IAPH Insider- March 7, 2024

This edition covers:

 

Statement on the attack on the bulk vessel True Confidence

The association is saddened to hear of the loss of crew members and serious injuries to others sustained from the attack on the bulk vessel True Confidence in the Gulf of Aden yesterday. IAPH is a co-signatory to the industry’s appeal to release the seafarers of the vessel Galaxy Leader currently in captivity and our thoughts are with the crew and their families after this new horrific attack on shipping.

 

This week’s Insider highlight with Patrick Verhoeven

 

Technical and economic measures on IMO GHG agenda

In the forthcoming weeks, IAPH will be attending the 16th meeting of the IMO’s Intersessional Working Group on the reduction of GHG emissions from ships (ISWG-GHG 16) and the 81st meeting of the Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC 81), taking place consecutively from 11 to 22 March. IAPH will be represented by Rhona Macdonald and Antonis Michail, with the addition of representatives from the Port of Seattle and our associate member Starcrest. The main item on the agenda at these meetings will be the discussions on the candidate mid-term measures, including the technical and economic elements that will make up the basket of measures to be agreed by 2025 before entry into force in 2027. On examination of the various submissions to these meetings, there is a clear consensus towards the adoption of a Global Fuel Standard as the technical element, albeit agreement is needed on exactly how this will be designed. The challenge comes in reaching an agreement on the economic measures. With the help of an update on progress made with a comprehensive impact assessment, we can expect in-depth and challenging discussions with numerous proposals on the table of how a levy-based approach should be designed and how revenues generated could be distributed to allow for a just and equitable transition. This meeting will also look to further develop the Life Cycle GHG Assessment Framework following the adoption of the guidelines on life cycle GHG intensity of marine fuels at MEPC 80 last July. Specifically, the sustainability criteria of marine fuels, regulatory standards and certification schemes will be reviewed, based on inputs from an expert workshop on the topic held in December last year. At MEPC 81, in addition to further deliberations on the candidate mid-term measures, IAPH has co-sponsored a submission alongside BIMCO, Intertanko, and others presenting a glossary of climate change definitions concerning the reduction of GHG emissions from shipping to harmonise the language used in the industry and ensure mutual understanding of commonly used terminology. The co-sponsors furthermore propose that this glossary could be used to aid discussions by MEPC. We will be disseminating a more detailed report to members on the expectations and the remaining proposals on the candidate mid-term measures.

 

Scrubber wastewater debate at IMO PPR

The 11th meeting of the IMO’s Sub-Committee on Pollution Prevention and Response (PPR 11) was held from 19 to 23 February and was attended by Rhona Macdonald and Bruce Anderson (Starcrest). The key agenda item of note for ports was the further developments on the evaluation and harmonisation of the rules and guidance on the release of discharge water from exhaust gas cleaning systems (EGCS – also known as ‘scrubbers’) into the aquatic environment. The Sub-Committee recalled that the target completion year of this output was previously extended to 2025, thus adding additional pressure to finalise decisions on regulatory matters. Tasked to identify and develop, as appropriate, regulatory measures and instruments, the sub-committee discussed several submissions which highlighted significant diverging views amongst delegations on the need for more stringent regulations on the discharge of EGCS discharge water. Whilst some argued that there was growing scientific evidence of the harmful effects of EGCS discharge water and a need to amend MARPOL Annex VI to allow coastal States to regulate the use of EGCS in national waters, others opposed proposals to tighten regulations, noting that this was unduly penalise compliant ships and that further scientific research into possible negative environmental impacts was required. Given these diverging views, the Sub-Committee, ultimately invited Member States and international organisations to submit further proposals to PPR 12 on regulatory measures. Finally, PPR 11 also considered proposals on the development of a database containing local/regional restrictions/conditions on the discharge water from EGCS in light of evidence of a growing number of local restrictions across the globe. These submissions, notably by ICS and BIMCO, were widely accepted by delegations and the Sub-Committee invited Member States to submit further details on local or regional restrictions.

 

ESI moves to the next level

As the shipping industry strives to decarbonise, the Environmental Ship Index (ESI) is evolving to help owner-operators exceed the latest standards. Throughout 2024 and beyond, ESI’s modules are set to expand to take into account a range of potential emissions including GHGs and a range of zero-emissions techniques, alongside further enhancement of noise-emission functionality. This far-reaching revision of ESI’s formula is being guided by a Technical Advisory Group, which held its latest meeting at IAPH’s London office in Park Street on 26-27 February. Representatives from IAPH, ESI administrator Green Award Foundation and consultancies Panthalassa, Arcsilea, and Starcrest were joined by sustainability experts from the ports of Antwerp-Bruges, Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Barcelona and Long Beach. Incentive Providers and Incentive Receivers within ESI will receive more information and guidance about important changes to ESI in the coming months.

 

Back row L-R : Keita Shinohara, Tim Verhoeven, Rusty Mahakian, Bruce Anderson,
Jarl Schoemaker and Henri van der Weide. Front row L-R Nick Blackmore, Takeshi Suzuki,
Joaquim Cortés, Azien Amin, Edwin Pang, Amy Parkes, Tanya Ferry and Antonis Michail.

 

Don’t forget to register for the IAPH TC Days

Registration for the next edition of the IAPH Technical Committee Days is now open. The TC Days will take place 25-27 March in London, in hybrid format. IAPH associate member TT Club has kindly offered to hold the meetings at their Fenchurch Street headquarters, in the heart of the City of London. Content sessions will cover a wide range of topics, including the IMO agenda on decarbonising shipping, cybersecurity in the context of implementing the IMO Maritime Single Window, clean marine fuels and port readiness, data harmonisation for port calls and supply chain efficiency, port incentives and the Environmental Ship Index, illicit trade and organised crime, Clean Energy Marine hubs, future of port workforce, sustainability accreditation for cruise ports and the development of an IAPH ports membership profile. The Technical Committee Days will be held in between the next IMO Marine Environment Protection (MEPC 81) and Facilitation (FAL 48) Committee meetings. Members of the IAPH Technical Committees will have received the detailed programme of the Days together with all practical information, including a registration form. If you did not receive the documentation or have any enquiries about the TC Days, please contact Takeshi Suzuki at [email protected].

 

 

 

 

 
 
 
 

Welcome to new members

We are pleased to welcome two new regular members, from India and Poland. Chennai Port Authority runs one of India’s major ports. Chennai is a hub port on the east coast of India which handles containerised cargo, vehicles, project cargo, liquid and dry bulk cargo, and break bulk cargo. Chennai Port Authority is engaged in the overall administration and management of the port, and its name was changed from Chennai Port Trust in 2022. The Port of Gdańsk is located on the southern coast of Gdańsk Bay in Poland. It is one of the largest seaports on the Baltic Sea. As a transport hub, the Port of Gdańsk features a dense network of regular shipping connections with America and Asia and feeder lines between the Baltic and North Sea ports. Port of Gdańsk Authority was established in 1998 as a commercial company and has been operating under the Act on seaports and harbors and the Code of Commercial Companies. 
 
 

IAPH met with North American ports at TPM24

IAPH attended this year’s TPM conference, the largest maritime cargo logistics event in the world, gathering over 4,000 delegates in Long Beach, California. IAPH vice-president for North America, Gene Seroka (executive director Port of Los Angeles), and managing director Patrick Verhoeven used the occasion to meet with existing and potential port members from the United States and Canada, including Georgia Ports, Miami, Long Beach, New York New Jersey, Port Everglades, Seattle, Tacoma and Vancouver. Gene and Patrick held two briefing sessions on the forthcoming IMO greenhouse gas meetings, which were hosted at the TPM suite of the Port of Los Angeles.
 
L: Kristin Ang (Tacoma), Gene Seroka, Aaron Pritchard (Seattle), Rado Saragih (New York New Jersey).
R: Hamdi Mohamed (Seattle), Patrick Verhoeven, Amanda Valdes and Melisia Taylor (New York New Jersey)
 

Port Endeavor played at MARLOG conference in Egypt

IAPH technical director, Antonis Michail attended this week the 13th edition of the International Maritime Transport and Logistics Conference – MARLOG 13 – in Alexandria, Egypt. Organised by IAPH associate member, Arab Academy for Science, Technology and Maritime Transport (AASTMT), the conference brought together more than 500 port, logistics, sustainability and technology experts, together with government and academic stakeholders, from 23 countries, primarily from the Arabic, African, Mediterranean and Middle East countries. On 4 March, Antonis joined a panel discussion on ‘the future of green ports: resilience, sustainability, and adaptation’ with MEDPorts, the Union for the Mediterranean, and AASTMT. He presented on key challenges and opportunities for sustainable port management highlighting the respective IAPH and WPSP work. Furthermore, together with Nico Suys, manager port projects at Port of Antwerp-Bruges International, Antonis facilitated a Port Endeavor training session for forty conference participants on 5 March. This was the first time Port Endeavor was played in the region, receiving outstanding feedback for making trainees aware of key port sustainability challenges and linking these to the UN Sustainable Development Goals. The realistic look and feel of the game, making use of real port cases from the WPSP projects database, was once again confirmed, together with its success in committing participants to engaged discussion on port sustainability. IAPH and its Port Endeavor partners, UNCTAD TrainForTrade and the the Antwerp-Flanders Port Training Center (APEC) are constantly looking forward to further building on the success of the game, making it widely available globally.
 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Port of London hosted IAPH by the Thames

IAPH member Port of London Authority (PLA) hosted managing director Patrick Verhoeven and business development director Nick Blackmore at the organisation’s headquarters in Gravesend, Kent, on Thursday 21 February. Patrick and Nick met with members of the PLA’s sustainability, commercial, hydrography and harbour master departments and discussed areas for future collaboration. The visit, organised by head of stakeholder engagement Raj Kehal-Livi, continued with a tour of the PLA’s facilities, including a visit to the port control centre (pictured), where the team learned about forthcoming enhancements to the PLA’s VTS operations.

 

Daniel Daescu, Patrick Verhoeven, Nick Blackmore, Lisa Lewis,

Gary Durkin, John Dillon-Leetch in the PLA’s port control centre at Gravesend

 

Member Port News

In this edition’s round up of member port news, you will find stories from the following IAPH members:

  • Africa and Europe region:  HAROPA PORT, Mauritius Ports Authority, Gibraltar Port Authority, APS- Administração dos Portos de Sines e do Algarve, SA, Autoridad Portuaria de Valencia (Port Authority of Valencia), Port of London Authority, Freeport of Riga Authority, Port of Rotterdam Authority (Havenbedrijf Rotterdam N.V.), Autorità Portuale di Genova (Port Authority of Genoa), JadeWeserPort Realisierungs GmbH & Co.KG, Hamburg Port Authority, Port of Antwerp-Bruges, The National Ports Agency, Authority for Transport in Malta, bremenports GmbH & Co. KG, Port of Göteborg AB, Port Autonome d’ Abidjan (Abidjan Port Authority), Autoridad Portuaria de Bilbao
  • America region:  Canaveral Port Authority, Northwest Seaport Alliance, Autoridad Marítima de Panamá (Panama Maritime Authority), Montreal Port Authority, Port of Long Beach, Port of Los Angeles, Port of Oakland, Georgia Ports Authority (GPA)
  • Asia and Oceania region:   Solomon Islands Ports Authority, South Port New Zealand Ltd., Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA), Busan Regional Office of Oceans and Fisheries, DP World, Busan Port Authority, PSA International Pte Ltd, Incheon Port Authority, Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA)

 Check out the full line up on our Member Port News page.

 

World Maritime News

These maritime news stories made at the headlines over the past two weeks.
 
・Managing transshipment hubs key to success of Gemini alliance: Drewry
・Ocean Alliance extends membership through to 2032
・EU to support shore power and e-fuel projects in ports with $1bn fund
・US to invest $3bn in clean port infrastructure
・Shippers call for transparency over Red Sea surcharges
・FMC publishes final ruling on detention and demurrage
・IMO to adopt practical mid-term measures to put decarbonization back on track
・GSBN draws new ports to its shared digital infrastructure concept
 
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

  • 5-7 March 2024 – Marlog Conference – Alexandria
  • 11-15 March 2024 – IMO GHG Intersessional WG (ISWG-GHG 16) – London
  • 11-14 March 2024 – CLIA Cruise Week Europe – Genoa
  • 18-22 March 2024 – IMO Marine Environment Protection Cttee (MEPC 81) – London
  • 25-27 March 2024 – IAPH Technical Committee Days – London
  • 8-12 April 2024 – IMO Facilitation Committee (FAL 48) – London
  • 10-11 April 2024 – PortTech Asia – Shanghai
  • 10-12 April 2024 – Pan African Association for Port Cooperation – Libreville
  • 22-26 April 2024 – IMO Legal Committee (LEG 111) – London
  • 25-26 April 2024 – ESPO Conference – Paris
  • 8-9 May 2024 – Green Ports & Shipping Congress – Singapore
  • 13-24 May 2024 – IMO Maritime Safety Committee (MSC 108) – London
  • 21-24 May 2024 – UNCTAD Global Supply Chain Forum – Barbados
  • 8-10 October 2024 – IAPH World Port Conference – Hamburg

 

 

Back
Translate