What matters are principles: positioning, language and service promises.
Translating technical performance into customer value and leveraging specialist content.
Grand sustainability claims without their own operational foundation.
Translate technical competence into recognisable communication.
The large liner carriers — Maersk, CMA CGM, MSC, Hapag-Lloyd, Evergreen — have fundamentally changed their communication in recent years. Previously, it sufficed to communicate transit times, frequencies and freight capacities. Today, these companies position themselves as platforms for integrated logistics, decarbonisation and data-driven transparency.
Maersk created ECO Delivery, a product enabling freight customers to ship with reduced emissions — communicated through a clear brand with defined methodology. Hapag-Lloyd has built Ship Green, a similar product. CMA CGM has established its LNG strategy as a standalone brand narrative. Common to these approaches: technical performance is translated into language the customer understands and can communicate internally.
The underlying structure follows a pattern: technical basis (which measure reduces emissions), methodology (how the benefit is calculated), verification (who confirms the methodology), communication (how the benefit is communicated to the customer). This chain — technology, methodology, verification, communication — is the foundational framework for every robust brand claim in the maritime sector.
Large carriers can build this chain with substantial resources: dedicated sustainability teams, cooperations with consultancies such as Boston Consulting Group or McKinsey, verification through classification societies. Smaller companies lack these resources — but they can adopt the logic.
The decisive point is that the brand claim rests on operational substance. A small consultancy that claims to advance the decarbonisation of shipping must underpin that claim with concrete competence — demonstrated experience in fuel system planning, engine conversion or CII optimisation, for instance. Without this substance, the brand claim is an empty promise.
Three principles can be directly transferred from large carriers to smaller maritime companies:
1. Specialist content as a trust signal. Maersk, Hapag-Lloyd and CMA CGM regularly publish technical content — sustainability reports, methodology documents, industry insights. These serve not direct sales but the building of authority and trust. A small consultancy can achieve the same with blog articles, technical guides and case studies — provided the content is technically sound.
2. Precision over breadth. Large carriers can position themselves as generalists because their scale supports the breadth. Smaller companies must be more precise: what exactly can we do, for whom, with what outcome? A clear specialisation — in maintenance planning for dual-fuel systems or spare parts procurement for methanol engines, for instance — is more credible than attempting to cover everything.
3. Recognisability through consistent language. Maersk consistently speaks of "green methanol", not alternating between "alternative fuels" and "sustainable shipping". This linguistic consistency creates recognisability. Smaller companies should define their core terms and use them consistently — in every publication, on every webpage, in every presentation.
The maritime industry knows numerous examples of smaller companies that have established themselves through clear positioning and technical depth. In consulting, firms such as Breakwave Advisory or Marsoft have positioned themselves as specialists in shipping analytics — not through scale but through precision and network.
In the technical domain, companies such as RINA or Wartsila Marine Systems have built their brand recognition over decades through consistent specialist publications, conference presence and standard-setting. These companies demonstrate that brand building in B2B operates not through advertising but through proven competence.
The lesson for new market participants: the maritime sector is small enough that technical quality spreads quickly — and large enough that there is always a niche for specialists. The prerequisite is that the positioning is honest and the operational performance delivers on the promise.
The following steps form a robust framework for brand development:
Define core competence: What can we demonstrably do better or differently than the competition? This competence must be operationally evidenced, not merely claimed.
Specify target audience: Which customer type has precisely this problem? Superintendent? Fleet manager? Technical director? The more precise the target audience, the more effective the communication.
Establish language and terms: Which three to five core terms do we use consistently? These terms should be technically correct, comprehensible and differentiating.
Build specialist content systematically: Regular publications on core topics — not as advertising but as evidence of competence and commitment.
Link promises to performance: Every brand claim must be supported by operational results. References, case studies and concrete outcomes are more valuable than self-descriptions.
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