Did anything happen at MEPC last week?

LAST week, delegates once again met in London for the International maritime Organization’s marine environment protection committee. The two editions in 2025, MEPC 83 in April and the extraordinary session in October, generated some of the biggest stories in shipping. To the surprise of many, the net zero framework agreed in April’s meeting was not adopted in October, thanks to stiff opposition from the US and several oil-producing states. Instead, a one-year postponement was agreed, and shipping’s green deal was left perhaps not dead, but certainly not healthy either. So back we are again, this time at MEPC84, and what has changed? Lloyd’s List senior reporter Declan Bush, who covers decarbonization for Lloyd’s List and attended every day of MEPC84, sat down to explain what happened last week and whether it gets shipping any closer to a decision on a net zero framework or not. Learn more about Lloyd’s List Intelligence here: https://www.lloydslistintelligence.com/.

DECARBONISATION, changing trade lanes and concerns of seafarer shortages – there is no shortage of reasons for why shipping executives might be losing sleep. But add to that the Strait of Hormuz crisis and the job of running a shipping company has become even more difficult. Our outlook forums are usually a chance to hear from experts from within the shipping industry on what they think are the most important challenges the sector is likely to face over the next few years. But before we get to the crisis in the strait and the fallout from it, Richard started by asking all of our guests a now-familiar question: what keeps you up at night? Joining Richard on this week’s podcast are: Nick Brown, chief executive, Lloyd’s Register Joe Kramek, chief executive, World Shipping Council Adam Kent, managing director, MSI Gaby Bornheim, president, German Shipowners’ Association Captain Raja Subramaniam, chief executive, Fleet Management Martina Bozadzhieva, managing director macro forecasting, Oxford Economics

This episode is brought to you by Wirana Shipping DOES shipping get a good deal when it comes to ship finance? Is Europe still remotely important anymore as a finance hub? Or has the centre of gravity moved eastwards? And how on earth do you make decisions about multidecade financing with so much uncertainty around decarbonisation regulation? That’s just a taste of the questions we tackle this week, as we try to answer as many as possible surrounding ship finance in 30 minutes. Joining senior reporter Joshua Minchin, and law and insurance editor David Osler on this week’s episode are: Guillaume Branco, managing director – asset-based finance, Eurazeo Nitin Mathur, managing director – commercial shipping, Al Seer Marine Tien Tai, partner, HFW

JAN-ERIK Räsänen has been on a personal journey that has led him to some new understandings about how to power both future and existing ships towards decarbonisation, he tells listeners to this podcast. He is chief technology officer of the Finnish ship design and engineering company Foreship, which has been part of the consulting engineering inspection and certification group RINA since June 2025. Foreship’s specialism is the passengership sector, but his views are applicable to all ship types and to both newbuildings and existing ships. Alongside all the alternative fuels now being developed, such as biofuels, e-fuels and even nuclear power, he ranks batteries as a significant technology to help fulfil global and regional decarbonisation goals. It is a view that he attributes to a conversion experience, thanks to a chance meeting in 2011 with the CTO of a battery company during a ship inspection in Vancouver. At the time, he was sceptical that batteries were viable for ships. “My immediate thoughts were that this guy must be crazy,” he recalls. But that meeting was soon followed by a contract to explore whether two ferries could operate solely on batteries, which led to the largest battery retrofits ever done on ferries at that time. With installed battery capacity across the global fleet now standing at about 1,900 MWh, he concedes that “my first impressions of batteries on board ships were completely wrong” and says in this podcast that he now has a mantra: “electrify what can be electrified”. He provides details in the podcast of a number of battery-related passengership “firsts” with which Foreship has since been involved, including the largest battery conversion on a cruiseship and a ferry conversion that features both NMC (nickel, manganese, cobalt) and LFP (lithium-iron phosphate) batteries on board. Installations such as these allow the generating engines to run at their optimal output, increasing efficiency compared with non-battery power plants, he says. He acknowledges that a variety of solutions will be needed for all ship types and sizes to meet the emissions — and therefore efficiency — goals implied by the IMO and other regulations and ambitions, so he maintains what he calls an open-minded approach to technology choices. For example, as well as his enthusiasm for batteries, he says in the podcast how alternative fuels can help align reality and requirements, but only if they are green fuels, such as bio-methanol, e-methanol or e-diesel. He is less keen on ammonia, especially for passengerships, because of safety concerns. He also discusses LNG — which is a significant fuel in the passenger sector — but is concerned about its associated methane slip, especially at low loads, which brings him back to his core message: “the easiest way to reduce the methane slip from an engine is to install batteries” so that they can operate at their optimum load.

How do you actually transit through the Strait of Hormuz at the moment? Are masters worried when they are making the trip? Is it organised or chaotic? Chief executive of the Indian Shipowners’ Association Anil Devli revealed what he has heard from masters that have made the trip at our India Outlook held in Mumbai last week. Chaired by Lloyd’s List’s senior reporter Matthew Rajendra, the panel discussed the procedure involved in making the trip, the plight of seafarers trapped in the Middle East Gulf and the wider impact that the crisis might have on Indian trade and maritime strategy in the longer term. Joining Matthew on this week’s episode are: Anil Devli, chief executive, Indian Shipowners’ Association P. K Mishra, managing director, Indian Register of Shipping Kiran Prasad Susarla, national head, YES Bank

Discussion about decarbonisation have moved from technical departments within shipping companies into their commercial and financial teams, the president and chief operating officer of Veson Nautical, Sean Riley, says in this Lloyd’s List podcast. While there is uncertainty around the IMO’s Net-Zero Framework, regional requirements — especially those being implemented by the EU — provide a certainty that cannot be ignored. The continuously evolving and expanding nature of regulations in shipping means that decarbonisation is now “both a commercial and operational reality”, he says. Speaking in early March, Riley reflected on the first year of the EU’s decarbonisation scheme, the FuelEU Maritime Regulation, which ended on January 31. By the end of March, shipping companies will have heard from their verifier about the compliance status of each of their ships based on that first year’s data and those results might lead to “some interesting decision-making challenges or dilemmas”, he says. In the podcast, Riley explains why he views FuelEU in particular as an especially impactful regulation to ship operations. He says its “choice driven” options have both positive and negative implications for shipowners and operators, while adding a level of complexity that must be addressed by companies’ systems and processes. He anticipates that the outcome will see companies shift their focus away from strict compliance towards optimising the financial benefits of compliance, creating a trading strategy based around FuelEU-related decision-making. However, Riley also emphasises that it’s ultimately not about optimising for any one regulation in particular, but rather proactively building decarbonisation into daily decisions in a way that leaves room for inevitable change. He explains in the podcast why this commercial response to a change in the regulatory landscape is different from previous environment-inspired changes, such as the sulphur limits imposed on fuel. He contrasts how the impact of low-sulphur fuel was mainly restricted to operating costs, while decarbonisation requirements today are reaching further, across fixing, operating and trading strategies. The flexibility around how to comply provides the industry choice but has also resulted in a lack of clarity about setting commercial priorities and knowing exactly what conditions to optimise for. Instead, these will vary depending on a ship’s location, so “you’ve got to invest in systems and processes that can absorb change easily”, he says. Riley considers whether some industry sectors are responding differently from others and refers to the potential of AI to resolve some of the uncertainties companies face. “There will certainly be more regulations,” he says, and emphasises: “for our clients, pretending that this is not a commercial reality is no longer an option”.

This episode of the Lloyd’s List Podcast is brought to you by Veson. Find out more at www.veson.com/decarb-guide THE accusations of piracy and unlawful interference with freedom of navigation have been coming thick and fast for a while now, but tactics that generate accusations of piracy one day can’t simply be rebranded as “law enforcement” or “counter-narcoterrorism” the next. The fact that governments are currently accusing each other of undermining the basic principle of freedom of navigation is arguably good news. This cornerstone of international law, guaranteeing ships of all nations can sail, trade, and operate freely on the high seas and through international straits, as enshrined in UNCLOS, is under threat. But if governments are still pointing fingers, then there is, at least, a legal principle still in play to defend. The immediate geopolitical and security threats to maritime trade are self-evident right now from the Strait of Hormuz to the Baltic, to the South China Sea. But the long-term consequences of eroding the rights of innocent passage carry a potentially bigger risk to the global economy. Have these consequences been properly thought through by those that threaten to upend the principle of freedom of navigation? Joining Richard on the podcast are: Nick Childs, senior fellow for naval forces and maritime security, The International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) Kristina Siig, professor of maritime law and law of the Sea, University of Southern Denmark Charlie Brown, senior analyst, United Against Nuclear Iran Robert Beckman, emeritus professor, ocean law and policy programme, National University of Singapore Ian Ralby, founder, IR Consilium

SHORTLY before IMO’s 21st Intersessional Working Group on Reduction of GHG Emissions from Ships and its 84th Marine Environment Protection Committee meeting, two leading environmental researchers warn that those meetings’ expected focus on biofuels will not solve shipping’s carbon emissions problems. As Comer explains, decisions on which fuels will qualify under any IMO climate policy are being developed now, along with their corresponding lifecycle assessment guidelines. Any mistake in drafting those guidelines will take decades to fix, he predicts but, as they stand, they do not account for the emissions that correspond to the ‘indirect land use change’ emissions linked to biofuel production, he says. Menezes underlines in the podcast the importance of considering the social and economic sustainability aspects of biofuels and explains why she believes that, if IMO ignores these impacts of biofuels, “we risk a transition that might look green on paper, but creates significant negative impacts on health, pollution and local economies”. Both speakers explain that biofuel might appear attractive to regulators because of its cost, but they say that, if shipping adopts biofuel, global demand for it will triple by 2035, leading to significant impacts on other food prices and availability and to environmental damage caused as more land is turned over to its production. In their podcast, they also raise a range of other concerns; for example, making biofuels from waste products might perversely encourage fraud and the creation of more waste, Menezes says. She is also concerned about biomethane, which poses the same climate risks as its conventional counterpart as a result of methane slip — which is 80 times more potent than CO2. To produce biofuels in a sustainable way requires “really strong protections”, Comer says, for example to prevent fraud during its production and to protect human rights, water quality and other environmental aspects. Such models already exist, he says, citing the International Civil Aviation Organization and the FuelEU Maritime regulation. He goes on to say that e-fuels made using green hydrogen are the best zero-carbon fuels, rather than biofuels. And Menezes reminds listeners that net zero fuels are not the only way to reduce shipping’s emissions. The starting point, she says, should be “the prioritisation of speed reduction and wind propulsion. These are some of the most effective tools we have”.

This episode of the Lloyd’s List Podcast is brought to you by Veson. Find out more at www.veson.com/decarb-guide FREEDOM of navigation — the legal principle that states ships from any country have the right to sail freely in international waters — is under attack. It has been for some time. Long before the Strait of Hormuz became the latest global chokepoint to be weaponised a confluence of geopolitical shifts, security threats and an accelerating frequency of legal assaults have been eroding this fundamental principle. And this is not some arcane point of law. This is the legal principle upon which globalised trade is built. Without maritime security, there can be no global security. Without Freedom of navigation there can be no globalised trade. For the first time since the Cold War, maritime trade lanes have become contested zones and the rules-based order that shipping has previously relied on to protect it has started to disintegrate. The once unthinkable, but entirely predictable closure of the Strait of Hormuz, has alerted the world once again to the fragility of global supply chains. But this is no anomaly. From the Red and Black Seas to the Baltic and the Taiwan Strait: shipping’s access to trade lanes is increasingly coming under fire while a political and legal war is being waged in the background to redefine what is and is not acceptable under the law of the sea. Just over a year ago when we first raised this question about the future of freedom of navigation in this podcast, our assembled experts were concerned about what happens next. Maritime security has taken a nosedive since then and trade is increasingly being geopolitically conditioned – so over the next two editions of this podcast, Lloyd’s List will again ask whether the concept of concept of freedom of navigation is under threat… Joining Richard on this week’s podcast are: Sal Mercogliano, founder, What’s Going on With Shipping? Ian Ralby, founder, IR Consilium Caroline Tuckett, associate fellow, Royal United Services Institute

AS the conflict in the Middle East continues, the full effects on global shipping markets are beginning to become clearer. This week’s episode of the Lloyd’s List Podcast once again come to you from our weekly briefing on the Middle East crisis, featuring our journalists and analysts. There’s a focus on the container market and shadow fleet impact, as well as an update on the volume of traffic and operability of ports in the region. Featuring in this week’s episode are: Richard Meade, editor-in-chief, Lloyd’s Lis Bridget Diakun, senior risk and compliance analyst, Lloyd’s List Cichen Shen, APAC editor, Lloyd’s List Neil Dekker, senior analyst, Infospectrum Watch the full briefing here: https://event.on24.com/wcc/r/5273976/D81639300040BBFB6B5988BC9F28135E