The Daily View: Opportunity knocks

Our Ocean, Our Obligation, Our Opportunity.

The mantra for this year’s World Maritime Day is, as ever, broad enough to hang any number of platitudes and LinkedIn posts on without risking controversy or further dividing an increasingly fragmented industry.

But hold back the cynicism, just for a moment, and consider the inevitable nautical origins of the word opportunity, from the Latin ob portum veniens.

When net zero fuel was first in demand, ships relied on favourable winds and tides to reach a destination or harbour. When the right conditions arose, carrying a ship toward the port, it was seen as a favourable event.

The Latin phrase ob (toward) portum (harbour) veniens (approaching) captured this idea, and this metaphorical “good wind” was adapted to describe any favourable circumstance or a convenient, suitable, or opportune time for action.

Well, the industry is burdened with obligation right now, but there is genuine opportunity here as well. Arguably the defining economic opportunity of our time.

Much has been made of the insular US push back on the climate “hoax” this week, but consider Xi Jinping’s rebuttal that the green energy transition is the “trend of our time”.

Yes, China’s emissions cuts fall short, but the country routinely underpromises for political purposes and overdelivers for economic ones. China is tying its economic future to the clean-energy sector precisely because it sees the favourable economic winds of opportunity.

The US president may be in the mood to recast the climate science, but the UN is warning that climate change could displace 1.5bn people in the next 30 years.

From southern Africa’s crop failures to 50°C heatwaves in Baghdad, Seville and Phoenix, disruption is escalating.

It is vital to rapidly build climate resilience at the same time as accelerating the transition to a zero carbon, higher prosperity future.

Shipping is a lifeline for billions — and time is not on our side.

Acting on climate change is both a growth opportunity and a key route for driving socio-economic development.

Done right, climate action in shipping can drive growth, competitiveness and energy security, while lifting people out of poverty.

Deferred, it adds cost, complexity and division.

So while we could use World Maritime Day to once again consider the energy transition as a challenge to be managed, the opportunists among you have already identified it as a source of efficiency, leadership and new markets.

Ob portum veniens. The words’ origin illustrates that an opportunity is not always a given; it depends on a combination of factors.

Catching the right wind, current and tide to enter the port requires decisive action.

Our Ocean, Our Obligation, Our Opportunity.