Demystifying RWA Tokenization and Illiquidity
Commercial maritime shipping has for centuries remained one of global finance’s most capital-intensive and exclusive asset classes. With single dry bulk carriers or container ships costing anywhere from $30 million to over $100 million, vessel ownership has traditionally been restricted to institutional funds, state syndicates, and legacy shipping dynasties.
Saeed Bin Saleh Al-Marri, CEO of Ethra Invest and Ethra Ship, is attempting to dismantle those barriers by pairing real-world asset (RWA) tokenization with conservative private equity discipline. By bridging decentralized finance (DeFi) with the physical realities of global trade, Al-Marri is pioneering a roadmap for everything from on-chain asset ownership and trade settlement to the multi-trillion-dollar decarbonization of global fleets.
By fractionalizing physical assets on the blockchain, Al-Marri’s approach allows smaller investors to access previously unreachable markets. However, Al-Marri cautions that tokenization is neither a loophole around regulatory guardrails, nor a magic cure for asset illiquidity.
“Shipping has traditionally been difficult for smaller investors to access,” explains Al-Marri. “Tokenization can divide an interest in a properly structured maritime investment vehicle into smaller digital units. This reduces barriers to entry, makes ownership records more efficient, and provides better visibility over vessel utilisation, charter income, expenses, and distributions.”
Crucially, Ethra separates its utility and governance token from its regulated investment layer. Physical vessel exposure is ring-fenced independently inside Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs) reserved for compliant investors. When addressing secondary market liquidity, Al-Marri urges realism over hype:
“Tokenization cannot automatically make an illiquid vessel fully liquid. Any platform suggesting otherwise creates false expectations. A credible secondary market relies on transparent asset valuations… Most importantly, secondary trading must never interfere with operations. The professional manager remains fully responsible for chartering, maintenance, insurance, and financing—regardless of how frequently tokens change hands.”
In practice, tokenizing a ship operating in international waters introduces significant legal friction: in a default scenario, how does an on-chain smart contract enforce claims against a physical vessel thousands of miles offshore?
However, according to Al-Marri, code alone cannot override centuries of established maritime jurisprudence.
“A smart contract cannot be physically enforced against a vessel. Legal enforcement still depends on recognised ownership rights, security documents, and the courts. The vessel is owned by a dedicated SPV, and legal, corporate, and blockchain records must all reflect identical investor rights.”
While smart contracts can automate administrative pauses or suspend transfers on-chain, physical claims—such as arresting or selling a vessel—still require traditional maritime courts, ship mortgages, and flag-state laws.
Overcoming Friction in Trade Documentation
Beyond fractional ownership, global shipping remains hampered by administrative drag. Despite billions lost annually to paper-heavy delays, demurrage fees, and trade finance friction, the industry has struggled to universally adopt digital bills of lading. For Al-Marri, the bottleneck is legal rather than technical.
“The greater challenge is getting governments, banks, carriers, insurers, customs authorities, and cargo owners to accept the same legal and operational standards. A bill of lading is more than a receipt—it represents title to cargo and serves as collateral for banks.”
Replacing paper fragmentation with digital silos—where platforms operate in isolation—fails to solve the core issue. True digital transformation requires global legal recognition and open, cross-border standards.
While 24/7 stablecoin settlements offer immediate liquidity, Al-Marri dismisses the idea that smart contracts will completely displace traditional Letters of Credit (LCs). Shipping, he notes, involves complex real-world contingencies that simple payment rails cannot resolve.
“A Letter of Credit provides a regulated bank’s undertaking to pay when documentary conditions are met. Stablecoins accelerate payment execution, but shipping depends on physical verifications: whether cargo was loaded properly, if quality meets standards, whether documents are genuine, and if sanctions apply.”
Instead of a total crypto displacement, Al-Marri’s Ethra advocates a hybrid model—combining electronic trade documents and programmable settlements with the legal backing of regulated financial institutions.
The maritime sector’s ultimate challenge lies in achieving net-zero emissions by 2050. Transitioning to clean fuels like green ammonia, methanol, and hydrogen demands massive upfront capital for unproven propulsion tech and nascent port infrastructure.
For private equity managers, funding this transition requires balancing environmental imperatives with capital preservation.
“Decarbonisation is clearly the direction of travel, but we must be realistic,” notes Al-Marri. “It would not be responsible to expose investors to all these risks at once. We assess the complete picture: vessel technology, route fuel availability, safety approvals, crew requirements, operating costs, and resale value.”
To protect capital while funding clean fleets, Ethra Invest relies on conservative underwriting, long-term charters, dual-fuel capability, and ring-fenced SPVs.
“The investment must work under conservative assumptions,” Al-Marri stresses. “We do not back projects that are only profitable if fuel prices, carbon regulations, and subsidies all move in their favour.”
By pairing pragmatic risk management with digital infrastructure, leaders like Saeed Bin Saleh Al-Marri are demonstrating that the evolution of maritime finance extends beyond bringing ships onto the blockchain—it is about mobilizing capital to build a modernized, sustainable global fleet.
