Marine Money is the event which opens the New Year highlighting the key issues for the sector, and its 16th annual London Ship Finance Forum was no exception.
At a full house in London’s JW Marriott Grosvenor House over 300 delegates including 55 moderators and speakers from 20-plus nations created the right atmosphere for this high calibre event.
A very well constructed program covering almost all current aspects of shipping kept the interest throughout the striking debates and into the reception co-hosted like every year – actually over the last five – by IRI/the Marshall Islands Registry.
Mia Jensen and Kevin Oates, this unique marine Money duo together with their colleagues made the event memorable. I haven’t seen before James R. Lawrence, chairman of Marine Money International, so pleased with the outcome –we had been discussing with James in Malta last October this event against the background of global happenings!
A brief and to the point opening / welcome was given by Abhishek Pandey (pictured above), managing director and global head of transportation finance at Standard Chartered, partner of Marine Money for the event.
Thereafter came on stage the eloquent and more than well informed Madhur Jha (pictured above), the global economist and head of thematic research at Standard Chartered who gave one of the best speeches of the decade on: the Global Outlook for 2025 and its Reverberations. She presented her theses more than superbly; excellemous!
Interesting session the one on The New Trump Era in Shipping and it remains to be seen what will be the upshot of Donald Trump’s presidency given that in three days since he took office Planet Ocean might have been turned upside down; watch this space…
Adam Kent from MCI and his excellent slides briefing received grand applause from the delegates. Indeed the dilemma stands: Full Steam ahead or Course Correction? Which direction next for the Shipping markets. I am sure you can all understand this crisis market momentum with the BDI crashing… Hope the Year of the Snake alters the scene… Did I hear you say: goodbye to the Dragon?
The Role of Quality Data in Shipping Finance and Investment moderated by Nick Chubb 9se picture above with the entire panel) was highly interesting with a great panel which included our good friend Michael Parker, chairman, global shipping & logistics at Citi, and Dana Rodriguez, program manager, LR Maritime Decarbonisation Hub at Lloyd’s Register. Useful contributions by Christian Treu and Gay Gavshon.
After an extended coffee break we listened carefully in the session Strategies for Growth and Sustainability (see picture above) moderated by Abhishek Pandey… Food for thought although I am worried over what lies ahead not only for leading companies but for ALL businesses!Then came an interesting speech by Steve Saxon, a partner at McKinsey, a bit debatable in my judgment hence the question which you can hear live here, thanks to our intern Marilina Ntaountaki:
Where is the growth in Shipping coming from? A deeper analysis of the outlook for China and India trade flows was his purpose.
The next panel on Bank Finance and Basel IV: what is going to change? was moderated by Jonathan Ward replacing Dora Mace-Kokota and left us with an enigma whether the “traditional banks can remain competitive…”. Very interesting panelists’ views with Nicholas M. Petrakakos on a great day! See picture below.
Lunch break was as usual a great networking event. Good to see many familiar faces and meet new ones. Good also to chat with a few representatives from the twelve small stands promoting their products and services…
Three more panels and a well rendered speech from Ivan Stovanovic, lead consultant from Lloyd’s Register on FuelEU: the ultimate business model disruptor.
The other three panels were on:
“Main Stream banks and the continued appetite for the bigger deals”; “Alternative finance offers flexibility, speed of execution and broader credit criteria”; and “Retrofits, new fuels, reducing emissions: what have we achieved and what is the next big play?”
Given the GSCC (Greek Shipping Co-operation Committee) annual Vassilopitta event at the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries in Chancery Lane, missed the last two panels and hope to listen to both when the podcasts are made available by the organisers. Missed the Reception too but Marilina attended so all well!
I remain optimistic but also cautious given the unprecedented things taking place now and in particular the ongoing wars in Ukraine and the Middle East with more mess to surface as well as I wonder how Donald Trump will “handle” the global situation…
The Media was in full force and no wonder given the importance of this Forum.
Look forward to next year’s as well as to the forthcoming Indian one.
We are sailing in stormy waters, not just uncharted as the case was in the past.
