The second SAFETY4SEA Forum in Hamburg successfully concluded on Tuesday 8th of October, 2019 at Lindner Hotel Am Michel, Hamburg. The event, organized by SAFETY4SEA, was sponsored by Aquametro Oil and Marine, Diaplous Group, HudsonAnalytix, NAVTOR, PRIMARINE, RISK4SEA, SQEMARINE, T&T SALVAGE. Furthermore, the event was supported by BEMA, EGCSA, Green Award, IHMA, IMaREST, INTERCARGO, IWSA, RISE and the Royal Institution of Naval Architects.
The pro bono event brought together global experts who focused on the upcoming challenges as we are approaching 2020. In addition, further green challenges that shipping is going to face up to 2050 were discussed as well as important steps for the path towards decarbonisation. Safety issues were once again at the centre of attention amid the smart shipping era and the digitalization of shipping which on the one hand facilitates operators but on the other hand raises key concerns with respect to cyber security.
Panel # 1 – IMO 2020
Apostolos Belokas, Founder & Managing Editor, SAFETY4SEA, took the floor to welcome all delegates attending the forum, thanking all sponsors and supporters and introducing the themes of discussion. In his opening speech, he referred briefly to industry’s key challenges, highlighting that a more sustainable future of shipping is in the spotlight and key actions are needed toward that end.
During his presentation, Christopher Fee, General Manager (Environment and Sustainability), Oldendorff, touched up on the scrubber debate in view of the upcoming sulphur regulation; considering not only the impact on human beings, but also on the environment. Mr. Fee suggested that open-loop scrubbers can indeed have a positive net environmental impact, taking into account both air emissions and water discharges.
Similarly, Poul Woodall, Director (Environment & Sustainability), DFDS A/S, talked about 2020 and its consequences for Maritime GHG emissions. Mr. Woodall also evaluated the devastating implications of sulphur to people and the environment, noting whatsoever that the global sulphur cap may be counterintuitive; the global SOx levels may be reduced to almost 8.8 million tons annually, but it will also cause an approximate CO2 increase with 60 million tons per year.
Ralf Jürgens, Chief Technical Officer (CTO), Primarine, further noted that scrubbers are the most environmentally beneficial means of meeting industry’s ambitious targets, referring to the advantages that innovative scrubbers designs offer as we are heading towards 2020 where operators are called to choose the most cost- and GHG-effective way of meeting both IMO Tier 3 NOx rules and the sulphur cap.
Panel # 2 – Green Challenges
Bastian Schnöll, Project Engineer, Aquametro Oil & Marine, presented the challenges surrounding fuel management and respective technical solutions, analyzing fuel treatment and SOx-emission control as a new process for safe, efficient and environmental friendly ship operations.
In his presentation, Matthias Voigt, Chair of Technical Committee, BEMA, touched upon the key challenges surrounding BWM Convention, since now is in full force after 15 years of discussions. Namely, between 8 Sep 2019 and Sep 2024, the BWM Convention will reach the second phase of its implementation where all ships will have to conform to the D-2 standard.
Gunther Zeitzmann, Ship Recycling Engineer, IHMA, highlighted the importance of certification and maintenance of IHM for compliance with the requirements of Hong Kong Convention and EU-Ship Recycling Regulation. He further referred to key steps for effective development of IHM and certification; the operations and maintenance of the IHM and the importance of control with flags, classes and PSC.
Dimitrios I. Mountzouris, Managing Director, Hellespont Steamship Corporation, examined the current and future green shipping challenges from the operator perspective, addressing key concerns for compliance with the strict environmental regulations, as we are moving toward to a more sustainable future.
Panel # 3 – PSC Inspection Analytics
Apostolos Belokas, Founder & Managing Editor SAFETY4SEA, moderated a panel discussion on an analysis of PSC inspections, establishing lessons to be learned from such detention analytics and further offering ways in which insights may be used for better decision making. Mr. Belokas showcased the analysis in relation to global KPIs, age, ship type, port, country, inspection month and day, detainable issues, deficiencies per detention, detentions per ship and operator base country.
Panel # 4 – Safety Challenges
During his presentation, Capt. Mark Bull, Director, Trafalgar Navigation, gave an insight concerning e-navigation, pointing out that we are on the threshold of a major change in our industry; it has already started and it is now picking up speed. He noted that navigation is constantly changing and while the new ‘buzz’ word around us now is autonomous, many things need to be addressed.
Alexander N. Christensen, Director (Business Development), T&T Salvage, talked about the key challenges surrounding salvage operations referring to recent key studies. During his presentation, he further stressed that salvage is a very unique operation that needs many lessons learned and addressed how to demonstrate effective ways in handling of emergencies.
Dimitris Maniatis, Chief Commercial Officer, Diaplous, provided insight in analyzing modern day piracy and and referred to recent pirate incidents, their motives, status and probable solutions. Moreover, he proposed effective solutions to such a problem, such as proper risk evaluation, realistic risk mitigation measures and good understanding of the operating environment amongst others.
Panel # 5 – Smart Shipping
Bjørn Åge Hjøllo, Sr. Project Manager, e-Nav, Navtor AS, gave a presentation on how e-navigation has transformed passage planning and stressed the importance of increased quality and safety, aiming to reduce human error to a minimum, especially when compared to traditional passage planning. He further noted that new tools now offer support for cyber secure data handing.
Mathias Karlsson, Researcher, RISE Victoria, focused on PortCDM implementation and its benefits. Ships and ports need to be connected, so that connectivity is enabled in order to hinterland for sustainable transport systems, he stressed, suggesting that sharing informed data by the PortCDM Maturity Model can assist to upgrade ports in cooperation.
In his presentation, Chronis Kapalidis, Cyber Expert, HudsonAnalytix, referred to myths behind cyber security. He stressed that there should be communication with stakeholders about cyber risk and cyber resilience instead of cyber security, because in the shipping sector, senior managers do not want to talk about security, since in their mind, security requirements may affect business productivity.
All sessions ended with a round table discussion in which the audience exchanged ideas with the experts. Finally, Apostolos Belokas as the Forum Chairman thanked the delegates for their participation, the sponsors and supporters for their support and the speakers for their excellent presentations and also the organizing team of the event for their contribution towards forum objectives.
Explore more about the event at https://events.safety4sea.com/2019-safety4sea-hamburg-forum/