Last week, IAPH, BIMCO and IMO jointly held a symposium on the implementation of the Maritime Single Window under the theme ‘Window of Opportunities’. The event, which was also supported by IPCSA, took place at the headquarters of the IMO in London and it was transmitted live on the IMO YouTube channel. The symposium covered both the big picture of national digitalisation strategies and the practical implementation, including possible architecture, interoperability, data requirements and standards. It also provided an overview of available resources and partnerships. The event can be summed up in five take-aways. First, there are the challenges. The weakest links in the process to digitalisation are usually the ‘analogue’ ones: the (lack of) trust among stakeholders to engage in data collaboration and the complexity of regulatory frameworks. Second is compliance. The 1 January 2024 implementation deadline should not be regarded as a regulatory process aimed at ‘ticking the box’. Instead the multiple opportunities a maritime single window presents should be fully embraced. Thirdly, pragmatism is required. Implementing a maritime single window will depend on whether digital infrastructure is already in place or not. It can be a stand alone or be embedded in a broader network. Fourth is standardisation. Robust international standards exist for nautical, operational and administrative data and they should be used. Finally, there are the resources. The symposium clearly demonstrated that countries and ports are not on their own. There are plenty of good practices out there as well as multiple resources provided by international institutions such as IMO and the World Bank as well as individual countries like Singapore and Norway. IAPH and BIMCO will be submitting the findings of the symposium to the upcoming IMO Facilitation (FAL) Committee, which is scheduled to take place 13-17 March. The IMO is also developing an introductory e-learning course on the implementation of the Maritime Single Window. The introductory webinar that was held 24 October is available on the IMO YouTube channel. A full recording of the symposium will be published on the same channel shortly. Impressions from the event can already be found on the IMO flickr page.
