Mariners know that the sea can be harsh, unpredictable and sometimes destructive. After weathering a pandemic and attacks by Houthi rebels that all but closed the vital trade route through the Suez canal, container-shipping companies may have hoped for some calm before the next storm. Alas, Donald Trump’s ever-changing tariffs and his plans to impose exorbitant port fees on Chinese vessels have led to more choppy waters.

“ARAMCO has always been far more than just an oil producer.” So said Amin Nasser, chief executive of Saudi Arabia’s petro-colossus, earlier this year. Mr Nasser has lofty ambitions for the world’s biggest oil company, which he views as “an important enabler” of his country’s diversification away from the commodity. That aspiration is shared by Sultan Al Jaber, chief executive of ADNOC, the national oil company of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), whose country also dreams of shedding its petro-state status.

Every industry has its nobility. The “PayPal mafia” are sovereign in Silicon Valley. Many Wall Street financiers trace their genealogy back to Julian Robertson or Michael Milken. The equivalent for railroaders is E. Hunter Harrison, who died in 2017. He ran three of the six big “Class I” railways at various times and pioneered “precision railroading”, a scheduling technique that is now the industry standard. His disciples are spread far and high.

The promise of South-East Asia has long been obvious to venture capitalists. Its young and growing population of 700m is becoming richer and more urbanised. And they are poorly served by stodgy incumbents. After a pandemic-era frenzy, however, shares of the region’s listed tech darlings plunged amid rising interest rates as investors lost patience with persistent losses. Valuations are yet to recover.