Tag: Cruise

MSI appoints North American director

MSI has appointed John Moulopoulos as director, North America, with responsibility for business development in the Americas.

The company said Mr Moulopoulos joins from Boston-based maritime intelligence and data delivery service Marsoft Inc, and his role will include working with North American shipowners and maritime investors, while also drawing on his heritage and network to support MSI customers in Greece.

He will bring previous experience in data delivery to MSI’s HORIZON and SEASCAPE platforms.

Mr Moulopoulos studied naval architecture and marine engineering at the University of Michigan and completed a Master’s in financial engineering in 2011.

He has also worked in investment banking, research and consulting roles in New York City, including with teams at Axia Ventures and Seabury Capital on research and analysis, supporting investor access to shipping markets and linking established owners with private equity and credit funds.

MSI managing director Adam Kent said, “John brings MSI considerable experience and a network that can help support our presence in US shipping and investor markets, combining a strong shipping background with skills that can help to shape our delivery of data, research and analysis.”

Mr Kent added, “At a time of considerable volatility and dislocation in markets, John’s background in research and analysis is an important addition to the MSI team and our service provision to clients.”

Mr Moulopoulos said, “Investors in shipping have been facing one black swan event after another. I see my role as helping US investors and owners navigate the conditions that come with the disruption and further expanding the MSI brand within the Greek market.”

He added, “The opportunity to join a leading provider of data and analysis comes at a time when impartial, data-driven insights are more vital than ever.”

Mr Moulopoulos’ family traces its involvement in shipping to 1865 under the Laurel Sea Transport name, with ownership and management of bulkers, crude tankers, cruise ships and ferries in the Mediterranean.

Laurel Sea Transport, originally from the island of Andros, operated an office in London for many years and sold its last ship in 2019.

China’s demographic cliff: can shipping live without its golden growth engine?

The demographic sweetspot for China, the 21st century’s driving force of shipping profits, has long passed. This month, Beijing reported its steepest birth rate decline since the Communist Party took power in 1949. Splash Extra investigates what a dwindling population means for global shipping.

Adam Kent, managing director at MSI, explains to Splash Extra that with the population in decline, demand for new property and infrastructure will slow as economic growth slows, with a greater focus on services rather than goods as the population ages.

“This raises the question of whether we expect another ‘China’ to emerge to replace lost shipping demand. India is often cited as the most obvious candidate, given that its population has now surpassed China’s,” Kent says. Read more at Splash247.com.

How to spend it in 2026

According to a new report from Fitch Ratings, next year will still be challenging due to a myriad of geopolitical and policy risks. Shipping will also be hit by the lower GDP growth expected across most major economies in 2026 compared to 2025.

Adam Kent, managing director at MSI, agrees with several aspects of this report and believes that the circling geopolitical winds will continue to impact markets into 2026.

“These forces, coupled with asset prices that remain relatively high and stubbornly sticky against a volatile earnings backdrop, make choosing a sector to invest in over the next 12 months more challenging than usual,” he explains to Splash Extra. Read more at Splash247.com

Shipping markets outlook for H2 2025 – Podcast

Geopolitical disruption in shipping has reached new heights in the first half of 2025 and MSI examine the impact on markets and the outlook ahead. In this latest shipping markets outlook episode, we are joined by analysts from MSI to take a look at the outlook for containers, tankers, dry bulk, and shipbuilding in the second half of the year. Listen to the podcast at Seatrade Maritime.

MSI Consultancy Case Study – Theoretical Emissions Analysis

MSI is increasingly commissioned to research and analyse the impact of environmental regulation and decarbonisation on vessel operations and fleet profiles. This can be supported with access to MSI SEASCAPE.

Our expertise in understanding shipping markets extends to specialist analysis of the industry in the energy transition, including impact on vessel types, cargoes and supply chains.

When a large financial institution wanted to produce theoretical carbon emissions assessment for over 300 vessels in its portfolio, it commissioned MSI to construct an analysis without contacting individual owners.

MSI performed the following tasks:

  • Using AIS data extract individual vessel voyage characteristics (+300 vessels) and operational profile;
  • Adopt the IMO Greenhouse Gas Study bottom up assessments of emissions, incorporating Main Engine, Auxiliary Engine and Boilers;
  • Base analysis off vessel speed profiles distance covered assess fuel consumption
  • Model validation assessed against actual data;
  • Assess sections of the fleet performing above and below the wider fleet cohort
  • Identify ships significantly above “normal” levels;
  • Help client understand why some ships abnormally high and provide rationale e.g. layup, arrested etc;
  • Provide a framework for Poseidon Principles-alignment calculation to be performed (where the bank could enter and weight depending on debt outstanding on each vessel).

MSI provided a theoretical assessment of the bank’s fleet on a vessel-by-vessel basis utilising AIS data and MSI’s inhouse algorithms and processes.

The results were presented by ship to the client along with a presentation of the methodology and results. Further analysis was undertaken, and presented, for vessels that appeared to be outliers and explanations discussed. To learn how MSI’s Consultancy Services can help your business understand and profit from market dynamics in shipping, offshore and shipbuilding, please get in touch.

What will be powering ships in the 2030s?

MSI has given an early indication of the impact that the Net Zero Framework will have on the bunker market, based on data from its new SEASCAPE platform.

By extending the annual fuel consumption estimates calculated for 2024 through to 2035, and applying MSI’s forecasts for bunker prices, it is possible to project the future fuel costs for conventionally-fuelled ships alongside the projected IMO penalties. By this approach, the IMO’s penalties would be equivalent to an 82% premium on top of the fleet bunker costs by 2035 – almost $100bn for the 30,000 ships tracked in MSI’s database. Read more at Splash247.com.

China’s Shipbuilding Dominance and Global Trade Competition in Context

With data for activity in the global shipbuilding industry now available for 2024, MSI’s Stuart Nicoll estimates that global newbuilding contracting for all ship types was 133m GT, with a more even spread among the main sectors than in recent years. 

Collation of the latest data couldn’t have been better timed, given the recent release of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) report on China, which outlined proposals to undermine Chinese shipbuilding, while raising cash to boost the US industry. Read more at gCaptain.