Wan Min Identifies Four Shifts Reshaping Global Shipping

Xinde Marine News

COSCO SHIPPING Chairman Wan Min identified four changes reshaping the shipping industry at the maritime main forum of the 2026 North Bund International Shipping Forum in Shanghai on 20 October: risk becoming a routine operating condition, competition extending across the entire supply chain, resilience taking greater priority, and the combined advance of greener operations, digitalisation and intelligent technologies.

His assessment provided a framework for a discussion spanning shipping, shipbuilding, ports, finance and international governance. Organised by COSCO SHIPPING and Shanghai International Port Group, the forum brought together more than 500 participants and featured 12 keynote speakers. Their presentations explored how companies can sustain reliable services while investing in fleet renewal, alternative fuels and new technology under uncertain operating conditions.

The connections between these subjects were evident throughout the discussion. A carrier’s alternative route depends on ports and inland connections. A shipowner’s fuel decision depends on shipyards, energy suppliers and financiers. The value of artificial intelligence depends on business processes and the people using it. Across these activities, maritime security and predictable international rules influence the conditions under which long-term commitments can be made.

Reliability Requires Coordination Across the Transport Chain

Wan outlined four priorities: strengthening resilience through cooperation across the supply chain, developing global networks and transport corridors, advancing green and intelligent technologies, and improving rules and governance. Together, these priorities extend the scope of a shipping company’s business decisions into ports, inland transport, warehousing, technology and the institutional environment supporting international trade.

Drawing on COSCO SHIPPING’s operations, he described how combinations of mainline shipping, bonded landbridge services and feeder distribution can help maintain cargo flows when important maritime passages are disrupted. For cargo owners, the practical value of a network becomes particularly clear when the original route is unavailable. Alternative capacity must be accessible, sea and land services must connect, and information and documentation must follow the revised movement of goods.

Ong Kim Pong, group CEO of PSA International, approached the same challenge from the port sector. He identified geopolitics, artificial intelligence, labour and the environment as four major sources of change, and described PSA’s move “from nodes to networks”, connecting terminals, marine services, inland logistics and digital trade platforms. According to Ong, the related collaboration already spans more than 20 nodes and involves 13 major shipping companies.

This approach changes how individual assets contribute to service reliability. Fast terminal handling must connect with vessel arrivals, onward port calls and inland transport. Sufficient capacity on a shipping service must be matched by the ability of other parts of the network to receive and move the cargo. Backup routes and operational flexibility also carry costs, requiring companies to weigh everyday efficiency against their ability to fulfil commitments during disruption.

Strong Earnings Support Investment, but Supply Still Matters

Stephen Gordon, managing director and global head of Clarksons Research, set out the market conditions supporting the current investment cycle. Shipping has been generating exceptionally strong cash flows, and a substantial share of those earnings is being committed to new vessels. The global orderbook has matched its 2008 peak in absolute terms, although it represents around 22% of the existing fleet, compared with approximately 52% in 2008. As deliveries accelerate, annual fleet growth could reach 5–6%, he said.

The figures show both the capacity to invest and the supply challenge ahead. Trade growth, longer transport distances and the replacement of ageing ships support demand for new tonnage. However, the conditions prevailing when a vessel is ordered can differ considerably from those prevailing when it enters service. Route normalisation, improved port productivity and the pace of older vessel removals will all influence how the market absorbs the deliveries now being prepared.

Semiramis Paliou, director and CEO of Diana Shipping, offered a shipowner’s perspective on this balance. Pointing to around 600 dry bulk newbuildings due for delivery this year, she stressed investment discipline. Congestion and slower sailing can absorb capacity temporarily, while geopolitical disruption can increase voyage distances. If those conditions ease, existing ships can complete more transport work, releasing effective capacity alongside the arrival of new vessels.

Paliou also highlighted changes in cargo demand associated with wind power, electricity networks and minerals used in batteries. These developments require owners to examine specific commodities, trade routes and customer requirements when assessing future opportunities. Bing Chen, chairman, president and CEO of Seaspan, described a different means of managing investment exposure: committing capital against long-term contracts. He said Seaspan avoids speculative newbuilding investment and, following delivery of its newbuildings, would have capacity exceeding 2.6 million TEU, with average charter terms above 12 years and aggregate contracted charter hire exceeding US$36 billion.

Chen also described how the resources of shareholders and joint venture partners across shipbuilding, vessel operations, retrofits and equipment support Seaspan’s customer offering. Taken together, the presentations connected market analysis with the commercial arrangements supporting individual investments. Long-lived vessels require decisions about financing, maintenance, upgrades and operating responsibilities well before the market conditions of their later years are known.

Decarbonisation Must Work Technically and Commercially

The speakers shared an interest in decarbonisation, while placing different emphasis on how companies should proceed. CMB.TECH’s Jan De Beurme argued that long-term capital, green fuel technologies and the economic conditions for investment are increasingly coming together. His emphasis was on turning these elements into action. Major industrial transitions, he suggested, require leaders to make considered decisions before every uncertainty has been resolved.

Paliou emphasised measures that can improve the performance of ships already trading. Operational optimisation, digital voyage planning and better management can reduce fuel consumption and emissions while owners retain flexibility over future fuel choices. These approaches reflect different fleet profiles, contract structures and financial circumstances. A company developing new fuel capability and an owner improving the efficiency of existing tonnage may face different immediate investment priorities.

Wang Guoqiang, general manager of China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC), described work on multiple fuel technologies and vessel designs, together with the parallel development of newbuilding and retrofit services. He called for shipping companies, energy suppliers and ports to participate in the development of green fuel supply chains, with demonstration projects built around specific routes. CSSC is also expanding services covering the vessel lifecycle, including support for operation and subsequent upgrades.

Chen’s account of Seaspan’s combination of conventional-fuel, methanol and LNG vessels, supported by retrofit capabilities, showed how a tonnage provider can help customers manage technological change over the duration of a charter relationship. The ability to adapt an asset matters when customer requirements and emissions obligations can evolve during its working life.

Shore infrastructure remains a major constraint. Gordon put the share of ports with relevant alternative-fuel bunkering capability at around 5%, illustrating the distance still to travel between investment in vessel technology and the development of supporting energy networks. Owners need confidence in fuel availability; producers need sustained purchasing commitments; and ports need sufficient prospective demand to support storage and bunkering facilities. Long-term charters, fuel procurement agreements and route-specific cooperation can help connect these interdependent investments.

AI Depends on Processes, Data and People

Mathieu Friedberg, executive vice president of CMA CGM, placed business processes at the centre of his discussion of innovation. Companies should establish sound processes before automating them, he argued, because automation can otherwise accelerate existing errors. CMA CGM’s approach includes process standardisation, a consistent data foundation and the use of a digital twin of its shipping network to assess the effects of events such as route closures and port congestion.

This connects technology spending to decisions that shipping companies must make every day. A disruption at one location can affect vessel schedules, terminal operations and cargo movements across a wider network. Digital models can help teams identify affected shipments, examine alternative routes and assess where resources should be deployed. Their usefulness depends on whether the information is reliable and the resulting plans can be executed.

Wan discussed COSCO SHIPPING’s work on AI-native technology architecture, intelligent vessels and digital global supply chains. Wang described autonomous navigation, shore-based operations and maintenance, and coordination between intelligent ships, ports and waterways. These developments increase the need for systems to exchange usable data across organisational boundaries. The performance of one application can depend on the quality of information and decisions elsewhere in the transport chain.

Friedberg also linked innovation with cybersecurity and workforce preparation, including plans to provide AI-related training for more than 90,000 employees. As equipment and business systems become more connected, access controls, security and governance become part of operational reliability. Employees also need the skills to interpret and use the tools in the circumstances they encounter at work.

Finance, Insurance and Legal Services Shape Long-Term Operations

Fleet renewal, fuel infrastructure and digital systems all require capital, making the terms of finance and the allocation of risk central to industry cooperation. Ren Deqi, chairman of Bank of Communications, described a lifecycle approach to shipping finance, including green financing, transition loans and services covering vessel design, construction and delivery. Green shipping financing accounted for more than half of BOCOM Leasing’s shipping leasing business over the past three years, he said.

Ren also discussed digital services linking cross-border settlement, trade finance, foreign exchange risk management and electronic bills of lading. These activities connect financing with the continuing movement of cargo and commercial information. For a long-term shipping project, debt maturity, currency and repayment terms need to fit the asset’s use and contractual income. Investment involving new technology also requires an understanding of how the proposed expenditure will translate into operating performance.

Chen gave an example of these connections in practice. A recently delivered 13,000 TEU containership had used renminbi for construction payments, financing, charter hire settlement and insurance premiums, he said. He also discussed plans to introduce Shanghai arbitration clauses into relevant agreements and to expand renminbi bond financing.

Such arrangements bring shipbuilding, capital, insurance and dispute resolution into the same commercial project. They also illustrate how the provision of tonnage involves continuing services and obligations after delivery. A vessel’s availability to a customer depends on financing arrangements, risk protection and contractual mechanisms that remain workable throughout the relationship.

Predictable Global Rules Support Investment Decisions

John Denholm, chairman of the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS), focused on the international framework underpinning shipping’s operations. Safety, environmental protection and technological progress depend on common conventions and regulatory arrangements. On decarbonisation, he reiterated support for net-zero emissions by around 2050, while emphasising the fuel production, technical requirements and economic measures needed to support that objective.

Denholm expressed concern that a failure to reach agreement globally could lead to further fragmentation through regional regulation. For ships operating across borders, different requirements can affect fuel selection, technology choices and long-term costs. Owners committing capital need to consider where an asset can trade, which obligations will apply and how those obligations may change during its life.

Johannah Christensen, CEO of the Global Maritime Forum, approached cooperation through the importance of trust and constructive dialogue. As geopolitical conflict and trade friction increase, platforms where participants with different interests can continue working together become more valuable. Green shipping corridors offer a practical setting for that work by connecting maritime transport demand with energy production and supply.

Christensen also discussed China’s role in green methanol and green ammonia production and in coordinating participants. Wan and Wang described their companies’ involvement in the development of international standards. These contributions place shipbuilding, transport, energy and technical expertise within the same discussion about implementation. For global arrangements to operate consistently, the capabilities and transition costs of participants across different regions and company sizes also need to be addressed.

Resilience Has a Human Cost

David Loosley, secretary general and CEO of BIMCO, brought the discussion back to the people sustaining international trade. His presentation, “Consistently Supplying the World – When Resilience Comes at a Cost”, examined the additional sailing distances, expenditure and exposure to danger that can lie behind the continued delivery of goods.

“Seafarers are civilians,” he emphasised. They perform essential work supporting global trade and should be protected from becoming targets of conflict or instruments of geopolitical pressure. Freedom of navigation, seafarer safety and respect for international maritime law are foundations of the industry’s ability to operate. Maintaining those conditions requires action by governments, international organisations and the industry itself.

Paliou also identified people as a major concern, pointing to the retirement of experienced officers, difficulties attracting younger entrants and the additional skills required for new fuels and intelligent systems. She called for more young people, particularly women, to enter maritime careers, alongside cooperation between governments, maritime academies, classification societies and shipowners to improve training.

These concerns connect directly with investment in vessels and technology. New systems require competent users, and new fuels require appropriate operating knowledge. A transport network can be redesigned around disruption, but its continued operation still depends on the availability, safety and professional development of the people working within it.

Cooperation Must Progress into Operating Projects

Initiatives announced during the forum offered practical directions for further cooperation. COSCO SHIPPING, the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore, the Singapore Maritime Institute and the American Bureau of Shipping jointly launched an initiative to establish an international research centre for future maritime energy. Its purpose is to strengthen research cooperation supporting the sector’s energy transition.

COSCO SHIPPING Lines, Hainan Harbor & Shipping Holding, COSCO SHIPPING Ports, the Hainan Maritime Safety Administration and AD Ports Group also signed a cooperation initiative to develop a green shipping corridor between Yangpu and Abu Dhabi. The initiative covers clean marine fuel supply and bunkering, green vessel operations, port development and technological innovation.

The next test for these projects will be how research, fuel availability, port readiness and commercial commitments develop together. Research needs routes into practical application. Fuel production requires sustained demand. Ships and ports need compatible operating arrangements. These are the connections through which cooperation can develop into services that customers can use.

Across the 12 presentations, the same dependencies appeared in different forms: investment discipline alongside fleet growth, technical flexibility alongside decarbonisation, alternative routes alongside reliable delivery, and common rules alongside global operations. Fleet capacity and vessel performance remain essential. Increasingly, a company’s ability to deliver on its commitments also depends on how effectively it connects those assets with networks, energy, finance, regulation and skilled people.