Shipping People: Luís Miguel Sousa

Shipping People: Luís Miguel Sousa

In the 11th edition of the interview series #ShippingPeople - meet the European Shipowners, we hand the microphone to Luís Miguel Sousa, Founder, President & CEO Grupo Sousa & Chair of the General Assembly of the Portuguese Shipowners' Association.

1. Main challenges and solutions for shipping to meet climate neutrality by 2050

Shipping's path to climate neutrality by 2050 is shaped by a fundamental tension between ambition and industrial reality. European policymakers must calibrate environmental objectives with the operational, technological and economic constraints faced by shipping. A transition that ignores fuel availability, cost, safety and long asset lifecycles risks undermining the competitiveness of European shipowners without delivering real emissions reductions. Climate ambition cannot run ahead of industrial reality.

The sector's main challenge remains the absence of scalable, commercially viable zero-carbon fuels, combined with long investment cycles for vessels and infrastructure. In the near term, solutions must be fuel-agnostic and supported by technology-neutral regulation. Energy efficiency, digital optimisation, wind-assisted propulsion and transitional fuels, alongside the uptake of sustainable biofuels, e-methanol and ammonia, are essential. Achieving climate neutrality ultimately depends on predictable regulation, targeted public funding and strong global coordination through the IMO, ensuring a level playing field and preventing carbon leakage from Europe.

1. Digitalisation and its impact on seafarers

Digitalisation is already reshaping onboard operations, from navigation and engine monitoring to cargo handling and predictive maintenance. Far from replacing seafarers, digital tools increasingly support decision-making, enhance safety and reduce administrative burdens. However, digitalisation fundamentally changes competence requirements, making training, certification and continuous upskilling critical. As ships adopt new fuels, digital systems will also play a central role in fuel management, safety monitoring and compliance, intersecting directly with the energy transition and introducing new handling and risk profiles onboard. We cannot digitalise ships without future-proofing the people operating them.

To manage this transition, maritime education must integrate digital and fuel-related competencies, certification standards must evolve accordingly, and closer cooperation is needed between shipowners, training institutions and technology providers. Human-centred design remains essential to ensure systems support crews rather than overload them. Digitalisation will only deliver safer and more efficient shipping if investment in people keeps pace with investment in technology.

1. Strategic role of shipping for European security

As shipowners, we underpin Europe's supply chains, ensuring the flow of energy, raw materials, food and goods essential to economic activity and competitiveness. We operate in a harsh environment, with seafarers on the frontline of extreme weather and security threats. When shipping is at risk, Europe is at risk.

Against this backdrop, the energy transition intensifies the challenge. The introduction of alternative fuels brings new safety considerations, requiring adapted procedures, awareness and robust onboard risk management. These challenges increase the consequences of incidents at sea, with implications extending beyond ships and crews to coastal States. Security cannot be addressed in isolation.

Maritime security is a shared and ongoing responsibility. It depends on continued cooperation between shipowners, seafarers and naval forces to deter and counter terrorist acts targeting ships and crews. This enduring partnership remains essential to protect lives, safeguard vessels and secure Europe's critical maritime supply chains.

1. Enabling factors to accelerate the energy transition

Accelerating the energy transition in shipping requires regulatory clarity, financial support and infrastructure deployment, particularly for European shipowners operating in a fully global market.

Long-term policy certainty is essential to enable investment decisions and avoid stranded assets in a capital-intensive industry with long asset lifecycles. Targeted public funding and risk-sharing mechanisms are needed to narrow the cost gap between conventional and low-carbon fuels during the transition phase. At the same time, fuel supply and port infrastructure must develop in parallel with fleet investments, ensuring availability across key trade routes.

Close cooperation between shipowners, fuel producers, ports and technology providers will be decisive, while global alignment through the IMO remains essential to prevent market distortion and carbon leakage. European shipowners are being asked to compete globally while decarbonising alone. The transition will only accelerate if regulation, incentives and technology move together, at a realistic pace and within a globally coordinated framework.

1. Increasing diversity and opportunities in shipping

Without leadership, diversity remains an aspiration, not a reality. For shipowners, this means committing to structural change and sustained action to attract women and underrepresented groups, starting early through education, outreach and clear entry routes into maritime training and employment.

But attraction alone is not enough. To turn opportunity into long-term participation, inclusive working environments onboard and ashore are essential. This includes appropriate facilities, zero-tolerance for harassment, flexible career paths and transparent promotion processes. Mentoring and visible role models are equally critical to addressing unconscious bias and opening access to technical and leadership roles.

If we cannot retain talent, we do not have a diversity strategy. Retention connects leadership and inclusion to performance. Diversity is therefore a business imperative, strengthening the industry through broader perspectives, innovation and resilience, and must be embedded in company culture, supported by measurable targets and accountability across the sector.

For press and media enquiries, please contact:

Luisa Puccio, [email protected], +32 492 733623