Between 4 and 8 July a delegation of young Indian MBA candidate professionals coordinated by the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade took part in a tailor-made APEC study tour on port operations, cargo, safety and sustainability in Antwerp, playing eight rounds of the IAPH sustainability game Port Endeavor on their penultimate afternoon, supported by IAPH communications director Victor Shieh. The players came from a variety of multinational backgrounds in the finance, software, consultancy and manufacturing industries including automotive and telecommunications. For many it was their first encounter with the port sector, and they provided valuable feedback on positive aspects of their learnings as well as excellent proposed enhancements to the game. Last week, IAPH policy and IMO officer Rhona Macdonald attended a regional workshop as part of the Blue Ports Initiative (BPI) organised by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and hosted by the Port of Vigo in Spain. The BPI enables commercial and fishing ports to enhance their blue credentials and promote sustainable development in their regions. With representatives from port authorities from across Africa, Vietnam, and Latin America in attendance, this was the perfect opportunity for Rhona to host a Port Endeavor session to showcase how ports can contribute to the UN Sustainable Development Goals and how these can impact their actions and decisions. Overall, there was strong engagement from attendees, and playing from the perspective of blue ports and fisheries added a new dimension to the game which provided food for thought to take forward when developing new material. Finally, another Port Endeavor training session is taking place on 21 July in Valencia as part of the UNCTAD TrainForTrade Port Management Programme and the dedicated Training of Trainers (ToT) Workshop for the Spanish-speaking network that will bring together 24 port professionals from Latin American and Caribbean ports. IAPH technical director Antonis Michail will be running the training session together with the UNCTAD TFT team and exchanging with the participants on their experience and lessons learned while playing the game. The feedback received at these, and other sessions played earlier this year will be discussed with our partners APEC Port Training and UNCTAD TrainForTrade this autumn. Port Endeavor is currently available in English, French and Spanish. If you are interested in learning more about the world’s only port sustainability game, you can get in touch with Antonis Michail.
