IAPH Insider 30, May

This edition covers:

 

This week’s Insider highlight with Patrick Verhoeven

 

 

IMO secretary-general to join the IAPH 2024 World Ports Conference

IAPH and Mercator Media are delighted to announce that the IMO secretary-general Arsenio Dominguez will head up the VIP speaker roster on day one of the IAPH 2024 World Ports Conference which will be held in Congress Centre Hamburg, 8-10 October. He will be speaking alongside host sponsor Hamburg Port Authority’s CEO, and IAPH president, Jens Meier and BIMCO President Nickolaus Schües on the role of ports and shipping in jointly delivering on the new IMO 2024-2029 strategic plan, given the new decarbonisation ambitions of the industry. To register for the conference, click here. Another highlight of the conference will be the gala dinner of the #IAPH2024 Sustainability Awards. With just 48 hours remaining until the extended deadline expires, more than 60 projects have already been submitted as candidate award winners in the six categories of Climate and Energy, Digitalisation, Infrastructure, Environmental Care, Community Building and Health, Safety and Security. There will also be the special Akiyama award to the highest scoring runner-up from a developing or small island developing country. IAPH can assist you in completing your application. Submitting your project takes a matter of minutes; you can enter basic information, links and attachments here.

 

 

IAPH agenda in focus at UNCTAD Global Supply Chain Forum

IAPH joined more than 600 participants from all over the globe at the UNCTAD Global Supply Chain Forum 2024 in Barbados from 21-24 May. Technical director Antonis Michail participated in two panel sessions – ‘Leading the way to sustainable ports through energy transition’ and ‘Efficient and competitive port management’ – and co-facilitated a Port Endeavor training session for the participants. On 22 May, Antonis outlined the IAPH’s initiatives aimed at decarbonizing shipping, including incentivizing cleaner vessels through the Environmental Ship Index, establishing safety frameworks and toolkits for new fuels under the Clean Marine Fuels working group, and jointly developing the Port Readiness Level assessment tool together with the World Ports Climate Action Program. On the same panel, commissioner Sam Cho, from IAPH member Port of Seattle, shared his port’s approach to decarbonisation and its role as an aggregator of demand for alternative fuels, as well as discussing international collaboration on green corridors. The Port Endeavor training session that followed, in the presence of IMO secretary-general, Arsenio Dominguez, reconfirmed the success of the business game in creating lively debates centred around the application of the UN SDGs in real port-management decisions. On 23 May, Antonis made the link between port sustainability and efficient and competitive port management, while presenting the World Ports Sustainability Program and the main IAPH initiatives on Risk and Resilience. Antonis was joined in the panel by high-level port representatives, including IAPH vice president for South East Asia and Oceania, Eranda Kotelawala, who discussed with the participants the success factors and challenges of efficient and competitive port management.
 

IMO secretary-general Arsenio Dominguez (standing, right) observes a Port Endeavor games session during the UNCTAD Global Supply Chain Forum

 

Antonis Michail, Mikael Lind, Ines Nastali, Gordon Wilmsmeier, Sam Cho

 

Upcoming #IAPH2024 webinars on sourcing electricity for ports

As the countdown to the IAPH 2024 World Ports Conference begins, IAPH will spark debate on a key conference topic, with webinars on 24 and 25 June that explore the strategic challenge of sourcing electricity for ports. Colleagues in Europe and adjacent time zones will be able to select from one of two sessions, while IAPH members in North America and Latin America should earmark their early morning on 24th June and our Asian colleagues should reserve their mid-afternoon on 25th June. Titled ‘Ports and the electricity capacity conundrum – what will it take to meet demand?’ these pre-#IAPH2024 webinars will be organised in cooperation with our media partner Mercator Media. IAPH will speak with port energy experts, microgrid integrators and member ports to ask what it will take to secure sufficient electricity supplies from sustainable sources to meet future demand. The ongoing electrification of materials-handling operations and emerging onshore power at berth requirements are already testing terminal electricity supply capacities. The industry is also seeing extensive regasification operations, bunkering of new and alternative fuels with lower density, as well as significant electricity demand increases from trucks, expanding rail links and new green energy production in and around ports. All of these demands must be met, and ports will compete with industries located inland for sustainable energy to power these operations. The seminars will examine what is happening in the market with an eye on the future, a major topic of resilience that will be investigated further at the IAPH World Ports Conference. Sessions are scheduled to take place at 17.00 CEST on Monday 24th June and 09.00 CEST Tuesday 25th June – more details to follow.

 

Save the dates: IAPH Technical Committees to meet early July

Dates have been confirmed for the forthcoming online meetings of the Data Collaboration and Risk and Resilience technical committees. The Data Collaboration committee will meet online on Tuesday 2 July 2024 at 1600-1800 CEST and the Risk and Resilience committee will meet online on Friday 5 July 2024 at 1600-1800 CEST. An early July date for the Climate and Energy committee will be communicated shortly and agendas will be circulated closer to the events. Members wishing to join these committee meetings who have not received a calendar invite should contact IAPH director (technical committees) Takeshi Suzuki.
 

Progress on cybersecurity and alternative fuels at MSC 108

The 108th meeting of the IMO’s Maritime Safety Committee (MSC 108) took place 15-24 May and was attended by an IAPH delegation including Rhona Macdonald, Pascal Olivier, Frans Van Zoelen and Gadi Benmoshe. The main topic of interest to IAPH was cybersecurity, under which IAPH co-sponsored a submission – together with Australia, US, UK and European countries – proposing revisions to the IMO Guidelines on Maritime Cyber Risk Management, to support the harmonisation of requirements within existing frameworks. This submission highlighted that the revision should take into account relevant horizontal cybersecurity frameworks and standards, such as legislative frameworks, to ensure a level playing field and predictability on board ships, regarding what to expect during surveys and inspections with respect to cyber risk management. This was submitted alongside a document by IACS proposing that the existing guidelines be reviewed with the objective to provide additional guidance to maritime stakeholders. Overall, there was wide support among Member States to amend the guidelines while reaffirming that these were recommendatory in nature. The Committee approved the draft revised guidelines, which will be further considered at the 79th meeting of the IMO Facilitation Committee (FAL 49) next year. Also on the agenda was the development of a safety regulatory framework to support the reduction of GHG emissions from ships using new technologies and alternative fuels. The Committee considered the work carried out by the Correspondence Group to develop a list of fuels and technologies that will assist international shipping in reducing its emissions, noting that additional work will be required to further develop a record for safety obstacles and gaps identified in the assessment. The Committee considered submissions by Member States providing key information on relevant fuels and technologies, including from Singapore on their experience using methanol and ammonia as an alternative marine fuel in the Port of Singapore. MSC 108 agreed to re-establish the Correspondence Group, instructing it to develop recommendations to address the identified barriers and gaps in current IMO instruments that impede the safe use of an alternative fuel or new technology and to provide a progress report to MSC 109, followed by a final written report to MSC 110.

 

 

Networking and dining at the BPA Annual Lunch

IAPH attended the British Ports Association’s (BPA) Annual Lunch on Tuesday 21 May. Held at the De Vere Grand Connaught Rooms in London, the event was attended by managing director Patrick Verhoeven, policy and IMO liaison officer Rhona Macdonald and business development director Nick Blackmore. They were joined for lunch by Heike Deggim (director, Marine Environment Division at IMO), Nicola Good (external communications director, Lloyd’s Register), Steven Clapperton (director of marine operations at IAPH member Port of London Authority), John Dillon-Leetch (port hydrographer at Port of London Authority) Dr Bev Mackenzie (head of intergovernmental engagement, BIMCO) Eleonora Modde (general manager, FONASBA) and Alexandra Lawson, (senior manager – corporate partnerships, Royal Museums Greenwich). Addressing attendees, BPA Chair Mike Seller (port director of Portsmouth International Port) called on the government to provide UK ports with ‘the space to succeed’ and pointed to the need for investment in road and rail connections. He added that to reach carbon net-neutral goals, the industry needed ‘support and infrastructure in place at a cost that’s not prohibitive’. There followed speeches from maritime minister Lord Davies of Gower, shadow maritime minister Mike Kane MP, and Rain Newton-Smith, chief executive of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI). The BPA is not only an associate member of IAPH but a close partner, enabling the establishment of an IAPH office in London via an office-sharing agreement in 2023.

 

Eleonora Modde, Alexandra Lawson, Patrick Verhoeven, Rhona Macdonald, Nick Blackmore

 

Spotlight on supply chain resilience at IPCSA meeting

Members of the IAPH Data Collaboration Committee (DCC) updated their industry peers on the committee’s work at the International Port Community Systems Association (IPCSA) 2024 members meeting on May 16. At the meeting, which was hosted by Tanger Med, Paul Walter (strategy director – digitalisation at Port of Rotterdam) and Phanthian Zuesongdham (head of division – port process solution at Hamburg Port Authority) provided an update on the status of the Supply Chain Resilience Task Force (SCRTF) led by IAPH and chainPORT in collaboration with DCSA, TIC 4.0 and IPCSA. Track 1 of the SCRTF tackles the cargo journey for gate-in and gate-out processes by assessing the 20 events and interoperability infrastructure for BCOs, while SCRTF Track 2 focuses on the ocean side by learning from the global experience on Just in Time Arrival of ships. This includes change management in a multi-stakeholder ecosystem, cultural diversity, trade-specific issues, business processes, data availability, standards in use and impact for cargo owners.

 

photo credit: Tanger Med

 

Enhancements to WPSP site

The World Port Sustainability Programme (WPSP) website was improved in May with the addition of new content and functionality. Comprising more than 360 projects, the WPSP database has become the worldwide reference for ports’ efforts in sustainability. Visitors to the project database will notice that the map functionality has been enhanced. Hovering your cursor over a geotag on the global map generates a preview of the project information, along with the option to click straight through to the project. The option to filter the projects via submenus (Area of Interest, Location and UN SDG) is clearer, allowing users to drill down quickly to find information relevant to their sustainability goals, with a further keyword search option to filter results. There are also dedicated pages for Port Endeavor where visitors can express interest in hosting a game and for the IAPH Sustainability Awards. For the first time, there is also a complete list of IAPH Sustainability Award winners since the scheme’s inception in 2019.

 

 

CMI advocates legal changes to enhance supply chain

The Comite Maritime International (CMI) contributes to the uniformity of maritime law, resulting in the drafting of most current international maritime conventions. The organisation held its annual colloquium on 22-24 May in Gothenburg and Frans van Zoelen attended as the liaison officer of IAPH with the CMI. Topical issues tabled this year included the legal implications of maritime autonomous surface shipping (MASS), mobile offshore renewable units, decarbonisation, the European Law impact on the maritime sector, and the Lex Maritima, a project describing the general principles of maritime law. Marking the 100-year anniversary of the Hague-Visby Rules covering the Carriage of Goods by Sea, Professor Michael Sturley (University of Texas Law of School) delivered the Berlingieri Lecture, which emphasised the need to adopt the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Carriage of Goods Wholly or Partly by Sea. Modernised and balanced, the Convention includes containerization, multimodality and e-commerce, and harmonises the legal effects of bills of lading and other transport documents (whether electronic or paper form). This is a necessary condition to let the Model Law on Electronic Transferable Records and digital platforms work. An important general effect is that the Convention delivers the much-needed uniformity and greases a frictionless supply-chain reducing congestion. The Gothenburg Colloquium is CMI’s starting point for a global campaign for the adoption and ratification of this Convention.

 

20,000th alumnus milestone for APEC

IAPH Associate Member and Port Endeavor partner APEC-Antwerp/Flanders Port Training Center celebrated its 20,000th alumnus since its foundation on 29 May. The moment was marked at the heart of Brussels at the Residence of the Minister-President Jan Jambon of the Government of Flanders, accompanied by Kristof Waterschoot, managing director of Port of Antwerp-Bruges International. The alumnus was Bruno Januzzi of Bram Offshore of Brazil. The alumni of this week’s course on port concessioning hailed from the five continents with many IAPH members represented.

 

 

Jan Jambon, Bruno Januzzi, Kristof Waterschoot

 

Welcome to new members

IAPH is pleased to welcome new regular members from China and Denmark and associate member from U.K. Ningbo Zhoushan Port Group (Zhejiang Seaport Group) is a large state-owned enterprise in Zhejiang Province. Its main business includes the development and utilization of marine resources, marine industry investment, management and capital operation of sea-related and port-related resources, investment, design, and operation of ports, and port engineering design and supervision. Ningbo Zhoushan Port owns and operates China’s largest and super-large deepwater berths. Connecting to the busiest trade routes in the Pacific Ocean, with China’s Yangtze River Delta economic region as its hinterland, Ningbo Zhoushan Port is a leading distribution centre for cargo to and from China. In 2022, the container throughput of Ningbo Zhoushan Port reached 33.35 million TEUs, ranking 3rd in the world, and the total cargo throughput reached 1.25 billion tons, ranking 1st worldwide for 14 consecutive years. Port Esbjerg is one of the North Sea’s leading ports for offshore wind, the base of the Danish offshore industry, and an international hub for multimodal transport. As a leading European port for shipping wind components, more than 60 percent of the offshore capacity installed in Europe today has been shipped from the port. More than 1,500 MW of offshore wind capacity is shipped every year, more than 6,000 vessels call the port, and 4.5 million tonnes of cargo is handled. Panthalassa Ltd. is an environmental and sustainability consulting company with strong expertise in marine and maritime decarbonisation project planning, coordination, and management and hands-on experience in lifecycle assessment, environmental management, and impact assessment. The company specializes in sustainability reporting and has good knowledge of the available standards. They are also experienced in ecological surveys for estuarine and marine sectors.

 

 

Member Port News

You can find the latest overview of news from IAPH member ports on the dedicated Member Ports News page on our website.

 

World Maritime News

These maritime news stories made the headlines over the past two weeks:

  • Carriers and shippers scramble amid worsening container shortages in Asia
  • Container capacity crunch to last until September
  • FuelEU regulation set for ‘chaotic birth,’ lawyers warn
  • Shipping companies hesitant to prepare for unclear FuelEU
  • FuelEU to more than double biofuel bunker demand
  • Global alternative fuel demand could exceed 10m tonnes in 2026
  • Taxing shipping emissions will raise a lot of cash. How should it be spent?
  • Topics on the Transport and Environment’s report on UK ports’ emissions

For details of each story, please visit the World Maritime News section on our website.

 

Calendar of Events

IAPH events and events where IAPH is represented

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