UNCHARTED WATERS

Liverpool-born entrepreneur Ben Pinnington continues to build a global maritime platform—from Lake Forest—while helping investors see new opportunity in one of the world’s oldest industries.

WHEN BEN PINNINGTON TALKS about maritime, it doesn’t sound like an industry. It sounds like a calling.

Now based in Lake Forest, the founder of Polaris Media has built a career—and a global business—around one of the world’s oldest and most essential sectors. From shipbuilding, ports and insurance to AI, electric ships, and autonomous vessels, Pinnington’s work sits at the intersection of tradition and transformation.

And increasingly, it’s drawing attention from investors who see what he sees: an industry on the cusp of extraordinary change.

Pinnington grew up in Liverpool, England, one of the world’s great port cities.

“Over the horizon from my parents’ house, I could see Liverpool Bay,” he recalls. “To me, it was always next stop America, next stop New York. That’s where it was all happening.”

His path to maritime, however, was anything but linear. The son of a BBC Radio Liverpool presenter, Pinnington initially followed his father into journalism and politics, working as a press officer for the United Kingdom’s Conservative Party. In 2007, he took a leap of faith—maxing out credit cards, starting a public relations (PR) firm with little more than a desk and a phone.

One email changed everything.

Pinnington reached out to Cammell Laird, the legendary 200-year-old Merseyside shipbuilder responsible for vessels ranging from the HMS Prince of Wales to the famed Mauretania. “I didn’t know much about the maritime industry,” he says. “But I walked into that shipyard and saw these massive ships, submarines being built, and this incredible sense of camaraderie. I was hooked.”

That relationship became the foundation of Polaris Media’s maritime specialization. For more than a decade, Pinnington has worked with shipbuilders and their supply chains before expanding internationally—supporting clients across Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and eventually North America.

“I got a real taste for exporting,” he says. “You see these vast shipyards in places like Oman or India, and you think, ‘Seeing is believing. We can do this.'”

That global perspective now informs Polaris Media’s role in the United States, where Pinnington relocated with his wife, Katarzyna, a Polish-born ophthalmic surgeon, and their two young children in 2022. The move coincided with a major professional milestone: Polaris Media was named International Business of the Year at the Liverpool Maritime Awards.

“We were betting the farm on America,” Pinnington says. “But it felt right.”

Chicago, in particular, made an immediate impression when he began visiting his wife’s parents who have lived on the North Shore since the early 1990s.

“I knew Paris, Venice, Berlin, and some of the great cities of Europe,” he says. “But I was totally bowled over by Chicago. It was like Liverpool times 10, the Art Deco buildings, the blues music, the sense of possibilities. It had a profound effect on me. I feel immensely fortunate for the opportunity to live here.”

What many don’t realize, Pinnington notes, is that Chicago is also a maritime city.

“This city is built on its strategic maritime location,” he says. “The Port of Chicago is still the principal interior trade route of America. It remains the only Great Lakes port offering direct access to the Atlantic via the St Lawrence Seaway and to the Gulf of Mexico via the Mississippi.”

That realization led Pinnington to relaunch the Chicago chapter of the International Propeller Club, the world’s largest maritime networking organization. Originally founded in 1928, the Chicago club had gone dormant.

Under Pinnington’s leadership, together with a board of maritime professionals including the Ports of Chicago and Indiana it was rechartered in 2024—and quickly became one of the most active chapters globally, earning International Club of the Year honors after just one year.

“We have had hundreds of people turning up for our quarterly meetings,” he says. “Ports, shipyards, the U.S. Coast Guard, global businesses flying in. It shows there is a real hunger for connection and awareness.”

The club’s mission extends beyond networking. It supports veterans, seafarer welfare organizations, and workforce development—while shining a light on the sheer scale of opportunity in maritime.

“There are exciting jobs for passionate people of all academic backgrounds,” Pinnington explains. “Engineering, tech, law, finance, PR—maritime touches everything. And you can travel all over the world.”

That breadth is also what makes maritime increasingly attractive to investors.

Today, Polaris Media doesn’t just promote maritime companies—it helps them access capital. “This is a very old-school industry,” Pinnington says. “Conservative by nature. But that’s changing fast.”

Innovation is accelerating across the sector: AI navigation, battery technology, alternative fuels like methanol and ammonia, wind-assisted propulsion, cybersecurity, and autonomous vessels. Meanwhile, the U.S. government is pouring billions into shipbuilding, port modernization, and fleet expansion—creating what Pinnington describes as a once-in-a-generation opportunity.

“Ninety percent of all visible global trade is transported by sea,” he says. “That’s not going to change. But how it’s done is changing dramatically.”

Decarbonization alone presents what he calls an “engineering Everest.” Maritime currently accounts for about three percent of global carbon emissions—but that figure could rise to 20 percent by 2050 if solutions aren’t found.

“We need the best minds in the world working on this,” he says. “And billions are being invested to make it happen.”

For investors willing to look beyond flashier sectors, maritime offers something rare: scale, necessity, and staying power. “It’s not going anywhere,” Pinnington says. “And it’s finally opening up.”

His recently updated book, Making Waves: PR Strategies to Transform Your Maritime Business, USA “Shores of Freedom” edition, reflects that belief—tracing America’s deep maritime legacy while mapping the industry’s future. “Maritime has one of the greatest stories of any industry,” he says. “If we don’t tell it, we won’t attract the talent or the capital it deserves.”

Nearly two decades after sending that first email, Pinnington sees his role clearly. “Our team at Polaris are like pilots,” he says. “We know the routes. We can fast-track businesses into maritime and help them avoid years of trial and error.”

From Liverpool’s docks to Lake Forest’s beachfront, Pinnington’s journey mirrors the industry he champions—global, resilient, and essential. And for those paying attention, it’s a signal that maritime’s next chapter is already underway.

To learn more about Pinnington’s work, visit polarismediapr.com and chicagopropellerclub.com.