Op-Ed: Choosing rewards over risk in third-party ship operation

René Kofod-Olsen

By René Kofod-Olsen, CEO, V.Group 

Over halfway into 2025 and the shipping industry continues to be pressured by the forces of transformation that surround it. Most recently, the International Maritime Organization agreed to a Net-zero Framework at MEPC 83, heralding a new, more stringent chapter in the industry’s decarbonization pathway. Geopolitical challenges also continue to influence market forces and trade patterns, presenting another layer of complexity for shipowners and operators. These converging pressures are, paradoxically, supporting the acceleration in clean technology adoption and digitalization as operators seek solutions that can simultaneously address regulatory requirements whilst strengthening their competitive position.

Keeping up with these complexities requires economies of scale and a multi-disciplinarian approach, spanning a range of areas beyond ship operation—including procurement, crew training, regulatory compliance and technology deployment. For smaller shipowners, the cost of effectively developing and maintaining in-house expertise in all these areas increasingly outweighs the perceived expense of partnering with a professional manager.

The scale and scope of today’s challenges reveal a growing gap between what is required and what individual operators can reasonably achieve on their own. With ship owners facing pressures from all directions—including environmental compliance, cybersecurity, and digital infrastructure—now, more than ever, they need a steady hand, deep operational insight, and a dependable partner to help them chart a clear path forward. Professional ship managers can bring this assurance, combining scale, global reach, and decades of hands-on experience to deliver practical, forward-thinking solutions that lighten the load and enhance long-term resilience.

However, with only 16% of vessels currently under third-party management, the opportunity remains significantly untapped. The industry’s previous resistance to outsourcing often stemmed from a desire to maintain direct control of operations in-house—a reality that is increasingly at odds with the demands of modern ship management. It is, therefore, worth challenging the belief that partnering with professional ship managers reduces a shipowner’s level of control.

Take compliance with multiple environmental regulations as an example. The European Union, with its EU ETS and FuelEU Maritime regulations, and the IMO, with its existing CII and EEXI requirements, are both actively working to minimize the industry’s climate impact. These regulations vary in scope and remit, introducing a complex web of compliance requirements. For vessel owners with global operations, successful compliance with environmental regulations demands sophisticated monitoring, reporting, and verification systems.

Professional ship managers maintain dedicated compliance teams and leverage technologies to provide in-depth, industry-wide perspective that anticipates regulatory shifts, identifies emerging compliance patterns, and implements solutions that keep vessels ahead of evolving standards. This approach provides shipowners with deeper insights on their fleet to stay ahead at all times.

Meanwhile, it is also well known that digitalization, from advanced fleet management to predictive maintenance and AI-driven analytics, offers several benefits to efficiently—and transparently—manage vessels and operations. However, adopting these solutions requires significant investment—not just in technology, but in the expertise needed to implement and integrate them effectively.

Ship managers with global scale and larger fleets can help bridge this gap between opportunity and risk. By deploying these digital solutions across larger fleets, professional ship managers can tap into a powerful data flywheel effect – where more vessels generate richer datasets, which improve algorithms, deliver better insights and, ultimately, attract more vessels. This ensures that shipowners can reap the rewards of a cohesive digital ecosystem, spanning operations, maintenance, crew management and procurement, without the burden of setting up the infrastructure from scratch or getting stuck with siloed data insights.

Another challenge that cannot be overlooked is the importance of effective crew recruitment and retention. From handling complex cargo to upskilling for shipping’s digital age, vessels need crew that are qualified, competent and available wherever their operations may be.

Partnering with a professional ship manager brings the structure, scale, and reliability that shipowners need. With training centers across the world, access to high-end simulators, and robust welfare support that boosts morale and retention, ship managers provide fleets with the right mix of crew and skill sets at the right time, to optimize vessel and commercial performance.

Far from being just outsourced operators, professional ship managers can act as fully embedded partners that strengthen control over operations. Their value lies not only in executing tasks, but in integrating operational functions that are increasingly fragmented—compliance, procurement, maintenance, training, and digitalization—into one coherent system that improves oversight and enables more responsive decision-making.

For shipowners, partnerships with ship managers are even more rewarding where there is trust and where results are delivered consistently, reliably and across all aspects of operations. They provide ship owners with the peace of mind that the insights and data being exchanged are accurate and reflective of their needs. This enables shipowners to focus more fully on their core strategies, with confidence that their assets are in expert hands.

When shipowners collaborate with managers who offer these comprehensive, integrated services, they gain not just operational support, but a strategic edge. Through unified reporting, transparent performance tracking, and access to global expertise and crew, professional ship managers are helping owners stay ahead of tightening regulatory requirements while safeguarding operational continuity. In a market shaped by volatility and complexity, this approach to ship management provides a smarter, more resilient way to manage risk and ensure long-term success.