Mark Williams, CEO of Maritime London, shared his thoughts on Posidonia 2026 with our newspaper.
Could we get your thoughts on Posidonia 2026?
This is going to be the biggest Posidonia ever. Maritime London is fully engaged in our own event, the 9th edition of the Greek-Shipping Shipping Forum, and our secretariat and Chairman, as well as members, will host and attend a number of other events promoting the co-operation between the UK and Greece, two countries which have enjoyed centuries of maritime bilateral relations.
İlginizi çekebilir:
Posidonia 2026 is opening its doors
What trends do you expect to dominate shipping discussions after Posidonia 2026?
Perhaps the most discussed themes will be Decarbonisation and Digitisation. Shipping, via the IMO, is still committed to achieving net zero CO2 emissions as soon as possible after 2050. There can be no decarbonisation without measurement of emissions, which relies on digital data signals being sent live to operators, owners, charterers and regulators. The rise of Artificial Intelligence (AI), digital twins, voyage optimisation and other technological innovations will be live issues at this year’s Posidonia.
Do you believe alternative fuels like methanol and ammonia will scale fast enough to meet IMO targets?
There are technical and commercial challenges for both ammonia and methanol. To be renewable, they must be made using renewable energy, so in the first instance governments must support the construction of surplus renewable energy to power the chemical processes used to make bio and synthetic fuels. Secondly, the global infrastructure of manufacture, storage, distribution and consumption of these fuels must be built out. Thirdly, regulatory and risk management processes must be developed to ensure these fuels are handled safely all along the value chain. Fourthly, there is a growing shortage of trained seafarers, particularly engineers, who must train to use these fuels. To meet the IMO deadlines, investment must increase at both the governmental and commercial scale.
How important will nuclear-powered commercial shipping become in the future?
We will be discussing the commercial ramifications of adoption of nuclear power at our own Posidonia event. Without prejudicing that discussion, we can say that modern small modular reactors offer some technological comfort for regulators, insurers and operators. However, there is much work to be done yet on how to change to the capital stack, operational profile, freight market, port estate and nuclear waste handling for such vessels.
İlginizi çekebilir:
“This a difficult time to be taking long-term investment decisions”
How quickly do you expect AI and digitalisation to transform ship management and operations?
AI evolution is accelerating, as is the digitalisation of record-keeping, financial transactions and testing, inspection and compliance. The transformation is already under way. Even if AI is not directly used on board ships, its use by cargo interests, investors, lenders and insurers ensures that it will rapidly become more relevant. You may not be interested in AI, but AI is interested in you.
Do you think autonomous shipping will become commercially viable in the next 10 years?
There are already partially autonomous ships in operation and their use in short-sea trades perhaps points to the future for this technology. The challenge is to automate the touch points of ships in harbour, as is already happening in some container terminals. Widespread adoption may not happen within the next ten years, but perhaps AI will accelerate this technical potential, while a cultural shift among owners and operators may be driven by a shortage of seafarers.
