Tanker Leaders on Turbulence, Talent, and Tariffs: Highlights from Capital Link

September 16, 2025

It was a beautiful day in London for the Capital Link Shipping & Marine Services Forum at BMA House. The forum was well attended as always, with strong panel sessions and a dynamic appearance by Arsenio Dominguez, who was interviewed by Nicholas Bornozis and insisted on taking questions from the floor.

Arlie Sterling moderated the final panel session, closing the show with panellists from four of the world’s biggest tanker companies: Hisham Nasir Alnughaimish from Bahri Oil, Lars Barstad (Frontline), Jan Rindbo (Norden), and Harrys Kosmatos (TEN Ltd). Arlie kicked things off by asking all four about the secrets of their success – these included flexibility, scale, strategic partnerships, and ‘being boring’ by focusing on safe long-term charters.

He then asked them what potential black swans keep them and their boards awake at night. They agreed that black swans were becoming more common in shipping – fears ranged from tariffs to the cessation of hostilities, rapid regime change in Russia, a hard stop in China, and whether or not they have enough ships in the spot market.

The panel stood out because of the frank exchanges the panelists shared on a range of topics, including the dark fleet and the need to be more outspoken and take action, the challenge of making the right decision in the face of many choices, and the difficulty of recruiting the right people. There were some complaints that they don’t get paid more for a greener ship – it seems that regulations have to close the gap, as most charterers (not all) just want the cheapest way from A to B.

To round off this open and revealing discussion, Arlie ended things with a cheerful mention of the current $90,000/day VLCC rates – finally, VLCCs are back in the limelight!