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:

• The resilience imperative: Why trade needs ecosystems, not just routes: 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

• AI governance in China: 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

• 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?

  • Ting Li, Managing Director China, RMI

• 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

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.

Participants come together for dinner at the Regent Shanghai on the Bund. Drinks will be served from 18:30, followed by dinner.

The Regent is within one kilometre of the main Summit venue. Participants are invited to do the ten-minute walk to dinner in groups, continuing conversations from the day and taking in the sights of the Bund. A shuttle will be available upon request.

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: AI is reshaping global shipping. As more and more companies embed it in commercial decisions, routing, risk assessment, and compliance, advantage will depend on access to data, digital infrastructure, and advanced systems that are unevenly distributed. Regulation is developing just as unevenly, leaving open questions on accountability, liability, and dependence on a few technology providers. How can maritime leaders capture the benefits of AI without creating new strategic dependencies, governance gaps, or systemic risks?

  • Pontus Berg, Chief Operating Officer, Vitol International Shipping

• Multilateralism under pressure: With the IMO under rising geopolitical pressure and the WTO constrained, maritime governance and trade are increasingly shaped by coalitions of the willing, regional schemes, bilateral deals, and private-sector initiatives. While these approaches can sustain valuable momentum, they risk fragmenting the level playing field on which shipping depends. How can the sector defend multilateralism, and how can these emerging forms of leadership complement one another in supporting it?

  • Hing Chao, Chairman, Wah Kwong Maritime Transport

• Energy security and shipping’s energy transition: The blocking of the Strait of Hormuz, the conflict in Ukraine, and wider geopolitical instability have made energy security a strategic driver of the maritime transition. Alternative fuels are no longer only a climate question; they are now tied to resilience, diversification, industrial policy, and geopolitical competition. Decisions taken now will shape supply chains and fleets for decades. What does this mean for fuel choices, long-term contracts, infrastructure investment, and fleet deployment?

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

• Operating through chronic conflict: For decades, the Red Sea and the Strait of Hormuz were busy trade routes with risks that shipping could manage. Today, both waterways pose extreme logistical challenges and even safety risks. When disruption becomes structural, routing, insurance, customer commitments, crew welfare, and duty of care all change. How are operators adapting as conflict becomes part of the operating environment? Which emergency responses must become permanent organisational capabilities, and where can no company build sufficient resilience on its own?

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

• Governance gaps and a parallel fleet: The growth of a parallel fleet exposes weaknesses in governance, enforcement, flag state oversight, insurance, classification, and port-state control. For legitimate operators, the issue is more than reputational or regulatory: it affects competition, safety, environmental risk and trust in maritime trade as a whole. What would it take to close the governance gap, and where can industry action make a difference?

  • Brian Adrian Wessel, Director General, Danish Maritime Authority

• Seafarers on the frontline of rupture: Seafarers experience geopolitical disruption most directly, often at real risk to their lives. They may be asked to sail through conflict zones, face attacks or detention, and operate without knowing whether help will arrive if something goes wrong. What have recent crises taught us about how to protect crews, and which practices have worked? How can companies, governments, and industry bodies better safeguard seafarers when disruption becomes a permanent feature of operations?

  • 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, Chair, Governing Council of Asia Pacific Water Forum

• 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: Many aspects within shipping are becoming more transparent. Emissions can be tracked, supply chains better understood and, increasingly, seafarers' working conditions measured and benchmarked. In some areas, transparency has already reshaped investment decisions, commercial relationships, and industry standards. As more data becomes available, there is an opportunity to strengthen accountability and accelerate action. What role can data, transparency, and shared standards play in driving better decisions, stronger incentives, and improved outcomes across the industry?

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

• Scaling zero-emission shipping: The first zero- and near-zero-emission vessels are entering service, marking an important milestone in the maritime transition. These early deployments show what it takes to move breakthrough technologies from concept to operation, and they are generating valuable lessons for the wider industry. What technical, operational, and human factors made these projects possible, what challenges did they meet along the way, and what will it take to scale them?

  • Morten Pilnov, Executive Director, Shipping, Exmar

• The power of collective action: Many of the maritime sector’s most ambitious initiatives begin outside of formal regulatory processes. While global regulatory consensus remains elusive, green corridors, fuel partnerships, financing initiatives, and voluntary standards are building momentum, often with the support of individual states or groups of states. As these coalitions grow more influential, how can they be made even more ambitious, credible, and accountable, and what enables them to shape global norms?

  • Peter Lye, Executive Head of Shipping, Anglo American

• Taking the long view: Investing through uncertainty: Ports are where the sector’s energy transition becomes physical. New fuels require new infrastructure; new vessel types require new operational capabilities; and crews need training that, in most places, does not yet exist at scale. Some ports are investing despite uncertainty, building bunkering capacity, convening stakeholders, and developing workforce skills. Their experience offers a concrete example of the challenges and opportunities facing the wider maritime industry. What enables organisations to make these long-term investment decisions under uncertainty, how can risks be shared, and what can others learn from those investing early?

  • Alisa Kreynes, Director Ports and Shipping, C40 Cities

• The race to build new fuel markets: The first green fuel projects are moving from announcements to production despite uncertain markets and regulation, with significant commercial risk. First-mover companies are not waiting for perfect clarity. They are building supply, creating demand, securing finance, and forming the commercial partnerships that can underpin future markets. What does it take to create a viable green fuel market, and what can shipping learn from pioneers within and beyond the sector about scaling new industries under uncertainty?

  • Yoshihiro Tsunoda, General Manager, Marine Department, ITOCHU

• AI at sea: Enhancing capability, preserving expertise: While the long-term impact of artificial intelligence on the maritime workforce remains uncertain, AI is already changing how people learn, work, and make decisions. As AI takes on more analysis and decision support, how do we ensure that people still develop the judgement, experience, and practical competence to recognise when technology is wrong, or to respond when it fails? And how do we prepare a workforce to keep learning as roles continue to evolve?

  • Simon Grainge, Chief Executive Officer, International Seafarers' Welfare and Assistance Network

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: Two feasible scenarios have emerged for the future of shipping decarbonisation regulation. In one, the transition is driven by global, harmonised regulation; in the other, a patchwork of national and regional climate regimes takes hold. Each has different implications for companies. Which conditions would move the sector closer to each scenario, and what would each mean for business operations?

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

• AI-enabled transition: Unlocking value at scale: Shipping companies are announcing investments in AI models that promise sizeable emission reductions at low cost. Delivering on that promise will depend on identifying the major opportunity areas, avoiding common pitfalls, and solving the remaining technical and organisational challenges. How can the maritime sector move from isolated uses to widespread rollout, and what role can collective action play in getting there?

  • Lora Jakobsen, Chief Sustainability Officer, ZeroNorth

• The future of maritime governance: Good governance is a foundation for a future-proof sector. Institutional and data gaps have allowed substandard shipping practices to grow, weakening accountability and trust across the industry. Closing them will require better data, clearer institutional responsibilities, and consistent enforcement across jurisdictions. How can global regulation and national enforcement work together to build a governance system that fosters accountability and trust?

  • Andrea Olivi, Global Head of Shipping, Trafigura

• Places of refuge: Contingency planning for ships in distress: A place of refuge is a safe harbour offered to a vessel in distress, such as after severe weather, mechanical failure, or fire. As extreme weather and geopolitical disruption grow more frequent, such arrangements become increasingly important. Yet ports often hesitate to accept distressed vessels because of unclear financial responsibility and a lack of legal and operational guardrails. How can the industry build partnerships and a shared decision-making framework across segments to address this issue?

  • Randy Chen, Vice Chairman, Wan Hai Lines

• Navigating technology horizons: Assessing the readiness of solutions: The mix of potential decarbonisation pathways is constantly evolving. Turning that progress into business decisions requires an understanding of the commercial, societal and market readiness of alternative fuels (ammonia, methanol, methane) and propulsion technologies (wind-assisted, nuclear, battery-electric). Where do these technologies stand? How can examining different dimensions of readiness help future-proof investments and avoid stranded assets? And what can be done today to ensure vast scaling over the next decade?

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

• Scaling up zero-emission infrastructure: Replicating the China success story: As the sector moves from testing and demonstration of key technologies and business models to scaling them up, building fast, at large scale, and in more places, becomes a priority. China has demonstrated leadership in the ability to do so, while other regions are lagging behind. What is required for the rest of the world replicate the China success story? And what are the implications of the regional differences in the scale and the speed of the transition?

  • Maximilian Held, Chief Operating Officer, H2Global

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.