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The evolution toward smart shipping does not reduce the importance of maritime professionals; it elevates itHow are digitalisation and AI currently influencing your fleet's competitiveness in terms of freight rates, operating costs, and ESG performance? Digitalisation and AI influence competitiveness primarily by enhancing operational control rather than altering the structural forces that determine freight rates. Market pricing remains externally driven, but technology improves a fleet's performance within that environment. By strengthening cost visibility and reducing operational uncertainty, digital systems contribute to sustained commercial resilience. From an operating cost perspective, AI-supported analytics allow continuous examination of fuel consumption behaviour, machinery efficiency, and voyage performance under dynamic conditions. Instead of relying on retrospective reporting, operators can intervene in real time, thus shortening response cycles, reducing inefficiencies before they compound, and supporting more accurate budgeting. Over time, this translates into greater cost stability, which is particularly valuable during volatile market cycles. In terms of ESG performance, digitalisation enables structured, traceable environmental reporting. Emissions monitoring, performance benchmarking, and automated data aggregation strengthen the credibility of disclosures. However, ESG competitiveness is also shaped by the regulatory framework in which vessels operate. When regulatory regimes diverge across jurisdictions, compliance costs increase and strategic planning becomes more complex. Technology can enhance transparency and efficiency, but it cannot neutralise regulatory inconsistency. Sustainable competitiveness, therefore, requires both intelligent operational systems and coherent global regulatory alignment.Opinions expressed byCapt. Nestor Grigoropoulos (MSc)HSSQE Department / DPAat Sea Traders S.A. / Prominence Maritime S.A.Capt. Nestor Grigoropoulos highlights that smart shipping is driven not by autonomy but by the powerful combination of digital tools and human expertise. He stresses that AI enhances efficiency, transparency, and decision-making, while the industry%u2019s real progress depends on skilled professionals, aligned regulations, and realistic pathways for decarbonisation.Smart shipping160 NX