Daily Update — August 26, 2026
Global Ship Ownership; Private Market Insights; and AI in Breakbulk Sector
Today is Wednesday, August 26, 2026, and here’s your curated selection of Essential Intelligence on global markets from S&P Global. Subscribe to be notified of each new Daily Update.
Global Trade
Listen: Maritime Risk: Who Really Owns the World’s Ships?
More than 90% of global trade moves by sea, but identifying the ultimate owners and operators of vessels remains one of the maritime sector’s biggest compliance challenges. In this episode of “The Decisive” podcast, Jeremy Domballe, product director of maritime intelligence and risk at S&P Global Market Intelligence, joined host Kristen Hallam to discuss the hidden ownership crisis and why beneficial ownership transparency matters for sanctions compliance, illegal fishing, money laundering risk and supply chain integrity.
Domballe explained how complex corporate structures, shell companies, nominee arrangements and rapid ownership transfers can obscure the true decision-makers behind maritime assets. He also discussed why vessel tracking alone is not enough, how regulatory gaps create risk for governments and businesses, and why a more vessel-centric approach to due diligence is becoming essential.
Private Markets
Investment Perspectives: Insights from Singapore
Liquidity remains one of the most significant structural challenges across private markets. A substantial volume of capital remains tied up in aging private equity portfolios as exit activity slows and holding periods increase.
Average holding periods for portfolio companies rose steadily from 4.3 years in 2017 to a peak of 5.3 years in 2024, before easing to 5.1 years in 2025. This decline does not signal a broad reopening of exit markets, as a meaningful backlog of assets remains and clearing it could take several years. About 30% of the value in 11- to 12-year-old funds remains unrealized. Many investors expect this capital to have been returned and redeployed by now.
These dynamics are influencing fundraising conditions. Private equity fundraising decreased to just under $400 billion in 2025 from almost $550 billion in 2023. Investors are increasingly rewarding managers who demonstrate a credible distribution track record. Funds that closed in 2024 and 2025 typically showed stronger distributions to paid-in capital and above-average returns in earlier vintages.
Artificial Intelligence
Breakbulk industry warily wades into AI
The adoption of AI in the breakbulk sector is being hampered by skepticism among shippers and freight forwarders. An energy industry shipper told The Journal of Commerce by S&P Global that reticence to use AI in the breakbulk industry stems from data issues. While the data is there, the uniqueness of global industrial projects decreases training opportunities for AI compared with datasets from standardized industries such as containers.
“The industry’s caution is understandable given the high operational and commercial risks involved,” said Khaldon Al Karmadi, associate at the University of Cambridge’s Clare Hall and a mentor for agentic AI entrepreneurs in the supply chain, adding that there are opportunities for AI-powered supply chain risk management.
In case you missed it
- Japanese business activity growth in August accelerated for the second time in three months, adding to signs of a robust economic recovery following softness in the early months of the Middle East war.
- The Panama Canal Authority will cut the number of daily transit slots starting Sept. 3 due to below-normal rainfall in the watershed that feeds the waterway. This could squeeze shipping capacity amid an expected seasonal pickup of US Gulf soybean exports to China.
- At least two Indonesian met coke producers notified customers of shipment delays and production curtailments following mandatory water rationing at the Indonesia Morowali Industrial Park, raising concerns over export availability and seaborne coking coal demand.
Upcoming events
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