Published: 24/03/2022
Earlier this month (March 2022), the UK Ship Register was pleased to participate in the Shipping Finance conference in Athens, Greece, delivering three events across the two days for virtual and in-person attendees.
Now in its fifth year, the 2022 conference featured a combination of live and pre-recorded interviews, speeches, and panel sessions delivered by 110 speakers, some of whom were remotely connected and others who were physically present. The theme for this year was “Euphoria in Shipping” and “can it be for real?”, with the agenda featuring topics such as global recovery, decentralised finance, shifting trade patterns, and environmental considerations. Supporting the conference as a Gold Sponsor, UKSR representatives delivered one of the keynote speeches and participated in a fireside talk, as well as organising an informative panel discussion looking at the key focuses of finance, sustainability, safety, and innovation.
If you couldn’t join us live, don’t worry, you can now catch up with all our sessions on-demand. Use the links below to watch the recordings.
Keynote: Sustainable Shipping – The Only Way Forward
On the first day of the conference, Maritime and Coastguard Agency Chairman, Christopher Rodrigues CBE, delivered a keynote speech virtually, looking at the International Maritime Organisation’s 2050 sustainability goals and how these can be achieved.
With maritime a significant contributor to greenhouse emissions, due to its vital role in world trade, the need to find solutions to achieve net-zero goals can no longer be ignored. But, while the goals have been clearly established, the way we get there is less clear, particularly with tonne miles also expected to double in the same period.
In his keynote, Mr Rodrigues sets out some of the challenges such as the multiple potential fuel options, infrastructure demands and the differing needs across the industry.
Click here below to watch the Keynote
Panel: ESG Assessments – How to Apply in Shipping. How to Think and Act Outside of the Box in an ESG-centric World
ESG Impact Assessments are performed to provide an optimal basis for more sustainable investment approaches which can contribute to viable sustainability impacts and risk-return enhancements. In this session, panel members discuss whether these assessments and analyses can, in fact, enhance the transparency of shipping’s environmental sustainability and reliability/safety performance? Plus how we can ensure that such diverse and highly specialised assets are assessed objectively and thoroughly. The panel was chaired by Alexandros Damianidis, Partner, Assets & Structured Finance Group at Watson Farley Williams.
The panel participants were:
- Martin Crawford-Brunt, Chief Executive Officer, Lookout Maritime
- Stavros Gyftakis, Chief Financial Officer, Seanergy Maritime Holdings Corp
- Kostas Kapralos, ESG Analyst, Net Zero Analytics
- Michael Parker, Chairman, Global Shipping, Logistics & Offshore, Citi
Click here below to watch the Panel Discussion
Fireside Talk: “Flying Green” – The Role of Flag States for a Sustainable Future
For the maritime sector, sustainability and green initiatives have been on the agenda of the IMO and governments for the past few years. In this short one-to-one interview, UKSR Commercial Director Dan Vivian sat down with host Gina Panayiotou, Founder and CEO of Oceans Arena and Concept Founder of Oceans Area Stage to discuss the flag’s sustainability role.
Among the points discussed were the roles different stakeholders have in the process of making the shipping industry greener, how the UK Flag is trying to drive change on a national level, the importance of collaboration and how “green” is far broader than just the environmental elements.
Click here to watch the Fireside Chat