Day 1 - Geopolitics, Criminalisation, Accountability & the Dark FleetTuesday, 20 October 2026 - SGT (Singapore Time, GMT+08:00)

The conference opens with live audience polling to establish what this room believes are the three most urgent geopolitical threats facing seafarers in 2026. Results restructure the first panel accordingly. The 2025 Seafarers Happiness Index revealed that crews now voice fears about being caught in geopolitical storms — sanctions, dark fleet exposure and hybrid maritime warfare — as a distinct and growing psychological burden. Seafarers are, in effect, carrying the stress of international politics on their shoulders while trying to do a technical job. The interventions from the panellists frame the regulatory and human rights context for the three days, and the input from the audience gives us a live check on where priorities should lie.

FORMAT: Live Polling with Consequences

Audience votes not just to register opinion — but to restructure what happens next. Delegates have genuine agency and the outcome reflects what the room needed, not what was scripted.

InterManager is now formally tracking cases of seafarer criminalisation — incidents have directly accelerated as geopolitical tensions and the dark fleet surge have exposed crews to legal jeopardy they cannot see or control. Ship abandonments more than doubled in 2024. The IMO Secretary-General has warned of a disturbing rise in criminalisation driven by substandard shipping practices linked to the dark fleet.

This fishbowl debate places three specialists in the inner circle to address what structural changes flag states; operators and the IMO must make — while the empty chair is open to any delegate. Cases linked to dark fleet operations; sanctions compliance failures and abandonment are examined with a focus on geopolitical drivers.

FORMAT: The Fishbowl — empty chair open to any delegate

Inner circle of 3–4 speakers debates while the audience observes. One chair always empty — any delegate can occupy it briefly. Creates genuine spontaneity and breaks the fourth wall.