Eighteen of the world's leading maritime nations have issued an unusually stark warning that the international rules underpinning global shipping are being eroded, threatening to fragment both maritime markets and global trade.

In a public statement titled "In defence of free shipping," the Consultative Shipping Group (CSG) — whose members include Greece, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Norway, Denmark, Germany and the UK — said the accumulation of wars, chokepoint disruption, shadow fleets and discriminatory trade measures amounts to a structural change in shipping's operating environment. The group's members represent more than a fifth of global trade by tonnage. Around 80% of world merchandise trade by volume is carried by sea, according to UNCTAD figures, giving the sector an outsized role in the cost and reliability of global commerce.

The CSG argued that maritime transport should now be viewed as critical infrastructure underpinning not only trade but also global food and energy security.

The warning goes well beyond the current battle over the Strait of Hormuz. The CSG pointed to covid, the war in Ukraine, drought at the Panama Canal and conflict in the Middle East as repeated demonstrations of how vulnerable maritime supply chains have become. It also highlighted discriminatory trade measures and the proliferation of divergent national and regional approaches to shipping regulation.

Uncertainty over whether ships will retain access to particular ports or routes directly affects long-term commercial planning, the group argued, while fragmented regulation ultimately fragments markets and raises costs.

Shipping routes, once largely treated as neutral conduits for trade, are increasingly being used as geopolitical leverage. Hormuz provides the most immediate example: Iran has sought to impose greater control over merchant traffic through the strait while attacks on commercial shipping have multiplied, challenging the assumption that international chokepoints will remain reliably open to neutral trade. The pattern echoes recent experience in the Red Sea, where attacks on commercial vessels forced many carriers to reroute around the Cape of Good Hope, adding thousands of miles to Asia–Europe voyages and absorbing additional vessel capacity.

The CSG is an international forum of major maritime nations dedicated to promoting open, fair and competitive global maritime transport, bringing together countries from Europe, Asia and North America to consult on key shipping policies and regulatory challenges.

The group stressed that the answer is not simply to write more regulations, but to apply existing international rules more consistently. It singled out the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, including rights of innocent and transit passage, while describing the International Maritime Organization as the central global forum for maintaining navigation, safety, security and fair competition. UNCLOS, negotiated in the early 1980s, provides the legal framework for maritime zones and navigation rights, while the London-based IMO sets global standards on ship safety and pollution.

The CSG also took aim at the explosive growth of the shadow fleet created by sanctions on Russia and Iran. Hundreds of ships now operate outside conventional insurance, safety and transparency frameworks, the group said, creating parallel maritime systems that bypass environmental and safety standards.

"The result is a two-tier system, one governed by rules, the other by opacity," the statement warned.

Industry estimates put the wider shadow tanker fleet at more than 1,500 vessels, approaching a fifth of global tanker capacity.

The CSG's prescription is greater cooperation between maritime nations, consistent enforcement across jurisdictions, better information exchange and renewed political backing for multilateral institutions. The statement culminates in a direct appeal for maritime states to defend freedom of navigation and prevent fragmentation from becoming embedded within shipping networks.

"When shipping supply chains fragment, the global economy fragments with it," the CSG warned.

Many of the same concerns will form the backdrop to the opening Big Issues session at Splash Singapore, Asia's leading shipping conference, at the Fairmont Hotel on September 24. The session will examine the forces reshaping shipping beyond the normal market-cycle debate, with particular emphasis on how organisations should operate when geopolitics, regulation, technology and commercial risk collide. The discussion will ask how companies should structure themselves, allocate risk, maintain fast decision-making, retain talent and avoid paralysis when visibility is poor and long-established assumptions can no longer be relied upon.

On stage will be Bjorn Hojgaard of shipmanagement giant Anglo-Eastern, Hor Weng Yew of Pacific Carriers, Swire Shipping CEO Jeremy Sutton, John Su of Erasmus Shipinvest, AET president Nick Potter and X-Press Feeders CEO Shmuel Yoskovitz.

Source: Splash247