About 400 shipbuilding and shipping experts from eight countries gathered in Busan on September 1, 2026. The occasion was the 2026 Shipbuilding and Marine International Conference. The theme was set as "Navigating Uncertainty: Geopolitics, the Decarbonization Transition and the Future of the Shipbuilding Industry," and the program ran with a keynote address and three sessions. The session topics were geopolitical change and decarbonization regulation, AI-based autonomous navigation, and ship finance.
The question of how cheaply and how quickly a ship can be built was not listed on its own in any of the three sessions. Instead, regulation, technology, and ways of raising money filled the day's program.
Behind this lies supply chain instability.
While the Russia-Ukraine war and the Red Sea crisis shook routes and freight rates, the environmental regulation timelines of the IMO and the EU also drew closer. When two pressures enter one industry at the same time, ordering decisions are delayed, and delayed decisions in turn shake construction plans. Attendance is written as "about 400" and "more than 400" depending on the source, so this article treats it as being in the 400 range.
The technology discussion split into two tracks, fuel and operation. The shift to hydrogen fuel in the shipbuilding and marine equipment industry was addressed, and LNG was raised alongside it as a low-carbon fuel. AX for autonomous ships was also on the list of presentations. On the research side, an introduction noted coverage of ships powered by decarbonized fuels, applications of AI systems, autonomous ships, and eco-friendly ships, plus marine energy and marine defense technology.
In the same week, DNV released its 10th Maritime Forecast to 2050. It stated that if global shipping regulation becomes clear, shipping energy consumption in 2050 could fall by up to 25%. This means regulation has been framed as a cost factor and at the same time as a variable that pulls down energy consumption itself. Which year and which scenario this 25% is measured against has to be checked in the body of the report.
DNV presented multiple energy transition scenarios and named the adoption of energy efficiency technology as a realistic decarbonization measure. That means there are items shipowners can work on now, even while waiting for the shift to new fuels. Efficiency technology is usually applied through retrofits, and retrofits cost money. The Busan conference setting ship finance apart as its own session is also connected to this retrofit funding question.
The event was announced as hosted by the City of Busan and the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, and organized by the Korea Marine Equipment Industry Cooperative. It began at 10 a.m. on September 1 at the Wyndham Grand Busan in Busan. Whether the DNV report was released at this event has not been confirmed.
The evaluation criteria now differ from the period when rankings were decided by ship prices and building capacity alone. Whether a shipyard can design ships that meet regulatory timelines, and on what terms it can bring in the funds to build those ships, made it into the session titles.
Things remain to be checked. They are the base year and scenario behind the 25% reduction DNV cited, and the terms actually discussed in the ship finance session.
