The Lloyd’s List Podcast: Emanuele Grimaldi sets out his stall
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‘The world is changing, and shipping must change with it,’ says Emanuele Grimaldi, managing director of the Grimaldi Group, who took over as chair of the International Chamber of Shipping this week. He joins the podcast to discuss his agenda, seafarers, decarbonisation and why he is confident that shipping will remain a force for good on the international stage
THE shipping industry’s acronym soup of representative bodies have been going through a period of reflection of late.
The fragmented nature of their membership and the scale of the generational shift ahead of them have been challenging to say the least, so a changing of the guard at an institution like the International Chamber of Shipping — which, let us not forget, represents 80% of the world merchant fleet — offers an opportunity to reflect.
Emanuele Grimaldi, managing director of the Grimaldi Group, took over from outgoing chair Esben Poulsson this week.
So as the chamber was celebrating its 100th birthday we took the opportunity to catch up with Mr Grimaldi and quiz him on the challenges of representing the shipping industry at this crucial juncture in our history.
Given that Saturday marks 2022’s Day of the Seafarer, when we recognise the contributions of the 1.8m hard-working crew members who sail the global fleet, that is exactly where we started.
As someone who employs crews on more than 100 ships, Mr Grimaldi knows first-hand the value of their work. But he also knows we have an issue. Even as the demand for shipping booms, we are facing a shortage of seafarers to meet it.