Splash
Splash writes business-focused commentary for Splash, using the global shipping industry to tell larger stories about money, power and risk in world trade. Their coverage tracks how policy shifts, security concerns and commodity cycles change demand for seaborne cargoes and the fortunes of the companies that move them. They write in the collective voice of the masthead, with pieces that sit between market analysis and editorial column. The through-line is a focus on commercial consequences: who benefits, who loses and how quickly the market adjusts.
Coal as an energy security asset
In work examining coal as an energy security asset, Splash treats a traditionally “dirty” fuel as a live business question rather than a settled moral one. The piece frames coal’s resurgence through the lens of supply security, grid stability and the scramble for alternative sourcing when geopolitics upend gas and oil flows. It looks at how this shift drives fresh demand for coal shipments, changes trade routes and affects earnings for bulk carriers and their owners. Environmental pressure is present, but it is weighed against price, reliability and strategic stockpiling, reflecting an interest in the practical trade-offs companies and governments make. That balance of climate ambition and security realism is typical of how they approach energy-related cargoes.
Shipping markets and the business of commodities
Beyond coal, Splash consistently links commodity stories back to freight markets, vessel deployment and investment decisions. They highlight how moves in energy, minerals and agricultural goods translate into ton-mile demand, vessel scarcity or oversupply and shifts in bargaining power between charterers and owners. Corporate strategy sits alongside market data: their pieces look at how shipowners, traders and utilities respond to shocks with new contracts, different routes or changes in fleet mix. Regulatory pressure and sanctions are treated as commercial variables, shaping which trades are viable and which assets become stranded or newly valuable. The result is coverage that makes macro events legible in terms of balance sheets and orderbooks.
Opinion-led, industry-facing format
Splash writes in a concise, opinion-led format aimed at an industry audience that follows shipping closely. The tone is direct and sometimes provocative, using clear arguments rather than neutral voice to push readers to reassess comfortable assumptions in sectors like coal, oil and gas. Pieces are tightly structured, often built around a single thesis and a few well-chosen examples rather than long chains of quotes. Market implications are foregrounded, with attention to freight rates, asset values and risk rather than political point-scoring. This style makes their work most useful when a story needs an editorial frame that stresses commercial impact and industry consequences rather than general-interest explanation.
4 more business journalists.
Alex Bronzini-Vender
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Alex Smith
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Alison Durkee
Alison Durkee focuses on how law, regulation and politics create business risks for major companies and industries. She is a reporter at Forbes, where she writes news-driven explainers on complex legal and regulatory developments and their impact on corporate strategy, reputation and markets. Her coverage centers on companies under scrutiny, especially in technology and other high-growth sectors, and tracks trials, investigations and fast-changing policy fights. She breaks down lawsuits, inquiries and regulatory moves into clear parts, grounded in timelines, filings and official actions. She reports on generative artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies as tests of legal frameworks and corporate risk management, explaining how issues like intellectual property, safety compliance, consumer protection and governance can reshape product roadmaps, partnerships and investor expectations.
Alyson Shontell
Alyson Shontell covers business through the lens of leadership, using in-depth conversations with powerful executives and founders to show how their decisions shape companies, markets, and public life. She is editor in chief at Fortune, overseeing coverage across the masthead while continuing to write selected high-impact pieces. Her core work is long, reported interviews and profiles of CEOs of large companies, dominant tech firms, and fast-growing startups. She focuses on how leaders think, manage risk, make unconventional calls, and handle crises, culture, and the future of work. Her subjects include corporate chiefs, startup founders, and political figures treated as executives. She probes operating detail, governance, internal culture, and trade-offs around growth, disruption, and workplace models, using concrete examples and direct, accessible prose that foregrounds the subject’s voice while pressing for specifics.