Shipping will have no choice but to boost self-regulation as well as choosing the right ‘safe haven’ partners if it is to deal with the huge pressures the fast-changing political, trade and regulatory landscapes will inflict on the industry, according to Mark O’Neil, President and CEO of the Columbia Group.

There are many spheres of influence that will result from the breakdown of the international rule-based order, and shipping needs to ask how it will fit in from a regulatory standpoint, he warned.

“The industry will have to deal with a number of competing spheres of influence and a number of competing regional regulations which will leave it with no option but to work with truly trusted, scalable partners, that small and medium-sized operators can turn to for certainty in an otherwise very uncertain world.

“We’re seeing UN institutions that have been in existence for 60 or 70 years certainly weakening and, to an extent, coming apart at the seams. We now have, alongside the UN, a so-called ‘board of peace’. The IMO was perhaps viewed as being slapped down in relation to the net zero framework. So many of these institutions that have formed part of our international rules-based order are being challenged,” he said.

Shipping is agile and is very good at self-regulation but we must continue to do it in this rapidly changing world, “for our crews and for the environment, for all the right reasons — regardless of which global regulations ultimately prevail.”

He added: “In these competing spheres of influence, in this very uncertain regulatory framework, we will self-regulate on safety. We will look after our own. We will look after our seafarers and the seafarers of our clients. And we will ensure that we comply with environmental and moral standards onboard our ships, whatever the universal standard might be.

“Know your contractual counterparts really, really well. Because in that competing world, you wouldn’t want to have to enforce a contract against a partner you didn’t really know — in an area of the world that might simply say, ‘Come here and try your luck.

“So it’s really about this partnership approach, make sure you know your partners, trust your partners, and ensure they are truly blue-chip with the right moral fortitude. So that when things go wrong — and things do go wrong in shipping — you know those partners will stand by you,” he stressed.