#208 Jorgen Lian - Hormuz, Panama Canal, China's Playbook And Shipping Stocks 2026

Jørgen, thank you so much for taking the time.

I know it's very busy at the office, so thank you so much.

It's a pleasure to be here.

Looking forward to it.

Shipping hasn't been boring in 2026 and probably not for many years, I guess.

But to start broad, why is shipping such a fascinating market to cover as an analyst?

Well, it's a good question.

I think that's really the reason why I like shipping is because I feel it's a great mix between what is very tangible for many people.

I think everyone can sort of relate to what it is, moving stuff around, making sure that you have whatever it is you need.

And at the same time, it's so incredibly complex, given that there are so many things that influence that flow of goods, and especially the price setting of that movement, which means that you're forced to some extent to look... be on something very specific and have an eye for everything that happens.

So be it political shifts, geopolitical events, even weather, which is now very much important on how things move.

All of these things combined make it incredibly interesting to have so many data points to follow all the time.

So that's really the appeal, in my opinion.

And it's pretty simple.

You have a huge steel structure that sails around.

Everyone can relate to what that is.

It becomes a bit more technical when it's high tech or whatever.

Difficult to me, at least.

Yeah, so shipping is incredibly complex, but it's not like you're deciding on if cloud or open AI is going to have the best frontier model at any time.

It's a bit more tangible.

No, exactly.

And I like that.

I like to joke that it's pretty simple.

We just count ships and it's an easy place to start.