willing

• Strategic infrastructure investments

• Green fuel production in the global transition

• AI and human talent: Responsible adoption and operational integration

Equipping the sector for the future
Maritime trade faces a convergence of pressures, including technological disruption from zero-emission fuels and AI, an evolving policy landscape, and growing tensions between freedom of navigation and coastal states’ need to protect their environments and populations. Preparing for this future means planning across multiple scenarios, identifying and managing risks, upgrading infrastructure, and upskilling maritime professionals while ensuring safe working conditions.

Topics:

• Pathways forward for shipping decarbonisation regulation

• AI-enabled transition

• The future of maritime governance

• Strategies for managing transition risks and strengthening resilience

• Assessing the potential of next-generation technologies

• Scaling up the fuels: Lessons from China and the implications of regional differences in the scale and speed of the transition

How can the sector’s leaders remain focused on the big picture at a moment of profound geopolitical and economic change?

Cover the concrete outcomes of the previous two days and chart a clear course forward for global seaborne trade.

The Annual Summit will conclude with an informal networking reception that will allow participants to carry on their conversations, create new connections, reflect on the discussions of the past two days, and make plans to carry progress forward.