About Fürstenberg Maritime Advisory

We are a micro consultancy with macro ambitions and 20+ years of leadership experience

Sofia

I am passionate about innovation and solving bigger problems for a better future. This is why I have dedicated my career to use my skills, knowledge and experiences to create positive impact for the maritime industry, and for long-term sustainability overall. With a background from DNV and Maersk, I’ve built my name in the industry as a brave and trusted partner for change. I am an analyst at the core, am known to untangle complexity and create common ground for fact-based strategic decision-making. I am a highly skilled communicator and facilitator.

    • MSc in Chemical Engineering from Lund Institute of Technology

    • EMBA in Shipping & Logistics from Copenhagen Business School

    • Executive Diploma from Haas Business School, Berkeley

    • Sofia is a certified Better Business Acceleration Leader.

    • Unafraid and inquisitive mindset

    • Very strong knowledge base

    • Highly experienced in facilitation, public speaking, and thought leadership

    • Proven ability to structure and deliver complex, multi-stakeholder programmes

    • Multilingual and high cross-cultural awareness

  • Sofia has 20 years’ experience spanning strategy, innovation and technical delivery across the maritime sector

    • Applying outside-in, inside-out perspectives of the maritime industry

    • Connecting innovation models with sustainability impact opportunities

    • Approaching sustainability through risk and strategic foresight

    • Structuring cross-industry collaboration and innovation ecosystems

Get in touch:

Conor

The maritime industry has been central in my life since 1992. I’ve worked extensively offshore with the highest rank as Captain. In 2011, I moved to management ashore, initially engaging in technical management, and later full scope offshore asset management.

I joined FMA as a partner in 2019 with the ambition to drive a positive change in the industry. I enjoy engaging with leadership across all levels within maritime organisations, and drawing connections back to my own 20+ years of experience, either on- or offshore. What I’m most passionate about, and what drives my work at FMA is positioning sustainability in this wide, organisational maritime context.

    • Boardroom Certificate, AVT Copenhagen

    • MBA, Henley Denmark

    • Ship Management Diploma, Lloyds Maritime Academy

    • Master Marnier, Ireland

    • Certified Better Business Acceleration Leader, Future Navigators

    • Leadership and personal development focus,  a means to reach the individual.

    • Distilling complexity, for efficiency with strategic development

    • Dedicated mentor believing that deliberate action today is key for creating the future we need 

    • Public speaking as a vehicle for widening dialogue

  • Areas of Expertise

    • Strategy development

    • Technical operation

    • Sustainability practitioner

    • The commercial narrative for sustainability

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Our approach to Sustainability

There is an urgent need to improve sustainability in the maritime industry.

Our holistic approach considers economic development, social development, and environmental protection as interdependent, yet mutually reinforcing components.

Learn more about how we approach key aspects of maritime sustainability below.

  • Maritime transport is on an energy transition towards decarbonization. With the IMO targeting net-zero emissions by 2050, the industry faces increasing pressure to decarbonise while navigating technological uncertainty, evolving regulation, and shifting market expectations.

    Shipping’s transition will not happen in isolation. In coming years, we expect to see wider systemic changes across the energy sector, port infrastructure, and ship finance. We help maritime stakeholders identify their opportunities within this transition and gain strategic foresight into the future of the industry.

  • Sustainability is increasingly influencing the future of maritime finance and how funding channels view organisational resilience. As frameworks such as the Poseidon Principles evolve and expectations from lenders and investors continue to grow, access to capital is becoming more closely linked to transparency and ESG-reporting performance. This development is reshaping how financial risk, opportunity and value are assessed throughout the industry.

    We help organisations navigate emerging requirements connected to sustainable maritime finance, strengthen transparency around sustainability performance, and identify how evolving financial expectations may impact long-term competitiveness.

  • As the maritime industry navigates increasing complexity, digitalisation and rapid transformation, the role of seafarers and maritime professionals becomes ever more critical to the sector’s long-term sustainability. Investing in a strong organisational culture becomes essential to building a resilient maritime organisation, whose personnel is fit to navigate an uncertain future.

    We help organisations identify gaps and opportunities enabling to support seafarer welfare, which in turn attracts and retains the very best seafarers. We also work with capacity building of existing teams and crews, that support the implementation of sustainability strategies on the ground.

  • A healthy ocean is fundamental to the future of maritime transport and the global systems that depend on it. As ocean ecosystems come under increasing pressure, maritime stakeholders face growing environmental, operational, and societal risks ranging from extreme weather events to resource conflicts and shifting geopolitical dynamics.

    We work with organisations across the maritime value chain to identify where their activities intersect with ocean health, both directly and indirectly. By exploring connections through a broad sustainability lens, we help uncover new pathways to build long-term resilience and make a positive ocean impact.

  • A healthy ocean is fundamental to the future of maritime transport and the global systems that depend on it. As ocean ecosystems come under increasing pressure, maritime stakeholders face growing environmental, operational, and societal risks ranging from extreme weather events to resource conflicts.

    We work with organisations across the maritime value chain to identify where their activities intersect with ocean health - both directly and indirectly. By exploring connections through a broad sustainability lens, we help uncover new ways to build long-term resilience and make a positive ocean impact.

  • As the maritime industry navigates major global challenges, ports and coastal communities are becoming increasingly important partners. Navigating new economic contexts, supporting seafarer welfare and decarbonizing energy infrastructures will not happen solely within maritime organizations, but will also require cross-sector coordination and local implementation. This creates a new urgency for collaborating across the maritime value chain.

    We help organisations solve complex sustainability challenges through collaboration, whether it be with local workforces, policymakers or port authorities.

White Paper: Holistic approach to maritime sustainability

Our white paper explores how a holistic approach to sustainability can help the maritime industry navigate complex challenges while building future resilience

Our mission

Our mission is to build long term resilience across the maritime industry through holistic sustainability strategies and sector collaborations.

In the maritime industry, impact-driven business models, such as B-Corp, remain rare. While success is still largely measured through commercial performance, the growing urgency of sustainability challenges are putting industries' future resilience under pressure.

We do not believe the industry can transform overnight. Meaningful progress requires a gradual shift towards centering sustainability in core strategies, building internal capacities, and engaging in collaborations across the sector. Our role is to support maritime stakeholders in navigating this transition through strategy work and though leadership.

Our Vision

Our vision is to see a maritime industry providing a fully sustainable service and deploying its critical position to be a catalyst for sustainability globally.

Our partners

We partner with purpose driven leaders and organisations who are looking to move beyond regulatory compliance and ESG-reporting to embed sustainability into core strategy.

Our Story

Our journey started in 2019 in Copenhagen, Denmark.

After long careers in maritime corporate, we were both curious about starting something on our own. We saw a need for clearer focus, a more structured roadmap and much less noise.

We are husband and wife, but it wasn’t obvious that we would start our own consultancy together. We come with very different perspectives - Sofia with a more theoretical approach, and Conor with a more commercial and operational point of entry. It turned out that was our golden combination to work as a team.

So we decided to use our combined 35+ years of corporate experience to support the transition towards a more resilient and sustainable maritime industry. The thing is, we also have a lot of fun pursuing this ambition. Together. 

In 2021, we made the decision to move to Bromölla, and registered our company in Sweden. And that is how our mission of creating a fully sustainable maritime service continues.

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