Boards are juggling growth, transformation and cost control, and every challenge comes back to people. This report reveals what senior maritime executives are planning next.

What’s inside the report:

✅Senior executive careers: Confidence, mobility, and what makes leaders stay or go.

✅People priorities: Culture, capability building, retention and succession.

✅AI & technology: How leaders plan to apply AI, from productivity to decision-making.

✅Reward & cost control: Technology investment, employee and executive reward.

✅Future maritime talent & leadership: Advocacy, next-gen leaders and maritime hubs.

Authored by Mark Charman, CEO & Founder, Faststream Recruitment.
Three decades in executive search for maritime and shipping, advising boards on senior appointments and executive reward.

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Executive Summary

The 2025 Senior Maritime Executive Report paints a picture of an industry balancing optimism with caution. Senior leaders remain deeply committed to the sector’s future but are candid about the pressures shaping their roles, their people, and the businesses they lead.

Career confidence has improved compared with earlier years, with fewer executives citing job security concerns. Yet mobility is rising, with more leaders making career moves and fewer regretting them, showing that senior talent is increasingly willing to take risks in pursuit of challenge, purpose, and alignment with organisational values. The challenge of succession, however, looms large: with retirements on the horizon and only 17% confident in their succession plans, the sector cannot afford complacency.

People issues remain firmly at the centre of business strategy. Company culture is still seen as the greatest lever for business impact, while developing internal talent and upskilling emerge as the top priorities for the year ahead.

Leaders are turning to the “Build, Buy, Borrow, Bot” playbook, favouring investment in internal capability while blending external hiring, technological solutions, and flexible models. Retention and resilience are seen as equally vital, as the race to secure and keep talent intensifies.

Technology, and particularly artificial intelligence, has become a defining force. Two-thirds of maritime executives report their businesses are already using AI, yet only a fraction feel highly confident in their strategies to leverage it effectively. While the impact on jobs so far has been more positive than disruptive, with many reporting that AI is enhancing roles rather than replacing them, the question of leadership accountability is rising. Whether through a Chief AI Officer or other dedicated roles, the C-suite of the future could look very different.

Reward and cost control remain pressing concerns. Leaders are walking a fine line between managing rising employee expectations and protecting profitability. Many are turning to smarter cost-control strategies, investing in automation and technology before resorting to cuts. At the same time, scrutiny on executive pay is intensifying, with stakeholders demanding transparency, fairness, and performance-linked justification.

Looking ahead, maritime’s future talent pipeline remains a source of both confidence and challenge. The vast majority of executives would still recommend the industry as a career, and most believe new generations are ready to succeed. But questions remain over whether the sector itself is ready to embrace diversity of thought and break away from reinforcing sameness. Global talent hubs are shifting, too, with Singapore maintaining its lead, but Dubai is emerging as a powerful contender, and Shanghai is gaining momentum as a rising force.

The findings reveal a sector that is evolving under the twin pressures of digital transformation and sustainability. Maritime executives are optimistic about the opportunities ahead but realistic about the work still to be done, whether in preparing future leaders, embedding technology with purpose, or creating cultures and rewards that will retain the people essential to long-term success.