Speaker A
2025 is coming to an end and it's time to reflect on the year that passed and look at what's ahead.
Insights on ocean shipping trends in 2026, focusing on volatility, network connectivity, sustainability, and supply chain strategies by Maersk experts.
Key Takeaways
- Volatility and geopolitical instability will continue to shape ocean shipping in 2026.
- Integration of ocean and landside networks is crucial for efficient logistics.
- Sustainability and green fuel adoption are essential long-term planning factors.
- Dual sourcing and flexible network design help shippers manage supply chain risks.
- Physical constraints limit the industry's ability to quickly adjust capacity to demand spikes.
Summary
- 2026 ocean shipping will be defined by volatility and geopolitical instability impacting liner shipping and supply chains.
- Connecting ocean liner networks with landside networks, including terminals and gateways, is a key trend to watch.
- Sustainability and green fuels are critical considerations due to long-term ship investment decisions.
- Geopolitical issues like trade wars and regional conflicts create noise, but underlying trends include cyclical oversupply and growing Asia-Africa trade importance.
- 2026 is expected to be highly volatile, with shifting trade flows and nearshoring affecting network decisions.
- Shippers are adopting dual sourcing strategies (e.g., China plus one) to increase flexibility and respond quickly to changes.
- Maersk’s network design allows fast adjustments by upgrading the first leg of transport to accommodate shifts in sourcing origins.
- Capacity flexibility is limited by physical constraints; reallocating vessels takes weeks, making rapid market response challenging.
- The industry cannot instantly adjust supply to match fast-changing demand, but close customer partnerships can improve speed and flexibility.
- Offering both reliability and flexibility simultaneously is difficult but not necessarily a strict trade-off.
Full Transcript — Download SRT & Markdown
Speaker A
Other than of course trying to figure out who wins the World Cup in football next year, what's on everyone's mind will be what's next for Ocean Logistics.
Speaker A
In the studio with me today, I have two great minds to discuss this theme and to unfold their views.
Speaker A
Lars Jensen, Chief Executive Officer of consultancy firm Vespucci Maritime, and Johan Sigsgaard, Chief Product Officer at Maersk of the Ocean business.
Speaker A
Welcome both.
Speaker B
Thank you.
Speaker C
Thank you.
Speaker A
We'll talk Red Sea disruptions, we'll talk new ocean networks, technologic landmarks among other things, but we'll kick it off with you could say a view of which trends we think will be the most interesting to look at to understand 2026.
Speaker C
I think I can mention a couple that's coming to mind.
Speaker C
The first one, maybe the most obvious, is this theme of volatility or geopolitical instability that has for sure been a big trend in the last five years and when we look forward, it's a trend that I I consider will stay with us and and continue to define liner shipping in in the years to come.
Speaker C
Many of our customers coming here, it will be one of the first questions they they ask about, it could sound like a Red Sea question, it could sound like what do you think about the next tariff implications and so on.
Speaker C
But this this concept of volatility and how to design solutions and supply chains for this is a is a key theme. I think a second theme in in my mind is how we are connecting the liner networks or the ocean networks with the landside network.
Speaker C
This could of course be in the in the terminals, so in the hubs and in the gateways where we have seen quite a things moving in the last couple of years and I think I think this could be something to watch in the coming years as well.
Speaker C
And then the last trend I wanted to mention is the sustainability and the need to think about green fuels. It's a it's an area surrounded by a lot of uncertainty these days.
Speaker C
The difficult thing is that when we make a ship decision, it's a 30-year decision.
Speaker C
So we cannot not think about that now.
Speaker C
It's sort of ingrained in in in our whole planning for the for the future and certainly something that we are we are seeing as a key trend in the coming years.
Speaker B
I would look at a couple of other trends I think are important, but I would also want to differentiate between what I would tend to call signal and noise.
Speaker B
The noise to some degree is also the volatility, I agree, we're going to have volatility, but it's linked to the dumpster fire of geopolitical issues that we are seeing.
Speaker B
It's the US trade war, it's increasing geopolitical strife, all these other issues.
Speaker B
And that's going to create a lot of the volatility, but underneath that, I see a more long-term trend, or rather trends plural.
Speaker B
One is we are heading into a usual cyclical oversupply cycle, that's what we have seen before, that's one of the signals.
Speaker B
The other signal is we are going to see the wider Asia-Africa region increasingly play a role in global trade, driven not only by economics, but also by demographics.
Speaker B
That's going to change it, and because of those trends, basically see the rest half of this decade, it's a positioning game between all the different supply chain providers out there.
Speaker B
In terms of we are entering this new realm where Asia-Africa means a lot more, that's going to change the competitive landscape.
Speaker A
So 2026 is sort of the odd one out, it's the it's a different animal, but from 2027 and onwards, there are some similarities in the in the structural issues.
Speaker B
Exactly, you can say, if it hadn't been for all the geopolitical turmoil and the trade wars, 2026 would be the ramp up on this one, but 2026, the way I see it, will have nothing to do with the overall trend, it's all going to be noise and volatility.
Speaker A
So you have all these shifting trade flows that we're seeing, obviously, when you are looking at the Maersk product, some of the trends that people have been talking about also to counter some of these geopolitical issues, nearshoring and whatnot.
Speaker A
All of this, how does that come into account when you make decisions about our network or about how how how we the product Maersk offers?
Speaker C
I think there's a there's a couple of ways this comes into play.
Speaker C
If we start one place, some customers call this dual sourcing or China plus one or the power of two.
Speaker C
In essence, it means that that many shippers are looking at a sourcing strategy which have more optionality and and abilities to respond than than they've had so far.
Speaker C
And this means that they're looking for, you know, how do I connect multiple origins into the same destination in a simple way?
Speaker C
It could also be destination flexibility.
Speaker C
And what what is interesting with this, of course, they need to combine the flows as it comes in.
Speaker C
But more interesting from a network perspective is that they're looking for abilities to shift between the origins at pretty fast pace.
Speaker C
So from our perspective, let's say that there's a shift between China and Thailand, this could happen sort of in a couple of weeks.
Speaker C
Now suddenly the sourcing shift there and and we look to how do we basically create more space from from Thailand as an example.
Speaker C
And from a network perspective, we actually have found in in our solution that because of our, you know, hub connectivity, in many cases we can look at just updating, upgrading the first leg into the same hub and then from there on it goes on the same same liner.
Speaker C
And and that that makes it faster for us to change than if it was the full network we would have to change as a consequence.
Speaker B
Maybe to build on your first example.
Speaker B
What I let's take a practical example, let's take the Trans-Pacific back late May, early June, when we suddenly had a pause in the China tariffs.
Speaker B
Freight rates went through the roof.
Speaker B
Very briefly and then came back down.
Speaker B
That's where I think it's important also to look at this capacity flexibility, now I'm not just talking Gemini, I'm talking the whole market here.
Speaker B
Comes in two different forms.
Speaker B
One is the instant one where, yes, you can then reallocate capacity where it's then needed, but if it's a sudden surge in the market, reallocation doesn't really change the overall capacity in the market.
Speaker B
What I've found interesting to see in that very brief spike was, despite this being a China-specific issue, the place where rates first went up was out of Northeast Asia, out of Japan and Korea.
Speaker B
Which tallies pretty well with that's where all the carriers stub over in Busan and the easiest thing would of course be, fine, going to reduce allocation from Northeast Asia, take on more.
Speaker B
But the physical phasing in of more capacity took two to three weeks before the vessels were there, which is also why when I said 2026 is going to be phenomenally volatile.
Speaker B
Precisely because it takes time to physically change the allocation.
Speaker B
I can certainly say, see.
Speaker B
If you're reallocating between hubs, that works fine, but when the overall market changes.
Speaker B
The industry simply cannot react as fast as demand is changing these days.
Speaker C
No, I think I think the I agree to what you're saying.
Speaker C
That the the industry, it's not like we can say as an industry, we just move supply up and down with with the volatility.
Speaker C
It's way too much and too fast for the industry to do this.
Speaker C
I still think there's a difference between the model and we're looking at how we create speed.
Speaker C
And we will not be able to create speed for the whole market, we'll be able to create speed for the customers we work closest with.
Speaker C
And so I think there's an element of choice here also coming in.
Speaker C
Because you can't be everything to everyone.
Speaker A
We know that customers want both reliability and flexibility, but in a world where geopolitical tension and and shocks happen more often.
Speaker A
Maybe that's not always possible.
Speaker A
Do you think it's achievable to to offer both?
Speaker C
Actually, I think it's an interesting thing because it's not a clear trade-off between the two in my head.
Speaker C
I think what what many customers will see a trade-off is between the inventory they carry to basically have availability where they needed and the cost of holding that that inventory.
Speaker C
And that's where flexibility comes in because you sometimes that demand changes and you want to be ready to to to take on that demand.
Speaker C
If you if we were to provide very flexible solutions, but they were completely unreliable, then what would be the value of that?
Speaker C
So I think the the networks part of it is whatever flexibility you provide, you need to do it with the reliability associated.
Speaker B
I think there are a couple of angles to to look at if you take the reliability angle first.
Speaker B
I can certainly understand, I mean, I've spoken to a lot also of shippers out there where for them reliability is a multi-dimensional beast, so to speak.
Speaker B
It's not just whether the ships arrive on time, it's also was the cargo loaded, was the cargo discharged in the original port they thought.
Speaker B
Did you actually have equipment available, what did the feed, all these different things.
Speaker B
And speaking as an analyst in the market, the data simply doesn't exist in measuring it.
Speaker B
That's why many of the measures are focused on do the ships arrive on time.
Speaker B
That's one part of it.
Speaker B
The second part is, whilst I can certainly empathize with shippers saying, of course, our cargo should arrive on time.
Speaker B
I also have to lean back and say, look at the decade prior to the pandemic.
Speaker B
The norm in the industry was reliability between 70 and 80%, and that's on the ships.
Speaker B
So on the containers, it would be lower.
Speaker B
Sure.
Speaker B
Some trade lanes were better, some trade lanes were worse off.
Speaker B
This has never been an industry where just in time was anything more than a buzzword.
Speaker B
What I do find interesting though, is when I look at the measurements, especially here, over the last six months.
Speaker B
I see a much wider difference between the performances delivered by the carriers out there.
Speaker B
And here I'm not only comparing to the last five years, the last five years have been really oddball.
Speaker B
But if I look at the most stable period we had recently, 2017 to 2019, there was actually very little difference in reliability performance across the market.
Speaker B
That has suddenly widened, which to me shows that there is at least an attempt in the market to try to do something different.
Speaker C
I just wanted to comment on on your point there on on that it's the cargo that really matters.
Speaker C
Which which is I can only agree to.
Speaker C
And I I also don't see any widespread industry definition and measure on this.
Speaker C
What we do see is customers are all looking at this slightly different.
Speaker C
Right, so some are measuring into a into a warehouse and they have a tolerance of three hours, others think as long as it's on the you know, on the ground in one week, then that's I'm fine.
Speaker C
So it's it's customer specific how this works.
Speaker A
So we're going to we're going to change gears a little bit here and talk about of course one of the themes that's been really big in 2025, which is the use of technology to improve obviously many different sectors.
Speaker A
Lars, I want to ask you because technology is often positioned sort of as the answer to everything, right?
Speaker A
Are there anything that makes it more difficult to to solve with technology?
Speaker B
From a technological perspective, we could have a market today where everything for every single carrier in the world was completely automated on the sales and documentation process.
Speaker B
But it isn't, because there's a lot of other structural barriers and also ingrained business practices that don't necessarily make it feasible to do that rapidly.
Speaker B
I see an industry that will increasingly embrace more technology, also AI-based tools, but not an industry that's just going to be automated.
Speaker B
Because this is also an industry where there's a whole range of exceptions.
Speaker B
Now, we usually see exceptions as something bad when the ship doesn't arrive or the container breaks, but exceptions are also when customers need something special that's not part of the mold.
Speaker B
When they want to move cargo into locations where the infrastructure is not quite ready for it.
Speaker B
All of these things still require manual handling.
Speaker C
I think an area where where we are potentially going to see it faster is actually less impact in the customers directly, but more sort of in our engine room.
Speaker C
And when it comes to network both the execution and cargo execution and design.
Speaker C
What other industries have also shown is that supporting technology with the simplest example of digital twin technologies.
Speaker C
That can allow you to simulate and basically deal with more complexity than is humanly possible.
Speaker C
Has allowed us to make some of the changes we are seeing today and basically drive it supported by better tech.
Speaker C
Not not run by tech, but supported by much better tech visibility and tools to simulate impacts.
Speaker B
Yeah, if I was to point at one technology, I think is the one that we are going to see, that would be the adoption of electronic bills of lading.
Speaker B
Moving away from the paper-based ones we still have.
Speaker B
Where you can probably remember it better than I can, the ambition from the carriers in the Digital Container Shipping Association is the vast majority to have gone digital by either 2029 or 2030.
Speaker B
I think that's going to be one of the more visible ones.
Speaker A
Just before we talked about achieving, you know, flexibility and reliability in your in your cargo service.
Speaker A
To do that, you need to know where your cargo is.
Speaker A
You need to have end-to-end visibility.
Speaker A
Speaking of tech development and and sort of the new things we see in this area.
Speaker A
They're pretty important to achieve this visibility, right?
Speaker C
If we start with the basic of of visibility, we as good as always know where a ship is.
Speaker C
We also as good as always know where a container is when it's in our it's in our hands.
Speaker C
Where technology can help is what to do with that information because quite often it's not enough to know, okay, where is it today?
Speaker C
It's understanding how this could unfold in in coming time, so I talked before about simulation capabilities.
Speaker C
Basically, technology layers that can present data in different ways to make it relevant to the customer and basically answer the question not where is it now, but what's going to happen.
Speaker C
Where will it be two weeks down the line and what are likely things that could that could influence that outcome in a way so we can start taking taking action on it.
Speaker B
I don't believe for a second that any carrier, neither Maersk nor any other carrier, don't in their operational department have a pretty good idea what the ETA is going to be.
Speaker B
But somehow that doesn't always translate down to the visibility provided to customers.
Speaker B
And and to me that would be one of the low-hanging fruits.
Speaker C
So we've actually worked in in a in a pilot the last two years to basically give transparency to that to that ETA you're talking about on on the container.
Speaker C
And I think what gets a bit more complicated on this is how many changes the customers are interested in and how basically to consume that data.
Speaker C
I think this ability to get the relevant data and it's not just one point.
Speaker C
It could be a number of options that or scenarios or probabilities that you want to want to portray.
Speaker C
That that is that is consumable and available to the end customer, I think we are we are heading in that direction.
Speaker C
And and I think it will look different in a couple of years, I'm I'm pretty sure.
Speaker A
So this of course all leans into one of the big themes this year.
Speaker A
For Maersk at least, which has been reliability and the launch of the Gemini cooperation.
Speaker A
Why do you think, Johan, the reliability is such an important thing for customers today?
Speaker C
Well, that's right, I think for the customers, it's certainly not a new thing to ask for cargo to arrive as much as possible on time.
Speaker C
Because it allows them to take out cost and inventory without a sacrifice of of of their product availability.
Speaker C
So I think the interest for the customer is the same as if you have bought something online.
Speaker C
You would like to know when it arrives and and make sure you can you can depend on that.
Speaker C
Because that's that's the most efficient way for for for customers clearly.
Speaker C
I think why has it not been achieved before, I I think which is also what we said when we launched Gemini.
Speaker C
I think the traditional way of of ocean networks have not allowed that to be done in a cost-effective way.
Speaker C
Lars, you spoke earlier about the cost of resilience and who's going to pick up the bill.
Speaker C
I think as long as it was a you know, a trade-off between cost and reliability, cost would have a pretty favorable hand in in in that.
Speaker C
So basically what we knew we had to do for us to get a different reliability outcome was to do it in a way which was also cost-effective.
Speaker C
But I think we have shown that we can actually do it a bit different than how it's been done in the many many previous years.
Speaker B
It's also not necessarily an either or.
Speaker B
What I find particularly interesting, let's pick on the two extreme opposites in the new network design, we have the Gemini network, which is very much centered around relatively few large hubs and then shuttles, and then we have the MSC network that's centered a lot more around at least trying to get as many direct point-point.
Speaker B
I mean, let's be clear, they're also transshipping, but of course, they are a lot more direct.
Speaker B
When it comes to reliability, those two are the most reliable ones out there as it also is right now.
Speaker B
MSC's direct not reaching up to where Gemini is.
Speaker B
But that's one of the interesting things to also see out there.
Speaker B
They offer different opportunities and drawbacks.
Speaker B
Depending on how we put painted up.
Speaker B
And I think the jury is going to be out for quite a while in terms of which product works best.
Speaker B
And you could then say, well, let's see how this plays out over the next year, it's not that easy.
Speaker B
Because next year we are likely to see a reopening of the Suez routing, which means every single network is going to be in flux during 2026.
Speaker B
So it's only really when we get out to 2027 that we're going to see these networks tie up.
Speaker B
And if I was to place my bets in any direction, I would more come from the perspective that one thing that has always always mattered in this industry is cost.
Speaker B
And when I look at it from a network dynamics perspective, having networks that have relatively few but large hubs, in general, leads to networks that also have lower cost.
Speaker C
I want to build on on what you said because I think it's it is important in my view to think of it like multiple strategies could work.
Speaker C
It's not like there's only one model.
Speaker C
And actually I think, you know, I think we could be looking at a future where multiple models exist much more than it's been in the past.
Speaker C
Where, let's be honest, it's been almost the same networks we've had in the different between the different carriers.
Speaker C
Because back to that customers don't need the same and the same customers don't need the same for all their supply chains.
Speaker C
There could be different needs for different different cargo.
Speaker A
So maybe a question to both of you as we are sort of we've entered this new cycle of of alliances and and network focus.
Speaker A
What has surprised you the most?
Speaker C
If I start with the customers, there's no doubt that we came to the customers.
Speaker C
Well, what was it now, a bit more than a year ago, a year and a half ago.
Speaker C
And and told them that we wanted to try something different and you can think about swimming a bit against the direction that everybody else was was swimming in.
Speaker C
So the conversation there we had is that nobody disputed the value of the outcome we were trying to to create.
Speaker C
But of course, you know, when you go different than everybody else, questions about, can we actually make it work and what about risks and and and so on and so forth?
Speaker C
From a from a customer perspective, after we went live, it actually surprised me that it went relatively fast.
Speaker C
Particularly, of course, the lanes that were operating most smooth from from day one, how customers saying, okay, I actually see a remarkable difference.
Speaker C
This was already in May, some customers came and and and and said this.
Speaker C
So so actually the shift in from concern and risk into this this works and and you know, I I can see it.
Speaker C
It was actually relatively fast for for many customers.
Speaker C
I think on the on the internal side in the engine room, granted there were a couple of areas where, you know, the port systems have to had to settle in in a new construct.
Speaker C
And we also had to do a few tricks, which was not unexpected in a in a in a system change like this.
Speaker C
If I take one of our large hubs like Tanjung Pelepas in in Malaysia.
Speaker C
I've actually been positively surprised by the level of productivity that we could get to from this.
Speaker C
So we knew there was waste associated with being late.
Speaker C
But what we can see is that impact sort of as crane productivity or birth productivity.
Speaker C
Dwell time is another hugely important measure for sort of how much we can get through the terminals.
Speaker C
We actually saw some of that come up better than than than we initially.
Speaker C
And I think it's it had to do with that that invisible waste that sits in a system.
Speaker C
So that that has been an internal surprise on the operating in the engine room.
Speaker B
I thought it was interesting to watch specifically on the Pacific.
Speaker B
Back when the trade war was first full on and demand on the Pacific plummeted.
Speaker B
Where I saw a Gemini network that I think for the first time in network operations I've seen where there was not blank sailings.
Speaker B
There was the phasing in of smaller ships.
Speaker B
I might I might possibly question whether that can always be done.
Speaker B
That's operationally not always possible.
Speaker B
But it was interesting to see that play out in real life.
Speaker C
No, I I'm glad you bring it up because it was a bit of a test to us, I mean, think about Gemini's first 10 months, it's not been without testing, this was one of them, and I know that in traditional network design, we would not have been able to do this.
Speaker C
We would have to discharge through five ports and phase in and, you know, before you know it, time over, right?
Speaker C
And and and you wouldn't so so the reason why we could do this was because of the fewer stops we had on this.
Speaker C
And therefore the the phase in phase out plans, it was possible for us to do this.
Speaker C
And clearly highlighted by many customers as a as a great way to deal with that difficult situation for them already as opposed to to the bankings.
Speaker A
Now, of course, 2025 was another year where carriers were sailing south of Africa because of the situation in the Red Sea.
Speaker A
In the news recently, there's been a lot of discussion about when carriers are about to return to the Red Sea.
Speaker A
And so, Johan, we all want to know, of course.
Speaker A
What what considerations will guide carriers in this evaluation when you're evaluating resuming transits?
Speaker A
What what's guiding you?
Speaker C
All right, so the first consideration in in in this decision is what we have said all along when we launched Gemini.
Speaker C
That in a in a world where it's possible, the best economic route to sail through is via Suez.
Speaker C
It's the shortest distance, lowest cost and and best lead time for the for the customers.
Speaker C
So so that's the first consideration.
Speaker C
We still believe that.
Speaker C
The second consideration is the safety of our crew and whether we assess that it's it's safe for us to go through without putting them at at risk.
Speaker C
And this of course is is a is a key consideration for us.
Speaker C
The difficulty in in that assessment is that you need to assess it over, you know, that it stays like that.
Speaker C
And it's not just now and so the the situation cannot be too fragile because then you could have a big risk of having to change that decision again.
Speaker C
Which would be a big problem for many of our customers.
Speaker C
And then the last consideration is you can you can make this happen better if you think about the the the implications for the terminals on the on the landside.
Speaker C
So if you change the whole thing in one go and everybody does that, it's very unlikely that the terminals can cope with it.
Speaker C
Because it would be massive disruption on their side.
Speaker C
So considerations like, can it be staged, can you hit a timing when there's not so much activity in the ports?
Speaker C
So basically it can it can phase in, these are the the last considerations we're looking at.
Speaker B
Yeah, I would tend to look at it from a perspective, sometimes it's it's helpful to bring up.
Speaker B
I was about to say ancient history, but only two-year-old history.
Speaker B
Because we've now more or less in the industry got accustomed to, we go around and we're all yearning, let's go back.
Speaker B
But it's we almost come up on the two-year anniversary of what really triggered the container lines to start to go around.
Speaker B
That was on December 14th.
Speaker B
We had attacks on three container vessels by the Houthis on the same day.
Speaker B
And I think that's a pretty good illustration of why all the carriers are very very cautious in when is the right time to go back.
Speaker B
Because this yo-yo back and forth is not good for anyone out there.
Speaker B
And I don't envy the carriers that have to then decide.
Speaker B
When do we think the future is safe enough?
Speaker A
Well, and the reality will hit obviously once this resuming through the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait happens.
Speaker A
On top of all these challenges and the volatility the volatility that we're going to see next year.
Speaker A
What other trends and and shifts are are we expected to see?
Speaker B
One of the trends that we are already beginning to see is precisely because of this volatility in the market.
Speaker B
There is also a shift in some of the contractual relationships between carriers and shippers out there.
Speaker B
And and to me a shift that probably ought to have happened years or decades ago.
Speaker B
But a realization that it is de facto impossible to predict these swings in rates.
Speaker B
And therefore there is a need to try to disassociate the need for a physical stable supply chain.
Speaker B
And the need for a stable financial performance in the supply chain.
Speaker B
And one of the ways goes through index-linked contracts, they are not new.
Speaker B
But they are definitely gaining in prominence here over the last year.
Speaker B
Depending a little bit on sources, we look at out there, it seems between 8 and 10% of contracts or contract volumes are now moving on index-linked contracts.
Speaker B
What I particularly find interesting to see begin to unfold from the beginning of next year.
Speaker B
Is the introduction of financial derivative products, which again, from my perspective, is exactly how the supply chain should be done.
Speaker B
Because you have a supply chain manager in any ship out there, whose first and foremost task is making sure that cargo physically arrives at the right location at the right time.
Speaker B
And then you have a financial department with that shipper who will look at what's the financial risk exposure we want to have.
Speaker B
I mean, these guys are happily using financial derivatives to manage their interest rate risks or currency risks or energy risks.
Speaker B
Why not also the the freight rate risks?
Speaker C
I recognize that because I think before the 2020.
Speaker C
The volatility we saw was so small that we could get through with this without any big any impact.
Speaker C
But for five years straight right now, we have been trying to predict the freight rate markets.
Speaker C
And you know, then reality has hit and we have seen very volatile.
Speaker C
Very volatile industry.
Speaker C
I think the the way to solve this is exactly to decouple the need to fix capacity with the need to fix the rates in a new way.
Speaker C
Because none of us can live with just absorbing that volatility saying, I'm just going to take it on.
Speaker C
And and it's my risk, the hedge would be way too high.
Speaker C
So we need new instruments to to navigate this.
Speaker C
So we don't end up in in in impacting how the cargo flows as as a consequence.
Speaker C
And I recognize the trend that index-linked contracts is certainly something we are seeing more more of these days.
Speaker C
And it's it's a it's a way to start on this.
Speaker C
And then we see if the derivatives they follow.
Speaker C
I think it's interesting, so we'll have to see.
Speaker A
Lars, we'll keeping an eye on India, Johan.
Speaker A
Where are you looking to for sort of optimism these years?
Speaker C
Where I take the most from is from the conversation we have with our customers on where we are today.
Speaker C
And how much more value we can still unlock together if we lean into if we lean into the partnerships and and and the innovation.
Speaker C
So we meet yearly with our top 25 strategic customers and and discuss, you know, how things are going and and where we could be heading.
Speaker C
And I it's not easy things that have to change, but when we still look at the limitations of the value we unlock.
Speaker C
By how supply chains are designed today, I think actually some of the things we have been talking about of of reliability and agility or flexibility.
Speaker C
It comes up over and over again.
Speaker C
Because this is basically what allows customers to take a strategic position in a market and allow them to grow in a cost-efficient efficient way.
Speaker C
So that's one, I think the second area that always comes up also is the area of visibility.
Speaker C
And how you basically use data and insights to drive smarter decisions.
Speaker C
Again, with the aim to basically remove waste or or or release value from from supply chains.
Speaker C
So I think I think that's where I keep my where I get my optimism from.
Speaker C
And and there's sure a lot of opportunities out there.
Speaker A
Thank you, Lars, and thank you, Johan.
Speaker A
Thank you both for for coming today and discussing this important theme of ocean logistics 2026.
Speaker A
Thank you all for listening.
Topics:ocean shipping2026 trendsMaerskgeopolitical volatilitysupply chaindual sourcinggreen fuelsnetwork connectivitycapacity flexibilityAsia-Africa trade
