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Sustainability under the microscope in Singapore

Sustainability under the microscope in Singapore

Singapore: "Shipping should be part of the Kyoto Protocol," urged Mohammad Souri (pictured right), chairman and md of NITC in his role as keynote speaker at the inaugural Seatrade Sustainability Seminar held in Singapore on the morning of 14th October 2008.

Souri, in a hard hitting speech, suggested when it came to greenhouse gas emissions "the costs of delaying action will be far more if we don't act now." He maintained that CO2 ship indexing "will play an important role in the future."

The half-day seminar, sponsored by Lloyd's Register and hosted by PSA International was flagged as one of the highlights of Singapore's Maritime Week.

Following Souri's address, delegates were told via video from Dr Glenn Frommer, the sustainability development manager for Hong Kong's version of the Undergound, the MTR, that the time was right for shipping to embrace the concept of voluntary sustainability development charters that ought to be audited by a third party. The MTR is widely perceived as the world's most sustainable transportation system and is in a voluntary charter agreement with 130 other public transport firms worldwide.

After the coffee break a heavyweight line up of speakers in a roundtable debated key issues of sustainability.  With record orderbooks there is growing concern that there will not be enough officers to staff the slew of highly expensive new ships. How to look after your crew, how to cut fuel usage and remain profitable in these trying times and how best to recycle ships made for hot debate.

The roundtable was made up of:
* Mohammad Souri, NITC
* Andreas Sohmen-Pao, BW Shipping
* Deborah Evans, LRQA
* Jesper Praestensgaard, Maersk Line Asia-Pacific
* Koay Peng Yen, IMC Corp
* Arthur Bowring, Hong Kong Shipowners Association.
* Dave Goodwin, NOL

One area that was keenly discussed was China as a preferred location for ship recycling. Maersk, through its P&O Nedlloyd acquisition, is an industry leader in this ship disposal destination, deemed far more environmentally friendly than the south Asian beaches. Owners would get less money for their recycled ships but would have the satisfaction of knowing the vessels were being properly disposed of.  "I'd love to see some of these spare shipyards in China that are going to create massive overcapacity for the industry, used for practical purposes of ship recycling in a friendlier manner," said BW Shipping's Andreas Sohmen-Pao (pictured centre).

For more information go to www.seatradeasia-online.com/sustainability/  [14/10/08]