If a thread binds the three panels of the XXVII Euromed Convention "From Land to Sea" promoted by the Grimaldi group, staged today at the Forte Village in Pula (Cagliari) in front of over 700 protagonists of world shipping, is the feeling shared that the sector is going through three transformations that until a few years ago did not exist or proceeded on separate tracks: the decarbonisation imposed by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) by 2050, the redefinition geopolitics of trade routes triggered by the Suez crises and Hormuz and the shift in the automotive production center of gravity towards Southeast Asia. Three thrusts that add up and condition each other, and which they found in the intervention of Opening by the CEO of the shipping group Emanuele Grimaldi, who recalled the initiatives in course of the group between new ammonia-ready ships, an investment by $1.5 billion in methanol units and reconfirmation of connections with Sardinia, a concrete example of how The shipping industry is already trying to respond.

Grimaldi, in fact, recalled that in the last 24 months the Group took delivery of 14 Pure Car and Truck Carriers "ammonia-ready", i.e. prepared for use future of ammonia as an alternative fuel, and by April 2027 the fleet will have 17, including the most of the capacity of 9,800 CEU combining high Low-consumption load capacity per unit transported. This is accompanied by an investment plan of 1.5 billion dollars for the construction of nine new ro-pax ships, destined to enter the fleet between 2028 and 2030: thank you to the use of methanol as an alternative fuel, these units aim to reduce CO2 emissions per unit load by 50% compared to the ships in service today, up to reaching the goal of net zero emissions. The CEO of the Grimaldi also announced that the Research and The Group's development is already working on two new Projects at an advanced stage of study: new generations of ships con-ro and multipurpose, with the aim of making them "the most Flexible and technologically advanced from an environmental point of view in the world in their respective segments".

On the connection front, the Grimaldi group has strengthened its presence in Asia, where it now employs 30 ships in services that connect it with the other continents, while with regard to connections with Sardinia, the venue of the edition 2026 of the Convention, the group was reentrusted with another five years, under the territorial continuity regime, the Naples-Cagliari-Palermo and Civitavecchia-Arbatax-Cagliari routes.

The first panel, "Shipping in Transition: Innovation, Regulation and Sustainability", addressed the challenge of decarbonisation in light of the IMO's strategy to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions from maritime transport by 2050, with binding intermediate targets already in 2030 and 2050. 2040. The debate identified three interdependent factors on which The transition is at stake: technological innovation, necessary for the development of fuels such as hydrogen, ammonia and methanol and for the electrification of the docks; the human factor, which calls for due to both the personnel on board and the opportunities offered from artificial intelligence in onshore and offshore connections; and regulatory clarity, made more urgent by the that have transformed sustainability from ethical choice as a requirement of compliance and competitiveness.

The second panel, "Geoeconomic & Geopolitical Challenges for Maritime Transport in the Med Area", focused on the Mediterranean as a historical hub of global traffic and a bridge between Europe, Asia and Africa, but today it is exposed to geopolitical crises and geoeconomic rearrangements that are reshaping the world's maritime routes. The security criticalities related to at choke points - in particular the Suez Canal and the Strait of Hormuz - are already reflected in the numbers: according to what emerged from the debate, there is a -10% contraction in exports and a -4% reduction in crude oil imports from the Middle East. Three aspects are indicated as decisive for the future of the maritime transport in the Mediterranean: the vulnerability of trade routes, which affects supply chains, costs and freight and safety of navigation; the role of the ports of the northern shore of the Mediterranean, called upon to reorganize themselves on the logistics and infrastructure to respond to changes of course transoceanic operations; and the overall economic balances, with particular attention to Europe's role in terms of security Energy, industrial autonomy and logistical centrality of the Mediterranean area. From the comparison also emerged a Indication of method: decarbonisation, as far as desired, must not result in a loss of competitiveness for the sector.

The third panel, "Automotive Seaborne Trade: A Challenging World", focused on the car sector Carrier and Ro-Ro that is undergoing a phase of profound reorganization in parallel with the transformations of the automotive industry and of the entire global logistics chain. Three strategic elements emerged from the debate: the reconfiguration of flows and hold capacity, linked to the rise of new markets producers and exporters - in particular from Southeast Asia - that is changing traditional routes; safety and new propulsion technologies, with the operational challenges posed by the transport of electric vehicles, from battery management to and the regulations on the decarbonisation of fleets; and the resilience of the logistics chain, which aims to integrate transport port terminals and land connections to ensure on-time deliveries in a global market and increasingly interconnected.