When one thinks of the energy transition from a ship design perspective, the focus naturally turns to net-zero and zero-carbon fuels and the technologies required to harness them.  But as the maritime industry looks towards 2040 and beyond, the focus will shift from simply looking at emissions management and reduction through use of fuel type to overall energy management and optimization.  Ships of the future will not only need to be highly energy optimized in every aspect of their own operations, but also, and perhaps more importantly, optimized in terms of how they interact with their environment and integrate into the broader maritime value chain.  This presentation will take a look at what is expected to emerge in ships well beyond the early 2030s, considering them from a system-of-systems perspective, including multi-fuel designs, use and integration of multiple energy savings devices and technologies, increasing use of autonomous systems, the use of AI to provide real-time machinery state optimization, decision-making and safety management, and crewing levels.  It will also look at current thinking around optimizing the ship / port interface and how this can be leveraged, from a ship design and operation perspective, to address some of the challenges and opportunities being just one link in a complex value chain brings.