This course provides an in-depth understanding of the role of sustainability for the competitiveness of maritime companies. Sustainability, and in particular environmental sustainability, has grown in importance for all shipping sectors in the last decade. Shipping companies are facing increasing business complexity due to the climate crisis, stricter environmental and social regulations, increasing public scrutiny and greater ecological awareness and value orientation.

While shipping has traditionally been characterised by low levels of social responsibility, lax environmental regulation, and enforcement, and generally a short-term profit orientation, more and more companies have embraced sustainability, either as an integral part of their business strategy or in response to pressure from regulators, customers or other stakeholders. Whether in relation to the introduction of new technologies, decarbonisation, or the impact of Covid-19 on seafarers' welfare, the importance of developing a sustainable strategy in every aspect of the shipping business cannot be overlooked. In particular, environmental regulations and decarbonisation are likely to trigger structural changes in the shipping industry and require managers to face an increasingly complex business environment. In this changing context, shipping companies need to be able to assess and implement new strategies and innovate to ensure compliance and sustainable growth.

The course provides advanced shipping business knowledge placed in the context of a rapidly changing regulatory and economic context. It aids students in reflecting on some of the biggest challenges to business and identify how the shipping sector needs to transform to better respond to the needs of its customers and stakeholders. The course highlights the tension between short-term profitability, that is often driving shipping companies, and longer-term societal goals that should be rooted on sustainable development principles. During the course, students learn to make complex business decisions under uncertainty, evaluate innovative approaches to address sustainability issues in the shipping industry, communicate the need for change and drive change in their future organisations.

The curriculum is structured in two modules covering (1) the role of sustainability considerations in shaping a shipping firm’s strategy, including innovation, corporate social responsibility and long-term environmental commitments; (2) how sustainability issues are affecting operations, through regulatory compliance, uptake of new technologies and responding to customer demands. Module 1 looks at how sustainability is an integral part of corporate strategy in shipping and how shipping companies can use sustainability to increase their competitiveness. The role of innovation is particularly important in this context. Module 1 discusses how companies can take advantage of changes in the external environment and internal resources and how sustainability affects the strategic positioning of the company. In Module 2, students learn how sustainability affects shipping operations, with a focus on decarbonisation and environmental compliance. Both modules address sustainability in shipping, building on different disciplines. This ensures that students are able to gain management insights when considering technological, operational, regulatory, and geopolitical developments.

Each session combines theoretical readings with case study discussions on existing sustainability challenges for shipping companies and encourages students to understand and apply abstract frameworks but also discuss their limitations. The students will learn how to integrate ideas and concepts to solve complex realistic problems. They will also learn how to select and acquire relevant knowledge for solving sustainability challenges related to shipping. Through the analysis of how sustainability issues have been dealt with, students explore how executives were able to recognize opportunities for innovations and translate them into strategy or adapt their operations to account for the changed environment.