Reflections from two weeks in Asia: what Ahti’s CEO learned on the ground

I spent two weeks meeting shipping companies headquartered in Asia to better understand how they’re feeling about FuelEU Maritime compliance.

What I learned:

Many Asian shipowners’ vessels are on TCs where charterers have contractual fuel decision rights; in practice charterers are surprisingly quite often unaware of this role and its impact on FuelEU compliance.

Smaller owners repeatedly told me they need options they can quickly deploy without major per‑ship legal or operational work. They don’t know how often each ship will call EU ports, and lack the bandwidth or budget to build in‑house teams amid the current geopolitical and fuel‑price pressures.

Biofuels are becoming the most attractive near‑term lever for FuelEU Maritime compliance - with caveats. Biofuel prices have risen more slowly than fossil fuel bunkers in many cases. However, operators still worry about sourcing, quality control, price volatility, and logistics for reliable scale‑up.

Regional implementation is different in Asia. Their strong shipbuilding sector and concentration of shore‑based technical operations and third‑party managers mean pilots and rollouts commonly involve more expert stakeholders than in North America or Europe.

The last time that I visited the Philippines, it was a hub for crewing services. Now there’s a much more shore-based technical operations and ship management as well. Several companies I met are planning to centralize their technical functions there.

Highest‑value product features for Asian shipowners that occasionally call EU ports: low cost credits, multi‑fuel support, and centralized emissions reporting.

The best medicine for aviation chaos is staying at a hotel with a tennis court and a sauna.

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