The shipping industry must increase its focus on piracy, cybersecurity, and manpower issues

Maritime transport is the backbone of global trade, moving over 80% of goods traded worldwide by volume, according to the UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD) report released on April 15, 2025. For India, maritime transport accounts for around 95% of the country's trade by volume and 70% by value, as per the data shared at the Maritime India Conference and Expo 2025 held in Mumbai in January this year.

The shipping industry and maritime trade are in sharp focus following the uncertainty created by the US-China tariff war and the ongoing geopolitical tensions. We spoke to maritime industry veteran Mr Punit Oza, who has a proven track record in C-Suite roles in commercial shipping with expertise in maritime law, digital transformation, and data analytics, to assess for our readers where the industry is headed. The President of the Institute of Chartered Shipbrokers (ICS), Mr Oza is also the founder and director of Maritime NXT, a Singapore-based consultancy, training, mentoring, and advisory services firm. Besides discussing the much-publicised issues of the US-China tariff war, geopolitical dynamics, and sea piracy, Mr Oza called for a political and industry focus and public-private partnerships to smoothen the global supply chain, improve cybersecurity involving shipping vessels, and enhance talent management and training of the large global maritime workforce.

Has the global shipping industry started feeling the pinch of the tariff wars between the US and China? Many fear ports across the world may soon be hit by a trade war tsunami. What do you think?

Yes, I think there are good and bad things about this from a trade perspective. In the Chinese language, the word representing crisis is spelled as 'weiji'—'wei' means danger and 'ji' means opportunity. So, obviously, there is an opportunity as well as a risk. Regarding the tariff, the biggest risk is, of course, that the US, being the second-largest exporter and the largest importer in the world, will be inaccessible to certain countries due to tariffs or due to having no deal with President Trump. This obviously has huge implications for trade because that trade is the lifeline of some of these industries and some of these shipping carriers and lines as well. So, that has huge implications.

I think we're already seeing the impact of certain countries trying to sign deals with President Trump, and that, I think, will continue. Whether we are going to see a tsunami of a trade war coming and hitting ports, I don't think so because the world, and the US itself, is aware that trades will continue in some form or another. What is happening is that rerouting of trade flows is happening. We are already seeing Vietnam, for example, experiencing a higher degree of imports from China. Last month, there was a 20% month-on-month growth. That is because a lot of goods are now being rerouted via Vietnam into China. At the same time, China is also looking to start diverting some of the goods that it could have otherwise sold in the US into Asia, Europe, and India. That is where all these countries are becoming aware that anti-dumping discussions are happening. There are implications across the board. Trade finds a level, like water, and there is a new normal that will come in for certain countries; their dependence on the US is either increasing or decreasing. The idea is how the US and China have now agreed on a 90-day lowering of tariffs, and the US and UK have signed a deal. This signals the fact that deals are possible, and eventually, I believe that Trump is a dealmaker, and he will try and look at that as well.

Which is a bigger threat to maritime trade—the tariff wars or geopolitical tensions?

Hands down, geopolitical tensions. Please understand that a tariff, at the end of the day, is a financial barrier to trade. It is something that is a commercial negotiation or discussion. If the consumers find that the goods, even after paying the tariff, are still tenable and viable, they will pay that money to the trader or buyer of the commodity. That is why the Chinese are going to keep testing the tariffs in general. And, of course, for posturing purposes, you will have counter tariffs and retaliatory tariffs coming in, but they are all, at the end of the day, financial barriers.

At the same time, if you look at geopolitical tensions, they can literally stop trade in its tracks. For example, it could be piracy or wars. For example, the Russia-Ukraine issue—the trade has actually gone in a different direction altogether, and in some cases, the trade is not tenable. So, geopolitical tensions are different in terms of the fact that they are much broader, and they might implicate a complete rerouting of trade. While financial barriers like tariffs might actually just involve renegotiation of financial issues as well as financial aspects of a deal, which are far easier to deal with because it is the market forces that drive those discussions. But overall, I think geopolitics is something that is self-discussed in a very clear-cut manner from a business perspective in companies. People have to look at the fact that wars, proxy wars, and the fact that climate change is opening up new trade routes are really bringing trade changes, and that affects the business all the time.

A very simple example would be that food security has now become a geopolitical issue, and if plant-based meat starts eroding the meat demand, there is going to be a huge knock-on impact on grain trades because most of the grains traded in the world today are to feed the animals to meet the meat demand. So, if meat demand changes, then obviously the grain trade is going to get impacted. Companies need to start looking at these aspects, and geopolitically, that can have a fundamental change in trade laws going forward.

Are the shipping routes completely free of piracy threats? What about cybersecurity challenges?

Piracy is something that cannot exist on its own. Today, piracy is very much linked to a state-sponsored challenge. Somalia, for example, which was a lawless state, was giving shelter to pirates.

In the Houthi crisis and the post-Red Sea challenges, Somalian piracy has resurfaced because of the instability in that region. There are certain countries where it is very difficult for people to get access to ships, and sometimes the armed guards procured locally are themselves quite challenging in terms of avoiding piracy risks. Importantly, the piracy needs to be curtailed in the Malacca Straits. As instability comes across a region, piracy becomes one of the ways the state looks at trying to extract its pound of flesh from the world, and shipping is an easy target and a global target at that. There are hardly any ships that have enough protection. So piracy is still a real and present danger that needs to be addressed by creating regulations and trying to solve the root cause problems of instability, poverty, and social challenges in the country that is sponsoring piracy.

Cybersecurity is something people are still unaware of in terms of its implications. We have seen a few attacks, including the one most publicised on Maersk, and we still haven't seen people actually come up with clear regulations within the company and outside the company. Now, with the start of another communications system on board, every single person who is on board has a mobile or a laptop and is open to cybersecurity risks. Who is that mobile or laptop linked to? That mobile or laptop is linked to the server on board and then eventually the server on shore. If you have the ability to penetrate even a single seafarer's device, which does not have adequate protection, that can eventually allow the virus or cybersecurity hackers to go straight into the mainframe system and, obviously, the company system. So, there are a lot of challenges that people have not really understood. A ship is like a floating city, effectively. Therefore, all these open points about cybersecurity awareness, readiness, and cybersecurity reaction levels need to be increased.

What is the most significant challenge to a smooth global supply chain?

The biggest challenge to a smooth global supply chain is the uncertainty and unreliability of traditional partners. The way outsourcing and offshoring have become the normal aspect of dealing with business has created the best economic value, and, therefore, the global supply chain has been upended by what President Trump and the trade war have brought. The minute you have nearing onshoring, it all creates an ability for us to uproot the current supply chain. The challenge is that the current offshoring and current supply chain have been in place for a considerable period of time. If you look at China's ascent from being a sleepy economy in the early 2000s to a global economic manufacturing giant that it is today, it happened over a period of 15-16 years. That means that much investment has been made to create a supply chain infrastructure of this scale.

If you uproot that and you have to recreate that, it is going to take at least two decades to do that. According to me, that is the biggest challenge we are facing today. The unrealistic idea that you can simply uproot infrastructure and ecosystems and simply supplant or replant them in another country that has demand, even though it is not economically viable to produce, is the biggest challenge to a smooth global supply chain.

The global shipping industry faces significant manpower challenges, including a shortage of skilled seafarers and difficulties in attracting and retaining talent. What's the way out?

I think there are two things here. We have been talking about a shortage of skilled seafarers for a while, but I have not seen a single ship that was unable to sail because of the lack of crew on board. The industry is actually resilient; it is finding its own ways to manage the manpower challenges on board. What I do feel is that the challenge exists more onshore—finding the right people is an issue. We are competing with other industries when it comes to shore-based jobs, such as the banking industry, the insurance industry, and the fast-moving goods industry. I think there is a fundamental challenge.

If you go back in time, the shipping industry, the maritime industry, has been a part of the global economy and doing global good for all its lifetime. If you look at any other industry that ships about 90% of global trade and spews out only just 3% of emissions, we would be applauded, and we would be very attractive as an industry happy to join, but we are not—because we don't market ourselves. The second thing is that during the Covid years, land borders were sealed, and there was a complete lockdown of air services. The only thing going around the world and delivering goods was the ships. We should have actually pushed out there as an industry for our seafarers and industry workers to really highlight the value that we added to common people. We didn't do that, and we could not successfully go there because we don't market ourselves well.

In general, I believe the shipping activity has been part of every single civilization. Every civilization prospered and thrived around rivers. There was a reason for it. They needed water for trade. Trade and shipping have been part of the civilized world. Even if you look at the English language, every single positive emotion that depicts an amazing array of emotions in the language has been suffixed by 'ship'. You have friendship, leadership, companionship, and sponsorship. The whole idea behind it is that ships are an integral part of our life. In today's day and age, the young generation is looking for a purpose and pride in what they do, and if you can give them just that, and we can, and highlight it to them, you would be able to attract talent. Of course, you have to be competitive in terms of salary. But remember, this is one of the only industries in the world that is truly global, which offers global exposure and a global network, and we must highlight that. This is one of the ways to attract, retain, and grow talent in the industry.

How can India's large pool of seafarers be utilised to its potential?

I would classify this in three different ways. First, the industry must try to utilise seafarers who are seniors, probably those who just retired or who hung up their boots a while ago and are active. Try and tap into them to create knowledge sharing, involve them in experience sharing, and use them in advisory roles not just in India but in the global industry. There are a lot of them and there is a tremendous wealth of experience that needs to be captured, otherwise it would be lost.

The second is the current crop of seafarers that you have. The way to create better tools for them to complete the picture for them. A seafarer has always been seen as a contract worker who comes for a short period of time and is therefore given limited amounts of knowledge, training, and commercial exposure. I think that can change. Through technology, you can equip them. I know for sure there are universities in Europe that are looking to create modules of continuous learning through Starlink for seafarers. India should also look at the prospect of continuous learning for seafarers.

The last group of seafarers are those who are entering the workforce now. We have to make sure that they get a modern understanding of the business. It is not necessary for the seafarers to remain in India. You may be an Indian seafarer, but the world is your playground. The approach needs to be to go out there and link up with the rest of the world. So the Indian pool of seafarers should, through govt, companies, and organisations, through universities, be given exposure beyond India and their home ground in order for them to manage and equip themselves to become truly global citizens and changemakers going forward.

I see a lot of scope for them in technology, commercial and space advisory, and most importantly in the upcoming economies where the maritime industry is at its stage.

Such economies can use the fresh blood to infuse the values and progress it needs. There are a lot of opportunities for Indian seafarers, but more importantly, a platform needs to be created by both public and private stakeholders, and probably a collaborative platform of public and private stakeholders coming together. Singapore has done that quite successfully, and lessons can be learnt from the country's model.