Continuously navigating the complexities of global trade

Shipping is truly at the heart of global trade, crucial and fundamental to the world’s supply chains. With economic development and population trends comes volume growth and with rising geo-political tensions and extreme weather events comes ever-increasing complexity. Last year alone, seaborne trade volumes grew 300mt to reach 12.6bn tonnes, over 1.5 tonnes for every person on the planet. But changes in trading patterns meant cargo distances increased by 6% to 6.2 trillion tonne miles, the highest growth rate for over 10 years.

Shipping is at the “front line” of global events and of underlying global macro change. Red Sea re-routing dramatically moved our markets in 2024, adding distance, disruption and shipping demand in many key segments. The impacts of sanctions continued to alter oil and gas trade flows, with Russian oil heading further east and European imports of both oil and gas pivoting towards longer-haul suppliers. Drought-induced disruption at the Panama Canal has normalised for the moment, but the global economic cycle, new trade tariffs and wider geo-political developments and tensions will again impact in 2025. Shipping must manage this disruption, retaining its vital resilience to protect global supply chains.

Clarksons is uniquely positioned to help support and guide our clients through these growing complexities. We facilitate and enable trade every second of every day. Our scale, our global presence, our cross-market coverage, our deep expertise and our data and intelligence-led understanding of market dynamics allow us to help manage risk and opportunity for our clients. We are the trusted partner for our industry as complexity builds in our markets. 

The shipping industry produces circa 2% of all global emissions, and while a start on decarbonisation has been made, it is only the beginning of what will be a transition over many decades. Despite more varied government support for emissions regulation as geo-political priorities have evolved, a complex global and regional regulatory framework is being built out and impacting investment behaviour. Fleet renewal, including of alternative-fuelled vessels that made up 50% of new orders in 2024, alongside retrofitting of Energy Saving Technologies (‘ESTs’) and slow speeding are strategies being deployed by shipping companies and cargo owners. This green transition is central to Clarksons’ strategy and we have invested to be able to lead positive change, building out our intelligence offering and also our capacity to provide clients with advisory and execution including across key newbuilding and fleet renewal investments.

Offshore wind will play a vital role in the energy transition, building out from its 0.4% contribution to global energy supply today. A dedicated offshore wind fleet is being developed for this expansion, supporting the development and maintenance of offshore wind farms as this sector becomes increasingly international and moves further from shore. Our investments around data with Renewables Intelligence Network, the growth of our consultancy and offshore renewables shipbroking teams, our expertise in finance and our leading port services team are all helping empower the accelerated development of offshore renewables.

Nearly 40% of all seaborne trade today involves energy transportation, crucial to the global supply chains that ensure energy security. With the leading chartering teams globally, Clarksons enables this energy trade every day, supporting the global movement of both oil and expanding gas volumes. And we are also investing to support the development of the fuels of the future. Alternative fuels such as ammonia and methanol will require transportation in increasing volumes, requiring newbuilding investment, while transportation needs for CO2 will also expand, requiring a new generation of tankers.

Rapidly evolving technology is introducing huge opportunities across all aspects of the economy and of society. And for shipping, there is the potential to utilise technology to radically improve efficiency, to manage regulatory compliance, to improve transparency and to reduce emissions.

But with the opportunities from new technology, such as AI, there are also risks. The need to provide trusted data and intelligence is more vital than ever. And while a range of new technology entrants are also looking to exploit technology opportunities within shipping, industry participants also look to partners with established critical mass, domain knowledge and industry understanding. Shipping must use innovative technology to digitalise its workflows but needs trusted partners that understand, not just technology, but also the complex needs of our industry.

Technology is central to Clarksons’ strategy. We invest in technology and data across every single one of our business lines. Our Broking business is a long-term investor in technology, and is today executing a digital transformation strategy, digitalising workflows and providing the tools for trade that differentiate us from the competitive landscape. Our Research division continues to utilise innovative technology to generate and deliver its proprietary data and intelligence. And our dedicated technology unit has built a market-leading intelligent freight platform, connecting charterers, brokers and owners to support streamlined workflows and deliver the digitalisation of freight and fixtures. Our platform enables greater collaboration and stronger governance across the chartering ecosystem, while also allowing users to optimise their freight and emissions.

Managing risk has always been critical across the maritime ecosystem. Now, driven by growing geo-political tensions, this risk is enhanced by an increasingly complex and fast-moving sanctions and compliance regime, impacting all aspects of the shipping industry like never before.

Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, our industry has faced huge disruption, from immediate operational stress to fundamental changes in trade patterns surrounding the export of oil, natural gas and grain from the region. Sanctions have rapidly evolved, now impacting over 10% of the global tanker fleet. And with building geo-political uncertainty, the landscape will remain dynamic and fast-moving in the years ahead. We support our clients in managing this disruption through our deep understanding, global scale and our integrity in doing business.

Our investments in legal and compliance expertise are truly industry leading. We have built out a team of experts across legal, compliance and KYC that leverages our global scale and understanding. And combined with the use of our data and technology, we have developed robust and real-time systems that help us manage and facilitate trade for our clients in the rapidly changing geo-political world we now live in.

Protecting integrity for Clarksons means much more than just compliance. It is about ensuring the maritime industry as a community keeps pace with change and continually professionalises people and process. We lend our support to the wider shipping community by helping to upskill the next generation of talent entering the industry. We run programmes such as summer internships which aim to improve the transition between academic learning environments and a commercial business role. Our active involvement in a range of initiatives and associations ensures we continue to protect the integrity of Clarksons, and indeed the shipping industry at large.