The IAPH 2022 World Ports Conference got underway today in Vancouver, British Colombia at its iconic Waterfront Convention Center, with over 400 delegates from around the world returning to meet each other in the first in-person event in nearly three years.
In his welcome address to the Conference, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau spoke about how global supply chains are experiencing unprecedented disruptions. He cited the Budget 2022 National Trade Corridors fund which has a proposal on the table to increase expenditure in order to make Canadian transport infrastructure more resilient. He also mentioned the national supply chain summit last January which brought together Canadian stakeholders to discuss how to make the country’s connections more secure and efficient.
Robin Silvester, president and ceo of Vancouver Fraser Port Authority commented: “On behalf of the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority, we are delighted for the Port of Vancouver to be host port of the IAPH 2022 World Ports Conference. As Canada’s largest and most diversified port, the Port of Vancouver enables Canada’s trade with more than 170 world economies. It’s great to welcome port leaders to Vancouver for our first in-person World Ports Conference since 2019, to discuss how we can work together to build our resiliency as global ports.
The theme of digitization of communications and digitalization of processes between ship and shore and along the entire global maritime supply chain is expected to be a core topic of the #IAPH2022 conference.
IAPH’s Managing Director Patrick Verhoeven commented : “Prior to the conference, we held eight #CloseTheGaps regional workshops consulting 85 port users, service providers and IAPH member ports in 35 countries. The common belief arising from these workshops is that digitalization can be a potential way forward. This would not just improve efficiency and connectivity at ports in the short and medium term. It could also reduce carbon emissions and improve ports’ resilience in the long run. However, the overwhelming concern is that this requires a coalition of the willing between public and private stakeholders to share data, to structure data exchange globally in a uniform way, and ensure good governance with the support and involvement of governing bodies in the whole process.”
The conference takes place between 16 -18 May, bringing together leading port stakeholders to #ClosetheGaps in global seaport competitiveness, and setting an agenda to raise the performance of the world’s major port regions.
Source: IAPH