LeaderA new wave

摘要

Shipping is currently navigating its way through a major depression and while lower oil prices have given operators a temporary reprieve, I am yet to hear an analyst forecast a market upswing for the sector as a whole. Speakers at the Dubai Maritime City conference in early November unanimously declared that present market conditions are the 'new normal'. They insisted that shipping needs to innovate to keep pace with the rest of the world. The global downturn has focused attention on improving efficiency, thus opening the door for new ways of doing things. As with most conferences of late, a question put to the panel was: What is the next big thing... the 'Uber' of shipping? And is so often the case, there was a lot of posturing about ongoing investment in new technology without anyone willing or able to offer a definitive answer.