Nick and Raal close out the year with the inaugural Shippee Awards, reflecting on the stories, themes, controversies, and personalities that defined maritime in 2025. From decarbonisation debates and regulatory tension to standout entrepreneurship and shifting narratives, they look back on the year that was and ahead to a slightly unsettling 2026.

Chapters

05:50 Ship Owner of the Year

11:53 Technology Entrepreneur of the Year

17:44 Maritime Journalist of the Year

30:09 Mergers & Acquisition Deal of the Year

46:34 Decarbonisation Champion

57:15 Transformation of the Year

01:10:30 Gaffes of the Year: Industry Reflections

01:18:19 Wild Predictions for 2026

Nick and Raal explore recent acquisitions, the unique characteristics of the Greek shipping market, the impact of AI on recruitment processes, and innovations in maritime technology such as tethered drones and remote inspections. They also touch on Ocean Infinity's advancements in robotic fleets, highlighting the evolving landscape of maritime operations.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction and Overview of the Podcast

01:25 Recent Developments in Maritime E-Learning

07:59 Understanding the Greek Maritime Market

12:42 AI in Recruitment: A Surprising Study

23:23 Innovative Uses of Tethered Drones

28:02 Rethinking Maritime Inspections with Technology

33:24 The Rise of Robotic Ships in Offshore Services

This episode is brought to you by KVH. Delivering resilient connectivity, data, and insights to keep maritime operations connected, informed, and moving, wherever you are. Learn more at kvh.com.

Raal and Nick start with Undocked’s Spotify Wrapped before dissecting CargoWise’s new pricing, accidental vendor lock-in, and procurement’s ESG role. They explore wind-assisted propulsion, industry guidance and financing, shifting decarbonisation politics, and why ports and owners still invest. Columbia Blue’s eco-anxiety work highlights seafarer wellbeing as the energy transition accelerates.

• 00:00 Introduction and Spotify Wrapped Success
• 03:59 Pricing Models in Maritime Technology
• 17:00 Vendor Lock-In and Long-Term Resilience
• 24:57 The Role of IT in Maritime Transformation
• 26:35 Procurement Software and ESG Reporting
• 35:35 Understanding Emissions Calculations in Shipping
• 37:03 The Complexity of Procurement in Shipping
• 38:49 Innovations in Delivery: Drones and Logistics
• 40:44 The Future of 3D Printing in Shipping41:30 ESG and Its Impact on Shipping Practices
• 43:43 The Cooling Interest in ESG Investments
• 45:15 Port Initiatives for Decarbonization
• 46:45 The Role of Technology in Shipping Efficiency
• 51:06 Wind-Assisted Propulsion: A New Era in Shipping
• 59:13 Industry Initiatives for Wind Propulsion Adoption
• 01:01:55 Eco-Anxiety Among Seafarers and Its Implications

Episode Partner

This episode is brought to you by Accelleron. Running ships is complex enough, managing emissions compliance shouldn’t make it harder. Loreka 360 Emissions Desk handles data checks, documentation, forecasting, and verification, powered by intelligent software and guided by experts who’ve worked at sea. Learn more at accelleron.com/emissions-desk.

Nick and Raal explore the widening gap between AI promise and AI governance, from AGI hype cycles to environmental costs, burnout culture, vibe coding, and Generative UI. They map out the risks for high-compliance maritime operations, unpack shifting IT budgets, and end by celebrating 50 years of dynamic positioning.

• 00:00 Introduction and early conversations

• 02:07 AI in maritime: key insights from the webinar

• 04:52 Why problem-first thinking matters

• 06:39 The role of champions in tech adoption

• 08:35 Navigating hype vs. reality in AI

• 10:36 Cynicism in maritime technology buying

• 12:18 AI’s economic impact and governance concerns

• 13:47 AI meets compliance: risks for shipping

• 15:25 Burnout, ethics, and the human cost of AI

• 16:41 Understanding AGI and its implications

• 19:46 The US–China race for AI dominance

• 21:34 Environmental concerns of AI infrastructure

• 23:45 The regulatory vacuum around AI

• 25:52 The age of, and pressure on AI developers

• 27:56 Polarised visions of AI’s future

• 27:57 The need for global AI governance

• 28:50 Generative UI: a new frontier

• 31:38 What AI means for maritime tech’s future

• 37:07 Real-time voice generation and personalised learning

• 39:54 The evolution of maritime software

• 42:25 Customisation vs. standardisation

• 44:17 The risks of software updates in high-risk operations

• 45:11 Vibe coding: democratised development

• 49:42 Quality and governance in AI-generated code

• 54:21 Maritime IT budgets: trends and insights

• 01:04:02 Celebrating 50 years of dynamic positioning

Links:

• ‘It’s going much too fast’: the inside story of the race to create the ultimate AI - The Guardian
• Thetius IT Cost and Performance Benchmarking Club (paywall)
• How Dynamic Positioning changed offshore operations forever - Kongsberg

This episode is brought to you by Sedna, the intelligent email platform built for the shipping industry. Sedna turns high-volume communication into structured, auditable workflows that improve efficiency, compliance, and collaboration across fleets and offices.
Learn more at sedna.com

In this episode, Nick Chubb and Raal Harris dig into the growing complexity of reporting, data standards, and tech overload across the maritime industry. They open with OrbitMI’s new vessel reporting and analysis tool, designed to show shipowners how well their data aligns with industry standards, and why fragmented reporting regimes continue to frustrate crews and operators alike. Nick outlines how standardisation-by-nudging may work better than forcing a single format, especially when many operators still juggle five or six noon-report variations at once.

The discussion then broadens into digital stress, fragmented workflows, and tech fatigue. Drawing from ISWAN and broader workplace studies, Raal highlights how over-digitisation, poor UX, and under-supported rollouts are increasing workload, reducing wellbeing, and even pushing some seafarers to consider leaving the profession. Nick argues that many of these issues could be avoided if IT leaders spent more time observing how systems are actually used on board, especially by engineers carrying the heaviest reporting burden.

They also explore whether seafarers should understand more of the underlying data and system logic behind modern tools, much like navigators once have to deeply understand GPS after early incidents involving false positions.

The pair discuss the limits of innovation capacity, the risks of too-frequent standard updates, and why eight different software systems on a ship, each with different menus and interfaces, inevitably overwhelm crews.

From there, Nick brings two standout stories:

Steelcorr's AI-powered paint maintenance app, now rolling out with Ardmore, which uses smartphone photos to detect rust, predict biofouling, and optimise paint consumption, potentially saving money, time, and workload on one of the most labour-intensive deck tasks.

Olympic Subsea’s extraordinary 83% emissions reduction, achieved by combining batteries with advanced digital tools to run far fewer generators during dynamic positioning. While limited to offshore vessels, the result hints at what’s possible when digital optimisation, electrification, and real-time power management converge.

Episode Partner

This episode is brought to you by Sedna, the intelligent email platform built for the shipping industry. Sedna turns high-volume communication into structured, auditable workflows that improve efficiency, compliance, and collaboration across fleets and offices. Learn more at sedna.com.

In this episode, Nick Chubb and Raal Harris return from CrewConnect Global in Manila, reflecting on the strange, dreamlike week of long-haul travel, jet lag, and big maritime conversations. Nick opens with a gripe: the rising narrative that Gen Z has no attention span and needs TikTok-style micro-training. They challenge the myth, arguing it’s patronising, inaccurate, and dangerous for a safety-critical industry, especially when young seafarers are delivering some of the most impressive, high-quality presentations in the sector, including a standout IMEC cadet-led cyber-risk session.

The conversation shifts to seafarer representation in corporate leadership, sparked by Splash’s new Seafarers Report. Nick and Raal explore ideas like putting active seafarers on company boards, sending executives to sea annually, and building more authentic two-way engagement. They share examples from across the industry, including Bjorn Højgaard’s recent time onboard and BSM’s mixed-seniority innovation retreats, as well as reflections on culture, transparency, and why long voyages reveal the “real” shipboard experience more than CEO photo-ops.

They then discuss the OSM Thome merger, Tommy Olofsen’s new leadership role, and the growing shift among PE-backed ship managers toward diversified service portfolios as technical management alone reaches its scaling limits.

Finally, Raal introduces the episode’s big idea: digital twins of people, not ships. From startups like Vivien and Expertwin to Zoom’s CEO imagining AI replicas attending meetings, they unpack the ethics, risks, and potential benefits of capturing organisational knowledge. Nick wrestles with the tension: while knowledge retention and process capture could genuinely strengthen maritime businesses, AI “clones” risk destroying autonomy, degrading decision-making, and blurring personal IP.

The pair debate creativity vs. infinite-game decision-making, authenticity, AI-generated “likeness marketplaces,” and the slippery slope between helpful augmentation and Black Mirror-style identity capture.

Episiode Partner

This episode is brought to you by OrbitMI. In shipping, fuel is money — and OrbitMI helps you use less of it. Built for the Connected Maritime Era, Orbit’s AI-powered optimisation tools improve routing, speed management, and emissions performance to deliver smarter voyages, stronger margins, and greener operations.
Learn more at orbitmi.com/connected-maritime-era

In this episode, Nick Chubb and Raal Harris sit down with Torsten Pedersen, Chief Operating Officer of Seaspan Corporation, to explore what it takes to lead transformation inside the world’s largest independent container ship owner.

Torsten shares his unconventional path from Danish village life to early CFO roles at Maersk, describing how global exposure shaped his leadership philosophy and his belief that the best ideas come from listening. He reflects on how those formative experiences informed his approach to lean, values-driven leadership at Seaspan, where simplicity, discipline, and collaboration underpin everything from safety to growth strategy.

The conversation dives deep into ESG, digitalisation, and decarbonisation, with Torsten explaining why Seaspan resists making long-range sustainability promises for 2050 in favour of practical five-year cycles and measurable progress. He outlines the company’s philosophy of embedding sustainability into everyday operations rather than treating it as a separate goal, focusing on being better next week than last week.

Nick and Raal explore how Seaspan’s “integrated operating model” allows it to scale profitably while staying lean, empowering local teams, and maintaining customer trust in an industry where most clients already own and operate ships themselves. Torsten describes how the company’s culture of ownership and accountability has been formalised over time and how those values now guide recruitment, decision-making, and transformation.

From change management and culture-building to the human side of digital transformation, Torsten shares candid reflections on leadership: why overcomplicating safety systems can make people less safe, how collaboration drives innovation, and why some change programs fail simply because the underlying idea is bad. The discussion also touches on connectivity and crew welfare, with Starlink and OneWeb reshaping shipboard communication, bringing new opportunities and new challenges for cohesion at sea.

Torsten closes with advice for leaders facing transformation: Start with the end in mind. Don’t try to save the world all at once. Be curious about everything but disciplined about what you pursue.

This episode is brought to you by Sedna — the intelligent email platform built for the shipping industry. Sedna helps commercial and operational teams cut through high-volume communication, turning emails into structured, auditable workflows that improve efficiency, compliance, and collaboration across fleets and offices.

Episode PartnerDiscover how Sedna is transforming maritime communication at sedna.com.

In this episode, Nick Chubb and Raal Harris are joined by Heather Combs, CEO of Ripple Operations, to explore how technology, people, and purpose are converging in the evolution of maritime HR and crew management.

Heather shares her journey from tech-enabled services and edtech into maritime, describing how she was drawn to the sector’s blend of global impact and deep-rooted community. She explains how Ripple, formed through the merger of Marine Learning Systems, Adonis HR, Marine CFO, and ShipAdmin is building an end-to-end HR platform for maritime, connecting recruitment, scheduling, training, compliance, and payroll through one integrated data hub.

The discussion dives into the complexity of crewing, from the exponential combinations of multinational teams on cruise ships to the intricate web of labour laws, union agreements, and training requirements that make crew management one of the hardest problems in shipping. Heather explains why integration, not replacement, is key moving from spreadsheets and siloed systems to connected platforms that improve efficiency without breaking what already works.

Nick and Raal also explore the people side of transformation, including Ripple’s challenge of uniting four legacy brands under a single culture and mission. Heather reflects on the importance of empathy, communication, and shared vision in creating a cohesive global team, and how satellite connectivity and crew wellbeing technology like Starlink are reshaping what it means to work at sea.

Looking ahead, Heather discusses the roadmap toward Ripple’s next-generation cloud platform, due to launch its first clients in 2026, and the long-term opportunity to expand into adjacent markets such as offshore, ferry, and commercial shipping. She also shares her optimism about AI’s role in maritime, her lessons from working with private equity, and the book that changed her view on the intersection of governance and innovation.

The episode closes on a personal note, with Heather’s guiding philosophy: say yes - to new industries, new opportunities, and even the challenges that make you nervous.

Episode Partner

This episode is brought to you by Accelleron. Running ships is complex enough, managing emissions compliance shouldn’t make it harder.
Accelleron’s LOREKA360 Emissions Desk is a complete compliance service that handles every step: data checks, documentation, forecasting, and verification, all powered by intelligent software and guided by experts who’ve worked at sea.

Accurate reporting, less stress, and more time to focus on what really matters: operating ships.
Find out more at accelleron.com/emissions-desk