Rather than gazing five years into the future, the agenda is built around the questions procurement leaders are actually wrestling with today: talent, ESG, digital transformation, and the accelerating role of AI. Here's a walk-through of what delegates can expect across the two days.

Day One: Strategic Overview and Talent Management

The event opens with Susan Koefoed, Chair & CEO of IMPA, presenting The State of Maritime Procurement: Trends, Priorities & Future Direction. Drawing on IMPA's latest industry survey, this session sets the tone for the two days, covering everything from ESG and supply chain resilience to talent and technology.

From there, Rick Ackermann, Head of Procurement at BW LPG, delivers a keynote with a provocative title: The Advantages of Modern Buying and the Risk of Knowing Less. His argument: procurement has never had more tools or data at its disposal, but the profession may be at risk of raising a generation of buyers who've never had to learn the fundamentals the hard way.

That theme carries directly into the next session, where Fiona Kerr, Head of Procurement at North Star, shares a candid look at building structured development programmes for junior buyers, relevant given that, in her own team, over 70% of staff are in the first few years of their procurement careers.

After the networking lunch, the talent conversation culminates in a Leadership Debate: Perspectives on Talent, Knowledge and the Next Generation of Procurement Professionals, bringing together Rick Ackermann, Fiona Kerr, Joanne McCulloch (Global Head of Fleet Procurement & Logistics, V.Group), and Alex Drew (Group Procurement Director, FLEET Management Limited). The panel tackles an uncomfortable question head-on: as tools and processes mature, is the depth of knowledge among newer buyers keeping pace with what the role actually demands?

The afternoon pivots to sustainability under the banner ESG & IMPA SAVE: Carbon, Circularity and Supply Chain Transformation. Paolo Magonio (Head of Group Procurement & Services, Scorpio Group) and Saurish Nandi (Head of Compliance Solutions, ShipServ) present IMEF: From Framework to Implementation, covering pilot findings and case studies from the Maritime Environmental Footprint Initiative. This is followed by Tore Strand, CEO & Co-Founder of C-Loop, on the IMPA SAVE Rope Circularity Initiative, tackling the hundreds of thousands of tonnes of synthetic rope that reach end-of-life each year with no clear disposal pathway.

Day One closes with an open forum for reflections, debate, and audience Q&A.

Day Two: Digital Transformation & Artificial Intelligence

If Day One is about people, Day Two is about the tools reshaping how they work. The day opens with the Global Maritime Procurement Council (GMPC) presenting insights from the latest Digitalisation Maturity Index, benchmarking how ready the industry really is for digital transformation.

Immo Brüggemann, Managing Director of Creatum GmbH, follows with AI Demystified: A Practical Introduction for Maritime Procurement, a grounding session for anyone still finding their feet with AI, focused on where it can realistically create value.

Two back-to-back case studies then bring theory into practice. Henning Wegner, Head of Procurement at Oldendorff Carriers, gives a shipowner's perspective on how AI is improving decision-making and streamlining operations. Will Rush, CEO & Co-Founder of Breakwater, follows with a supplier's-eye view of how AI is being used to support customers and optimise logistics. An audience forum on AI adoption across the industry rounds out the morning.

The pace picks up after that with AI in Maritime Procurement: Promise, Reality and Responsibility, the first of two panel sessions, featuring Henning Wegner, Carsten Schmidt (Vice President, ProcureShip), Will Rush, and Immo Brüggemann. The format is interactive: guest speakers respond live to audience feedback and questions, debating where AI genuinely stands today and whether it's being managed responsibly.

Over the lunch break, delegates can join a Lunch & Learn at the Wilhelmsen Ships Service stand, where Claudia Stolk, Head of Sales for Revelle™ Emission Monitoring, unpacks the practical implications of UK ETS legislation, in force since 1 July 2026, and how organisations can avoid overpayment.

The afternoon belongs to The Great AI Debate. Philippe Lavarde, Managing Director & CEO of Closelink, opens with Beyond Today: The Future of Artificial Intelligence, looking at what the next five years could hold. The debate then reconvenes with a fresh panel, Saurish Nandi, Philippe Lavarde, and Kenny K.S. Lee, Founder & CEO of NARWHAL PROJECT, broadening the conversation before closing with part 2, AI in Maritime Procurement: Promise, Reality and Responsibility panel session.

Why This Agenda Matters

What stands out across both days is the throughline: this isn't an event built around abstract trends. It's built around the tension procurement leaders are living with right now: how to modernise without losing institutional knowledge, how to hit ESG targets with real accountability, and how to adopt AI without outsourcing judgement. With speakers from BW LPG, North Star, V.Group, FLEET Management, Scorpio Group, ShipServ, Oldendorff Carriers, Breakwater, ProcureShip, Wilhelmsen, Closelink, and NARWHAL PROJECT all in the room, the debates promise to be as candid as the session titles suggest.

IMPA London 2026 takes place 22–23 September at the Queen Elizabeth II Centre, Westminster, London.

Register here today!