Global shipping industry faces challenges in rapidly changing scenario

Daniel Bosch Wood

Maritim Lawyer

LLM Southampton

Las Palmas de Gran Canaria

Ship builders and owners, politicians and analysts analyzed the sector in Denmark Increasing uncertainty about maritime safety and environmental changes mean that the global shipping industry faces challenges arising from rapidly changing conditions in the years to come, according to experts at a maritime forum in Copenhagen. “We are at a critical moment in the international shipping area. We need to make collective efforts to resolve the key issues, to ensure healthy competition between shipbuilders, ship owners and export companies, “said Yoo Ki-June, South Korea’s Minister of Oceans and Fisheries. A speech delivered during the Danish Maritime Forum 2015 opened on 8 October as part of the Danish Maritime Days each year. “We need to cooperate to develop new and more environmentally friendly fuels for our ships and adopt smarter ways to optimize port operations,” the minister said. Navigation is considered the backbone of international trade since 90% of all exported products are transported by boat. The International Monetary Fund predicted that the total tonnage of maritime transport will double by 2030. During Danish Maritime Days, hundreds of key international players from the shipping industry gather in Copenhagen to discuss how to unlock the industry’s potential. Boat builders, boat owners, politicians and analysts met to exchange views on challenges and opportunities, including political instability, reduced cargo quotas, overcapacity of container ships and new and low shipping routes Cost across the Arctic. Although the shipping industry is expected to grow in the short term, many shipping professionals are worried about future businesses facing difficult challenges such as political uncertainty and demand for emission reductions.

“We have to ensure an open market and free trade. And as politicians we have to resist the temptation to impose too many regulations on the shipping industry, “said Robert Goodwill, the UK’s Minister of Shipping.

The minister also emphasized the need to establish greater international cooperation and achieve public-private partnerships within the industry.

“Governments should ask their shipping industry: how can we better help them develop the shipping industry and reduce emissions?” Said the minister.

Goodwill described the current low oil price as a “tragic obstacle” to cutting emissions, making it urgent to create public-private partnerships around the world to address the challenges.

“Governments can hinder or help, but no country can shape the system alone. The business of navigation as the backbone of world trade is driven by market power and it is essential that we protect it from all forms of protectionism by ensuring effective and transparent international regulations, “he said.

It is also important for the shipping industry to share knowledge, experts said.

According to Claus Hemmingsen, Managing Director of Maersk Drilling and President of the Danish Association of Boat Owners, it is necessary to share more knowledge, even in a shipping business with fierce competition.

“There are many common interests in the shipping business. We have to share more and start thinking more about navigation on planet Earth more as a collective, “he said.

“There is a gap between regulators and the shipping industry. We have to improve this, “he added.