Conference Day 3Thursday, 14 March 2024

One area the maritime industry is expected to see as a game changer is rapid advances in satellite technology services. IoT-based ship-to-shore connectivity enables owners and operators to enhance fleet utilization, streamline commercial processes and reduce carbon emissions with full transparency. In 2023 more than 650 satellites, including in-orbit spares, have enabled satellite players to provide global service through multiple distributors. Lower latency is an important factor for using cloud-based services, adopting new digitization applications and operating and monitoring autonomous vessels.

In this session, we talk about the value of connectivity and its current landscape and including cyber security considerations.

This presentation is from the first winner of the Business of Shipping Competition supported by the CMA Education Foundation and sponsored by d'Amico. Each of the three winners receives a monetary prize, kindly donated by d’Amico, and the opportunity to present a summary of their papers to the CMA Shipping Audience. From experience we know these presentations will be as well prepared as they are interesting and audience members will be inspired by the quality and passion of these young maritime professionals

The goal of AI research is to create systems that can perform tasks that normally require human intelligence, such as visual perception, speech recognition, decision-making, and language translation. AI relies for implementation on machine learning, natural language processing, and robotics. It’s a field full of promise, but in this session, we look at those applications already in use, or ready for implementation.

Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) play a major role in both maritime and global economics as do the key trading routes traversed by the world’s fleet. With many evolving and changing geopolitical dynamics currently in flux including changes to governmental administrations, sanctions, and conflicts, what will the landscape of FTAs and trading routes look like by 2030? Which sectors of cargo movement are likely to benefit? Which key risks should owners and operators be keenly focused on? And what role will trade agreements play in the pursuit of environmental protection goals?

The reduced capacity of the Panama Canal which started in the second half of 2023 and is forecasted t decrease even further into 2024, traffic at the canal is backing up and ships are paying premiums to traverse on time, meaning some vessels are already taking different, longer routes. That not only tightens tanker availability, bolstering freight rates and increasing shipping costs, it also means shipments take longer to arrive at their destinations, with potentially an even bigger domino effect.

With this in mind, we ask two questions:

• What is the magnitude and horizon of impact of this disruption?
• What other vulnerabilities are possible, likely, or looming?

We wrap up this edition of the conference with a seemingly simple question to our Commodores: what does business excellence mean for industry and market leaders, in the context of complex systemic challenges, acute volatility and an imperative to change? System problems require system solutions and when business and operating models must undergo a near-complete overhaul, to not only compete in shipping, but to do so in a responsible, compliant, and safe way. More to the point, we ask our panel of business leaders: • What are your priorities for business and operations for the medium and long term? • What does good look like and what does it take to get there? • What is keeping you up at night?