There is no doubt, the shipping industry must continue to play its part in the energy transition within the evolution taking place around the world.
At the same time, technology is progressing on an unprecedented scale, faster than the development of the global fleet and workforce, and stakeholders must move at pace to keep up with geopolitical mine fields. We are facing daunting challenges.
From the perspective of the American Club, whose purpose is to identify, evaluate and assess risk in the maritime world, change always brings about new risk to rise up to, so from that angle I could simply say it is business-as-usual, acting as security for the evolving world. However, is this really the answer? To just move without strategy and rely on those of us who absorb the financial fallout? I think not – and I believe the industry has proven that is not how it sees its role in the world. In fact, in a constantly changing world, the maritime industry has always stood as a symbol of resilience, adaptability, and progress.
Let’s take the world of marine insurance. When commercial insurers began to withdraw from the rising liabilities of increasing regulation
and judgments around the world, shipowners banded together and took the risk into their own hands, forming what we now know today as Mutual P&I Clubs. Not only did they create their own insurance and build the foundation for supporting all stakeholders in the global chain of trade, but they created it in such a way that allowed it to adapt and develop to absorb the continuingly changing risk landscape of liabilities. This leads me to the birth of the American Club, a fitting example of a collaborative industry solution to the crisis arising from sanctions! During WWI, from the impact of UK sanctions in 1916, American maritime operators were no longer able to insure with British P&I Clubs. The United States maritime industry found the solution by bringing together American operators, a major marine insurance broker, and the support of the government, to create the first (and to this day only) American P&I Club on February 14, 1917.
The birth of P&I, the American Club and the International Group are perfect examples of an industry, which despite the competitive foundation, have collectively collaborated to create a forward-thinking mechanism which protects the world’s oceans, ports, people, communities, and support global trade - creating a “safety net” for all stakeholders and for innovation and progress. Every transition requires courage to take the first steps, which brings new risk, and comes with mistakes. Without the IG, one of the largest reinsurance platforms in the world, I dare to say any transition would be that much more difficult, that much slower.
So while collaboration in crisis is nothing new, the scale of this today
is simply remarkable. Today there are more think tanks, more joint ventures, more research and development, and more new maritime startups than ever before. We are sharing, investing, partnering and pioneering on matters relating to alternative fuels and sustainable energy sources, ship-building, e-navigation, digitalization, maritime robotics, training, regulatory compliance, marine technology, intercoastal transportation, port operations, automation, remote surveying, cyber-security, satellite communications, ocean exploration, environmental protection, humanitarian initiatives, diversity, legislative lobbying, education, public policy awareness, seafarer safety and mental health to name “just a few”! Today, there are 88 international non-governmental organizations with consultative status to the IMO, providing more input to national governments and the IMO than ever before. Even more impressive is the fact that major operators – competitors - are now joining forces to ensure the industry can meet the targets for this most challenging energy transition. The maritime industry recognizes that it must drive progress from within and it must do it collectively.
We in the maritime industry repeatedly prove we innovate and collaborate to find solutions... and quite often without all the fanfare. Perhaps that is a good thing, or perhaps that is why we are misunderstood sometimes, but one thing is for sure, our minds are not on the spotlight, but squarely on progress. Progress that ensures our future and the sustainability not only of this industry, but that of society across the globe - and we are not afraid or too insecure to do it together.
* Chief Executive Officer at Shipowners Claims Bureau, Inc., Managers of The American P&I Club