The human side of operational efficiency in shipping

January 14, 2026

Operational efficiency is one of the most immediate and scalable levers available to improve fuel savings, resilience, and decarbonisation in the maritime sector.

However, most companies are still only capturing a fraction of the available value due to challenges around leadership, culture, and incentives.

A new report from the Global Maritime Forum examines these barriers and identifies three key enablers to unlock operational efficiency at scale throughout the sector:

READ IT HERE

The publication is based on the outcomes of an interactive operational efficiency workshop hosted by the Global Maritime Forum in Copenhagen in November 2025. Through facilitated discussions and a custom voyage simulation game, workshop participants explored why value chain actors often act defensively, protect local incentives, and delay decisions even when system-wide efficiency gains are available. When incentives were reframed around a shared outcome, behaviours shifted notably.

Read how in the report, ‘The human side of operational efficiency in shipping‘.