Annual Summit

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 decision on the IMO’s Net-Zero Framework, and on how to equip the maritime workforce for the future.

In two rounds of parallel sessions, experts and thought leaders will explore urgent questions and new ideas. Participants will select two topics to attend. 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.

  • Farid Belbouab, Chief Executive Officer, Gulftainer Group

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

  • Adair Turner, Co-Chair, Energy Transitions Commission

• 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.

  • Michael Parker, Chairman of Global Shipping & Logistics, Citi

  • John Rowley, Chief Executive Officer, Wallem Group

• Full charge ahead: 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.

  • Shane Lyu, Overseas General Manager, Electric Vessel division (CAEV), CATL

• The speed and scale of 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.

  • Kejun Jiang, Professor, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology

• The leadership skills we'll need next: How can maritime companies establish trust, foster motivation, and help younger workers build their careers? Explore which leadership practices will need to evolve for the sector to attract the next generation of talent and thrive well into the future.

  • Ray Chow, Managing Partner, Adaptive Leaders

• Governing artificial intelligence in a changing world: Artificial intelligence is developing at an extraordinary pace, with far-reaching implications that raise serious questions for leaders across industries. Discuss how governments, businesses, and international institutions can approach AI amid rapid innovation and growing geopolitical complexity.

  • Qian Xiao, Vice Dean, Institute for AI International Governance (I-AIIG), Tsinghua University

* Speaker to be confirmed

In conjunction with the release of a Global Maritime Forum report on China’s green corridor opportunity, participants will learn how China’s experience with building fast and at scale, as well as international first movers’ efforts to scale up first deployments, help sustain momentum for early shipping decarbonisation and unlock new commercial opportunities across the global maritime value chain.

Reflections on leadership.

Across three themes, parallel sessions will delve into the key challenges and opportunities facing the maritime industry and explore ways to address them through collective action and leadership. Participants will choose one theme based on their interests and one subtopic within the theme. The themes and subtopics 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.

Moderated by Alex Gregg-Smith, President, Marine & Offshore, Bureau Veritas

Panellists:

• Dan Wang, Director, China, Eurasia Group

• Paul Jennings, Managing Director, NorthStandard

• Peter Claeyssens, Director General, Shipping, Belgian Federal Public Service Mobility and Transport

Topics:

• AI, accountability, and competitive advantage

  • Pontus Berg, Chief Operating Officer, Vitol International Shipping

• Multilateralism under pressure

  • Hing Chao, Chairman, Wah Kwong Maritime Transport

• Energy security and shipping’s energy transition

  • Julian Proctor, Co-founder, Chief Executive Officer and Board Member, Purus

• Operating through chronic conflict

  • Line Dahle, Executive Vice President, Industry Impact, Gard

• Governance gaps and a parallel fleet

  • Brian Adrian Wessel, Director General, Danish Maritime Authority

• Seafarers on the frontline of rupture

  • Jan de Beurme, Chief of Staff, CMB.TECH

Leading by example

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.

Moderated by Ingrid Irigoyen, Managing Director, Center for Green Market Activation

Panellists:

• Changhua Wu, President, Global Climate Academy

• Eugenio Figueiredo, Chief Executive Officer, Port of Açu

• Päivi Antikainen, Maritime Director, Deputy Director General, Finnish Ministry of Transport and Communications

Topics:

• From knowing more to doing better

  • Paul Taylor, Global Head of Maritimes Industries, Societe Generale

• Scaling zero-emission shipping

  • Morten Pilnov, Executive Director, Shipping, Exmar

• The power of collective action

  • Peter Lye, Executive Head of Shipping, Anglo American

• Taking the long view: Investing through uncertainty

  • Alisa Kreynes, Director Ports and Shipping, C40 Cities

• The race to build new fuel markets*

• AI at sea: Enhancing capability, preserving expertise

  • Anshul Tuteja, Vice President, Energy Strategy and Decarbonization, Norwegian Cruise Line

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.

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

Panellists:

• Jeremy Sutton, Chief Executive Officer, Swire Shipping

• Michał Kurtyka, Distinguished Fellow, Atlantic Council Global Energy Center

Topics:

• Pathways forward for shipping decarbonisation regulation

  • Kamal-Deen Ali, Director General, Ghana Maritime Authority

• AI-enabled transition: Unlocking value at scale

  • Lora Jakobsen, Chief Sustainability Officer, ZeroNorth

• The future of maritime governance

  • Andrea Olivi, Global Head of Shipping, Trafigura

• Places of refuge: Contingency planning for ships in distress

  • Randy Chen, Vice Chairman, Wan Hai Lines

• Navigating technology horizons: Assessing the readiness of solutions

  • Nick Brown, Chief Executive Officer, Lloyd's Register

• Scaling up zero-emission infrastructure: Replicating the China success story

  • Ting Li, Managing Director China, RMI

* To be confirmed

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

Participants will stay with the theme picked in Round I and continue working on the same subtopic (within the same theme), or select another if they wish.

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.