The ICS Barometer 2025/2026 Survey

The International Chamber of Shipping’s annual ICS Maritime Barometer 2025/2026 survey is currently live.

​IMO Secretary-General sets his priorities for 2026 in new year message

International Maritime Organization (IMO) Secretary-General Arsenio Dominguez has emphasized key items on the IMO's upcoming agenda. In a video message, Secretary-General Dominguez said: 

The Fault Line in Global Shipping — How an Industry on Autopilot Must Rechart Its Future

By Iakovos (Jack) Archontakis

Senior Maritime Strategy Consultant - Chartering Executive & TMC Shipping  Commercial Director

As the maritime calendar resets to 2026, the shipping world is poised at a tectonic inflection point — a moment that will be remembered as the year the industry cleaved into distinct competitive universes.

2026 opens with a reminder that "seaborne trade" is not just demand and fleet numbers

2026 opens with a reminder that "seaborne trade" is not just demand and fleet numbers. It is politics, enforcement and the simple ability of a ship to load and sail.

New Maritime and Coastguard Agency Non-Executive Directors appointed

The Secretary of State for Transport, the Rt Hon Heidi Alexander MP, has appointed three new Non-Executive Directors to join the Board of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA), effective 1 January 2026.

Soundings After the Shock: When Geopolitics Enters the Shipping Lane

By Iakovos (Jack) Archontakis

Senior Maritime Strategy Consultant - Chartering Executive & TMC Shipping Commercial Director

In shipping, the first warning of change is rarely a headline. It is a subtle shift in freight curves, a tightening of war-risk premiums, a quiet clause added to a charter party.