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Today’s petrochemical supply chain leaders face a complex web of interconnected pressures. Geopolitical tensions, shifting trade policies, emerging market competition and the demands of the energy transition have created a new normal in which supply chain continuity is evermore essential. In this climate, true business resilience is achieved by systematically identifying and managing the operational risks that fall within a company’s control.Imagine a scenario: A tanker scheduled to transport essential chemical feedstock is detained at a loading port, resulting in an extended delay. The immediate impact can include financial penalties, extended berth occupancy and other operational inconveniences. But the extended supply chain consequences are often more damaging. Delays can have significant downstream implications, potentially forcing manufacturing plants to adapt production rates unless acceptable alternative product can be sourced — often at a premium price. In niche specialty markets, finding alternative product is frequently not an option at all.Such disruption potentially affects the availability of finished products, complicates inventory management and causes significant strain on customer relationships. The American Chemistry Council reports that more than 90% of chemical manufacturers are impacted by supply chain and freight transportation disruptions, with around 60% reporting higher transportation costs and reliance on inventory buffers. Logistics disruption has become a recurring commercial risk directly impacting revenue certainty, margins and capital efficiency.The industry is not eliminating risk, it is managing risk. The role of effective vessel screening and assurance becomes a critical step and a competitive advantage for organizations. These are not unpredictable market events; they are the direct outcomes of foreseeable risk patterns and are largely manageable. However, when marine assurance is not undertaken, or simply treated as a compliance checkbox rather than a strategic lever, it exposes the entire value chain to preventable failures.Understanding Potential Risks From DataAccording to RightShip’s 2025 vessel data, around 61% of incidents on chemical tankers occur on vessels aged over 14 years. There are roughly 6,000 to 8,500 chemical tankers in the global trading fleet, around 51% of which are aged over 15 years. Low replacement vessel orders, combined with longer asset lifecycles, are factors that negatively influence the average vessel age. And whilst age alone is not determinative of a vessel’s risk, data clearly suggests that reliability divergence widens sharply after approximately 15 years.The practical insurance implications for vessels more than 15 years old can include rate loadings, higher deductibles or restricted cover — driven by increased machinery failures, higher repair frequency and cost — and greater uncertainty around material conditions on aging tonnage. While some vessels over 20 years old perform better than younger peers, these vessels are all technically capable but are increasingly differentiated in reliability. As such, the commercial risk is no longer average fleet age, it is the widening performance gap between well-maintained and poorly maintained older vessels.Moreover, RightShip’s analysis of more than 8,000 port state control inspections on chemical tanker vessels in 2025 shows the average detention rate was 2%, with cargoes on those affected vessels delayed by an average of 6.1 days. In key downstream locations such as Antwerp, Rotterdam or Hamburg, delays extended to between 11 and 21 days. For an industry heavily reliant on just-in-time supply chains, this represents a significant operational event that can materially impact business and supply chain performance. Perhaps more concerningly — noting the flammability of cargoes carried — the most frequent detention causes relate to fire safety and fire prevention conditions on board vessels.From Marine Assurance to Resilience and Competitive AdvantageTo navigate today’s market effectively, petrochemical companies must strategically transform their thinking about marine assurance from an unnecessary cost or inconvenience into a source of resilience and competitive advantage for their entire supply chain. An indicator in the form of delivery reliability is a competitive differentiator, not a hygiene factor. Leading organizations view assurance activity as a commercial enabler that safeguards uptime, protects supply chain continuity, upholds customer trust and enhances brand reputation.This begins with a fundamental shift in mindset enabled by data. Advancements in data and technology — such as the use of more sophisticated semantic models — enable organizations to process, evaluate and analyze vessel performance data more effectively. Linking vessel performance to supply chain, procurement and ESG key performance indicators can make the financial impact of vessel assurance visible and actionable. This positions vessel assurance as an integrated component of a company’s overall supply chain performance.The final, critical step is to embed these assurance insights directly into decision workflows. Vessel data must be matched with critical insights at the vessel chartering or nomination stage. In the petrochemical sector, many chemical companies transport material through specialist tanker operators and carriers under contracts of affreightment, making the vessel nomination and approval process more opaque whilst being the precise point at which assurance data must be accessible and actionable.Decision-Ready Intelligence: AI-Enabled WorkflowsAcross global supply chains, the adoption of artificial intelligence-enabled tools is already reshaping how organizations manage complexity and make faster, better-informed decisions. McKinsey has observed that early adopters of AI-enabled supply chain management have improved logistics costs by 15%, reduced inventory levels by 35% and improved service levels by 65% compared with slower-moving competitors, which is a compelling signal that digital transformation in supply chain operations is no longer optional. The same shift is now arriving in vessel assurance.This strategic pivot is powered by integrated data and AI-enabled workflows that, when used together, can transform manual, fragmented assurance processes into a source of decision-ready intelligence. By combining key vessel data onto a unified platform, organizations can move to establish a more comprehensive systems view, eliminating information silos that traditionally hinder effective and efficient risk assessment. Digital workflows can automate routine checks such as verifying certificates or cross-referencing sanctions lists, reducing the manual workload on teams and allowing them to focus expertise on higher-risk voyages and strategic decisions.Critically, AI’s value in marine assurance is not to replace human expertise, it is to remove friction from the process of applying that expertise. The goal is improved speed, consistency, traceability and defensibility of decisions, with human accountability firmly retained. Governance frameworks must define how technology supports decisions, and accountability must remain anchored with subject matter experts who understand the operational realities of vessels, terminals and supply chains.Through visual dashboards and structured intelligence outputs, raw data is translated into actionable intelligence for charterers, schedulers and operations managers, allowing them to assess risk quickly and confidently. The result is a more standardized, traceable and defensible marine assurance process — one that can demonstrate due diligence at every step, a growing expectation from regulators, insurers and counterparties alike.Organizations That Master Controllable Risk Will LeadIn an era defined by geopolitical and economic uncertainty, enhancing control over maritime operations is a strategic imperative. It provides the foundation for building lasting business resilience, enabling leaders to make informed, risk-based decisions that contribute to protecting their operations, their customers and their financial performance. While external market volatility is always going to be a given, mastering the controllable risks within the supply chain will contribute to distinguish the most successful and durable enterprises.The petrochemical sector’s exposure to vessel risk is real, measurable and manageable. The data exists. The technology is here. What remains is the strategic decision to embed marine assurance — not as a box to tick, but as a disciplined, data-driven function that delivers commercial advantage. For organizations operating in a sector where margins are tight and disruption is costly, that decision has never been more consequential.Andrew Roberts is Executive Director, for Europe, the Middle East, Africa and the Americas at RightShip, the world’s leading maritime risk management and environmental assessment organization. The views expressed in this article are those of the author.
