The long awaited in-person return of TOC Americas became a reality on October 18th in Lima, Peru, with a complete two track program consisting of the Container Supply Chain conference and TECH TOC, which offer attendants the possibility to learn about the evolution of the maritime, port, and logistics sector straight from the most stand-out analysts and industry actors.
Paul Holloway Event Director TOC Worldwide, delivered the introductory words welcoming delegates and speakers, to give way to Manuel Hinojosa, President National Port Authority Peru (APN), who highlighted the role of the entity as a reference for port development in the region. “Welcome to Peru, country of investment opportunities,” he said.
As for the Keynote address, TiL Executive Director Ammar Kanaan, spoke of the “Terminal of the Future,” its key elements and characteristics, pointing out that automation aims to “densify terminal operations and not replace people over technologies.” He also emphasized that terminal clients are the carriers that require productivity solutions and to have “buffer capacity” available from port operators. “It is key to do more with the same resources,” he said.
Later, the Business Intelligence sessions began focusing on “Market perspectives: the search of resilience in the supply chain.” Challenges imposed by the pandemic and others that are still present: congestion, supply chain disruptions, container shortage, among others. The panel was moderated by Mateo Wiegold, Editorial Content Producer TOC Worldwide, followed by a presentation by Dinesh Sharma, Director Drewry Maritime Advisors, focusing on the high volatility as a recurring scenario in the region, but lived in an uneven fashion, unlike what happened during the sanitary crisis that imposed a challenge across the entire supply chain.
Horizontal growth, two-digit inflation, low Chinese imports and political uncertainty “will impact consumption in the region,” foreseeing a possible recovery starting in 2023 and 2024. Also, he recapped the infrastructure deficiencies and the increased pressure on infrastructure with the larger vessels and the frequent calls of ships over 10,000 TEUs and 15,000 TEUs.
There we also presentations by Michael Kristiansen, President & owner CK Americas; Brandon McClain, Commercial Director, Sealand Americas (Maersk); Ilya Marotta, Deputy Administrator and VP Operations Panama Canal, Eduardo Cerdeira, Executive Director Yilport Puerto Bolivar; and Mauricio Flores, International Logistics Manager Grupo Falabella, who advocated for an increased facilitation in the trade processes in the region, calling for more efforts from different actors in the supply chain in this matter, remembering that the pandemic helped bring down myths about digitalization.
The day continued in the afternoon with the panel on “Port hub vs Gateway: understanding the complexity of the supply chain,” where the differences between both ports were analyzed, considering the Americas perspective and their role in world commerce. The session was moderated by David Lademan, Associated Editor container markets S&P Global Commodity Insights. The debate was composed by Ricardo Arten, CEO, Brasil Terminal Portuario (BTP); Jordi Torrent, Strategy Director and General Director B2B Logistics Busan Barcelona Hub, SL, Puerto de Barcelona and Liborio Cuellar, Executive Director, Sociedad Portuaria Buenaventura .
The last block of the day was titled “Investing in port infrastructure and inland logistics,” pointed to clarifying, among other aspects, the main trends behind infrastructure development in the maritime and port sector, how to attract and retain investment in the sector and analyze how the integration of port and logistics operations improve competitiveness. Orietta Gajate, General Manager TPP Terminales Portuarios Peruanos, moderated the presentations delivered by Patricio Junior, Director Terminal Investments Latin America, TiL; Ibai Erdozain, Principal, ALG; Fernando Fauche, Commercial Director, APM Terminals Callao, who signlaed that the challenge is “how to create value in the supply chain so that it flows with ease towards the consumer;” and Alfonso Rebaza, Chief Logistics & Industrial Complex Chancay, Volcan Compañía Minera SAA, who spoke in detail about the project that breaks with development towards the south of Lima, to boost it to the north of the capital, avoiding increasing logistics difficulties.
On Wednesday October 19 will be Sustainability Day, with a “focus on green legislation” which will touch on the regulatory framework for the reduction of greenhouse emissions and a better comprehension of carbon emissions to ease the transformation of challenges into opportunities. Energy Transition and Sustainability Integration in the business will also be discussed by panelists.
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