The promotional film for the World Maritime Merchants Forum 2026 made its London debut on 16 September during Xinde Marine Forum London 2026, introducing the upcoming Hong Kong gathering to an international audience drawn from shipping, ports, finance, insurance, law, technology and maritime professional services.

Yiming (Frank) He , Chairman of the World Maritime Merchants Forum, presented the development of the forum and outlined the programme for its 2026 edition, extending a clear invitation to the global maritime community: come to Hong Kong this November.

Scheduled for 15–18 November 2026, the World Maritime Merchants Forum will once again be held in Hong Kong as a major flagship event of Hong Kong Maritime Week. Under the theme “Navigating Change, Connecting the Chain, Building the Future”, the forum will focus on how the maritime industry can strengthen resilience, maintain connectivity across global supply chains, deepen cross-sector collaboration and accelerate the transition toward greener and more digital shipping.

The 2026 programme will place particular emphasis on maritime security and geopolitical risk, supply-chain resilience, decarbonisation and energy transition, as well as artificial intelligence and digital transformation. According to the current programme, the four-day event will begin with a welcome event on 15 November, followed by the Hong Kong Maritime Week opening ceremony and the WMMF Main Forum on 16 November, with thematic forums continuing on 17 and 18 November at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre.

From London to Hong Kong: A Global Maritime Invitation

London remains one of the world’s most important maritime professional-services centres, bringing together shipping capital, marine insurance, maritime law, shipbroking, classification, data, consulting and technology within one highly concentrated ecosystem. Presenting WMMF 2026 in London therefore carried a significance beyond promotion alone: it directly connected a Hong Kong-based global shipping forum with one of the industry’s most influential international maritime clusters.

Earlier in the day, Frank He joined the opening panel of Xinde Marine Forum London 2026, “Maritime Value Chain Resilience and Collaboration,” alongside representatives from the Baltic Exchange, Grimaldi Group, A.P. Moller-Maersk, AXSMarine and Wah Kwong Maritime Transport Holdings.

During the discussion, He argued that the language of global shipping has changed significantly. The industry once concentrated heavily on lean supply chains and efficiency, but geopolitical risk, sanctions, trade-policy shifts and repeated disruptions have pushed resilience, strategic redundancy and the cost of transport uncertainty much higher up the agenda. Marine insurance has also become more visible as risk increasingly spreads across shipowners, cargo interests, insurers and ultimately consumers.

He also stressed the need for more platforms where Asian and Western maritime stakeholders can engage directly with one another. In his view, the World Maritime Merchants Forum should be more than an annual conference. Its role is to create a continuing platform linking shipping, finance, insurance, law, trade and other parts of the maritime value chain around practical industry challenges. Hong Kong’s position as a bridge between mainland China and international markets gives it a distinctive role in facilitating that dialogue.

Later in the forum, during a dedicated WMMF 2026 promotion session, He again introduced the Hong Kong event to the international audience. He said this year’s programme will bring together senior government and industry representatives for discussions covering trade, finance, energy transition, insurance and emerging market risks, while inviting international participants to take part in the conversation in Hong Kong.

Global Shipping to Gather Again in Hong Kong

The World Maritime Merchants Forum was inaugurated in 2021 and has now been held successfully in Hong Kong for five consecutive editions. The forum attracts more than 1,500 participants each year, bringing together government authorities, international maritime organisations, major shipping companies and representatives from ports, logistics, trade, finance, insurance and technology.

Its institutional structure reflects that broad international positioning. The forum is hosted by China Merchants Group, the Transport and Logistics Bureau of the Hong Kong SAR Government, BIMCO, the International Chamber of Shipping and the Hong Kong Shipowners Association, with China Merchants Energy Shipping and World Maritime Merchants Forum Limited among the organisers. International organisations including the International Group of P&I Clubs, the International Union of Marine Insurance, INTERTANKO and INTERCARGO are also involved.

This structure gives WMMF a scope extending well beyond a conventional shipowners’ conference. Its discussions cover the entire maritime value chain: cargo owners, shipowners, ports, logistics providers, banks, insurers, lawyers, brokers, technology providers, regulators and international organisations. That breadth matters because many of shipping’s most difficult problems can no longer be solved by one part of the industry alone. Fuel transition depends on energy producers, ports, regulators and capital providers. Supply-chain resilience depends on operators, cargo interests, infrastructure and governments. Digitalisation requires common standards, trusted data and coordination across companies that still compete intensely with one another.

Hong Kong sits at the centre of this model. It combines an established base in shipping, finance, insurance, law and professional services with close access to China’s enormous trading, shipbuilding, port and shipping industries. At the same time, it remains one of Asia’s most international commercial centres. WMMF therefore aims to strengthen Hong Kong’s role as both a “Super Connector” and a “Super Value-Adder”, linking Chinese and Asian maritime capabilities more directly with global markets, international capital and the evolving rule-making architecture of shipping.

A High-Level 2026 Programme

The preliminary programme indicates that WMMF 2026 will again operate at a high level. The opening ceremony is expected to feature senior government and industry figures including Hong Kong SAR Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu, Vice Chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference Leung Chun-ying, Hong Kong Secretary for Transport and Logistics Mable Chan, and China Merchants Group Chairman Miao Jianmin, while some invited speakers remain subject to confirmation.

The thematic programme will extend across some of the industry’s most pressing structural questions. Representatives associated with BIMCO, CMA CGM, DNV, the International Chamber of Shipping, the Baltic Exchange, Lloyd’s List Intelligence, HSBC, the international marine insurance community and INTERTANKO are included in the current agenda, with discussions spanning changing trade flows, maritime asset financing, geopolitical risk, supply-chain security, decarbonisation, marine insurance, artificial intelligence and digital transformation.

One roundtable will examine how green transition, digital intelligence and finance can together support supply-chain stability, including trade finance, maritime asset allocation, data security and carbon markets. Another will focus on risk identification and supply-chain resilience under geopolitical and market volatility, including the security of major shipping routes, war-risk exposure, marine insurance, oil and gas supply chains and the divergence of energy policies.

“Linking the World, Anchoring the Future”

The theme of WMMF 2026 reflects the operating reality now facing the global maritime industry.

Shipping is navigating a market in which geopolitical conflict, sanctions, tariffs, maritime security, energy transition, digitalisation and artificial intelligence are all affecting commercial and investment decisions at the same time. Shipowners are no longer asking only where freight rates will be next year. They are also asking which fuels will remain viable over the next decade, how future ships should be designed, how much optionality should be built into new assets, how supply chains should be made more resilient, how new risks should be priced and where capital should be deployed.

That is the context behind the 2026 WMMF agenda. The forum is designed to bring these questions together rather than treat them as separate debates.

The London promotion itself reflected that objective. From London’s dense maritime professional-services ecosystem to Hong Kong’s role as a bridge between China and global shipping, the event illustrated how the industry increasingly depends on cross-border, cross-sector communication.

Following Xinde Marine Forum London 2026, the next major conversation will continue in Hong Kong two months later.

15–18 November 2026, Hong Kong.

The World Maritime Merchants Forum 2026 will once again bring together the global maritime community to discuss how shipping can remain connected, resilient, investable and sustainable in a period of profound change.