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SHIPPING has a serious efficiency problem.

There is the obvious uncertainty and chaos within the International Maritime Organization-led decarbonisation plans.

But this is not just a carbon efficiency problem — the current direction of geopolitical drivers generally are making shipping and global trade, significantly less efficient.

US President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s latest tit-for-tat trade showdown is just the latest in a long list of frictional forces making seaborne trade more costly, more complicated and less efficient.

Sanctions-led divisions had already left around 20% of the tanker fleet operating as a shadow fleet and trade lanes determined by geopolitical affiliations rather than supply and demand. But that fragmentation is only going to increase as the market rushes to reshuffle in line with the national affiliations of US and Chinese ownership.

We’re in the messy process of a new world order being built, and it’s not being built for efficiency.

Joining Richard on the podcast this week are:

• Johannah Christensen, chief executive, Global Maritime Forum

• Lara Naqushbandi, co-founder and chief executive, ET Fuels

• Jan Dieleman, president, Cargill Ocean Transportation

• Bernice Lee, distinguished fellow and senior adviser at Chatham House, the Royal Institute of International Affairs

• Alexander Saverys, chief executive, CMB.Tech 

• Lynn Loo, chief executive, Global Centre for Maritime Decarbonisation (GCMD)