• BREAKBULK & PROJECT CARGO
  • April 24-26, 2024 | Hilton New Orleans Riverside, Louisiana

Laurence Allan

S&P Global

Director-Economics and Global Risk

Laurence leads S&P Global's Country Risk regional team for Europe/CIS, directing analysis and forecasting of political and violent risks, including geopolitical and global themes, and their impacts on the business operational environment. He has supported senior decision makers from diverse sectors on investment and operational issues across the region, including through delivery of bespoke sector and project level consultancy engagements; he is responsible for maintaining and developing expert in-country source networks and methodological rigour in our regional forecasting. Previously, he led the IHS Markit (now part of S&P Global) Latin America team. Before joining S&P Global, Laurence was a research analyst at the UK Foreign Office, providing Latin America expertise and insights for UK government policy makers and diplomats, briefing senior officials and ministers, and working with external stakeholders. He has lectured politics and international relations for several years, including at the University of London and the Royal College of Defence Studies (London). He has also worked on various projects - including on illegal drug policies, and effectiveness of public service provision - for non-profit organisations focused on Latin America and on Europe, including Transparency International, the Royal Society of Arts, and Amnesty International.

Laurence holds a Ph.D in Politics (University of London), and speaks fluent Spanish and intermediate Brazilian Portuguese.

Sessions With Laurence Allan

Thursday, 20 April

  • 08:45am - 09:30am (CST) / 20/apr/2023 01:45 pm - 20/apr/2023 02:30 pm

    Keynote: A Brave New World — Geopolitics, Changing Alliances, and Energy Security

    The far-reaching effects of the COVID pandemic, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and the energy transition continue to reshape geopolitics and upend long-held trade relationships. These effects also have kick-started a global pivot toward energy security, as concerns about source diversification and self-sufficiency intertwine with what was an already-accelerating move toward decarbonization. Does this period of tumultuous change mean that our former status-quo regime of political alliances and frictionless global trade has simply disappeared, leaving a state of anarchy? Laurence Allan, director of research, country risk analysis, and forecasting at S&P Global, expects to see disruption and instability ahead, but not a complete fracturing of the old order, particularly when it comes to relationships between the US, China, and other key players globally. “There will be cooperation in some areas and competition in others,” he said. What does this changing environment mean for the project and logistics supply chain, both near term and further out? In his keynote address Allan, who, in leading S&P Global's country risk regional team for Europe/CIS, directs analysis and forecasting of political and violent risks, including geopolitical and global themes, and their impacts on the business environment, will delve into the implications of this changing status quo for the breakbulk industry. 

View Full Agenda