IAPH President: Ports should not compete but collaborate to ensure infrastructure for green fuels

Jens Meier, President of the International Association of Ports and Harbors (IAPH) and CEO of Hamburg Port Authority has actually gotten in touch with ports to actively work together on understanding sharing in between themselves and the maritime neighborhood to speed up decarbonization.

Meier spoke at the current COP28 Shaping the Future of Shipping top arranged by the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) in Dubai on December 10 with over 300 maritime market CEOs, federal government ministers and NGOs present.

“We ought to not see this as a competitive concern amongst ports. We require to establish tools together to make sure the facilities is readily available for low and no carbon fuels for when the ships calling require them,” Meier commented.

He mentioned the capability structure of ports and their individuals along with the advancement of security and preparedness level tools by the association in between the IAPH environment and energy technical committee port coworkers as examples of such cooperation.

In current months, IAPH had actually worked as a partner of the IMO Norway GreenVoyage2050 task on establishing abilities in the safe and effective handling of alternative fuels at a workshop kept in Mumbai, India including port experts from establishing nations. In 2024, a port preparedness level tool established by a group of innovative ports of the World Port Climate Action Program and IAPH’s Clean Marine Fuels Working Group will be offered by IAPH as a preliminary handbook self-assessment tool following effective screening by the Port of Rotterdam.

Asked whether ports will be prepared in time with facilities, Meier stated that Hamburg Port Authority and other ports will be prepared. He included that another crucial aspect to think about is the needed vital volume of mass need, provided the lower density of these fuels and the requirement for the port companies to take a look at their KPIs and bottom lines.

The essential function of ports as Clean Marine Fuel Hubs

IAPH Managing Director Patrick Verhoeven highlighted the important function of ports as Clean Marine Fuel Hubs (CEM Hubs) in the supply of brand-new and current fuels not just to bunker ships however likewise the production of green hydrogenstorage and subsequent seaborne transport of this renewable resource through fuels such as methanol and ammonia to import nations.

“With the IMO consenting to speed up shipping decarbonisation, one crucial success aspect will be the effective settlement of a market-based step to raise financing for a simply and fair energy shift,” Verhoeven stated.

“A worldwide executed financial procedure will require to be concurred upon at the IMO that likewise makes sure establishing nations and little island states are not excluded in facilities and capability structure. Their active involvement in the Clean Energy Ministerial CEM Hubs effort is one method of making sure that.”

“Shipping and ports along with regulators, the energy sector and federal governments require to interact worldwide to solve this tough quandary– local plans run the risk of developing imbalances and unjust competitors, misshaping markets both on- and offshore,” Verhoeven concluded.