What three days in Singapore taught us about the future of food at sea

Fresh food at sea is no longer a welfare question. It's becoming an operational one, and Asia Pacific Maritime 2026 made that shift visible.

By Alon Wallach, Co-founder & COO, Agwa

For decades, ships have loaded fresh produce in port, consumed it in the first two weeks, and relied on frozen or preserved alternatives for the rest of the voyage. That has become accepted as normal, but it creates a persistent gap between life at sea and life on shore that has barely changed, despite almost everything else about vessel operations evolving around it.

At APM 2026, the appetite to close that gap felt different. There was strong enthusiasm among all visitors to our stand, and for most of them, the value was intuitive and immediately clear. People recognised that access to fresh food onboard improves life at sea in multiple ways: nutritionally, psychologically, and as a daily signal of whether the company is genuinely investing in its crew.

The mood on the floor

Sustainability has become a strategic priority, and food sits inside it

One of the clearest signals at APM was the number of shore-based sustainability professionals visiting the stand. These were people with mandates, budgets, and a genuine desire to make progress. Sustainability is no longer a trend shipping companies are watching from a distance, it is a strategic priority they are actively building around, and Agwa can play a meaningful role in advancing those efforts.

Growing produce onboard reduces reliance on refrigerated supply chains, cuts provisioning waste, and eliminates a significant share of the carbon footprint embedded in traditional catering logistics. But what stood out most at APM was not the environmental argument, it was how quickly people connected that to the daily experience of life onboard. The two are not separate conversations. Increasingly, operators are treating them as one.

Crew wellbeing and food

Among innovative operators, this is already a priority – and the enjoyment of food matters as much as the nutrition

Among the more progressive shipping companies – those investing not only in advanced vessel systems but also in a genuinely progressive approach to crew welfare – it is clear that fresh food onboard is a highly important topic. 

Many of the people responsible for crew wellbeing in these companies are former seafarers themselves. They deeply understand the importance of fresh food at sea – and just as importantly, the enjoyment of it. That word matters. This is not only a nutritional or operational question. It is about what it feels like to spend months away from home, and whether the company you work for has thought seriously about that experience. That awareness often places fresh food solutions ahead of other initiatives aimed at improving quality of life onboard, because the impact is immediate, visible, and felt every single day.

Barriers and constraints

Capturing the value that's hard to put on a spreadsheet.

Cost is always part of the discussion. Like any business, shipping companies aim to maximise profitability, and fresh food onboard is not a straightforward ROI-driven decision. The value often sits in areas that resist easy quantification: crew morale, the quality of daily life, the sense that an employer is paying attention.

But it was clear to anyone who visited our stand that vessels equipped with Agwa systems become more attractive workplaces. They increase crew appreciation toward employers. They strengthen a company's image as one that actively invests in improving life at sea. As competition for experienced, high-quality crew intensifies – and the projected shortfall of ninety thousand qualified seafarers by 2026 makes that competition structural, not cyclical – that kind of reputation becomes harder to build late in the day.

Conversations at the stand

The concept was familiar. The execution was not.

One of the more surprising insights from APM was that hydroponics at sea is not a new idea. Many experienced maritime professionals had already encountered simple onboard growing systems – low-cost solutions, DIY setups, earlier attempts. They knew the concept.

But all of those approaches had the same drawback: despite their intuitive appeal, they required significant time and effort from the crew, and the yield was not worthwhile. Systems were abandoned. The category developed a scepticism it didn't entirely deserve.

That history sharpened every conversation at our stand. When visitors understood that Agwa's system delivers consistent, high-quality produce with near-zero crew involvement – fully automated, plug-and-play, already operating at scale on vessels run by Fednav, ZIM, Synergy Marine Group, EPS, and others – the shift was immediate. The concept wasn't new. The execution was. That realisation created a clear "aha moment” for virtually everyone we spoke with.

Where this is heading

The onboard catering landscape is changing, and the early movers are already visible

I believe that a big shift in the entire onboard catering landscape in the maritime industry is already underway. Companies such as EPS and Maersk are introducing superfoods, improving food standards, training cooks with professional chefs, and sourcing higher-quality ingredients. Agwa is a natural and important part of that broader transformation.

Alongside competitive salaries and contract conditions, onboard living standards are becoming an increasingly important factor in where seafarers choose to work. The quality of daily food, and the feeling that an employer has thought seriously about the experience of life at sea, is becoming part of that decision. The companies moving early are building an advantage that will be difficult to replicate later.

What drives adoption, in my experience, is not primarily a commercial decision made at arm's length. The real force behind it comes from individuals who previously served at sea and have progressed into leadership roles. As former seafarers, they understand the value of fresh, high-quality food onboard in a way that doesn't need explaining. Their personal experience creates strong alignment with the real needs of crews, and they actively champion solutions like Agwa from a place of genuine identification with both the challenge and the opportunity.

Welfare as benevolence is discretionary. Welfare as operational investment is not.