Baltic Exchange once again kicked off the festivities of Posidonia as it welcomed more than 160 attendees of the global shipping industry to its latest Risk Forum, which this year focused on key sanction and geopolitical challenges impacting the industry, both today and in the future.

Coming together at The Margi Hotel in Vougliameni on a warm Monday afternoon in Athens, owners, charterers, brokers and other key industry professionals joined for a much needed coffee and pastry to start the day before Mark Jackson, CEO of Baltic Exchange, welcomed everyone to the flagship forum.

Stephen Aitchson, Senior Freight Market Assessor, then showcased some of the recent developments to the Baltic's routes and assessments, including the launch and cessation of notable global routes, as well as the forecast for future changes to the Panamax, Supramax and Handysize sectors.

In the first panel discussion of the day, Jos Standerwick, Head of Membership at Baltic Exchange, welcomed Tim Wilkins, Managing Director of INTERTANKO, and Siiri Duddington, Head of Sanctions at Hill Dickinson for a expert discussion on the current sanctions landscape, including the evolving regulatory landscape for Russian oil cargos.

Simon Ward, Director of Ship Sales & Purchase at URSA Shipbrokers, then hosted the second panel discussion on the evolving geopolitical challenges and headwinds facing today's shipping and trade market. In a lively and enthusiatic discussion, Simon was joined by Eva Tzima, Head of Research & Valuations at Cass Technava; George Mangos, Co-Founder and Director of SOKANA; Alex Haubert, Director at Hong Glory Bulk; and Athanasios Platias, Professor of Strategy at the University of Piraeus. This panel, in particular, drew a large amount of audience inputs as many continue to be impacting by geopolitics and trad disputes around the world on a daily basis.

In the final session, Nadia Mirza, Head of Business Development at Baltic Exchange, held an extensive panel discussion on the evolving strategies facing the FFA market across dry, tanker and container shipping, as well as how to use FFAs to help navigate global volatility. She was joined by Vassilis Karakoulakis, Executive Director at Propel Shipping; Kyriakos Attikouris, Chief Risk Officer at CQuake Shipping Fund; Pheobus Kaloudis, Head of Business Development at SSY Futures; Demetris Polemis, Co-Founder of Paralos Fund; and Emily Driver, Head of Dry FFA at Clarksons.

Following an excellent and engaging forum, Baltic hosted all its guests for a well-deserved lunch break underneath the beautiful warmth of the Greek sun, with many attendees having the opportunity to network and enjoy the opportunity to continue the discussion of everything discussed at the Baltic Risk Forum, alongside the chance to gather at Posidonia once again.