Three Weeks, Hundreds of People, and Zero Emissions
After three hectic initial weeks as a member of the Maritime UK team, things do not seem to be slowing down any time soon. Work is well underway in the planning for London International Shipping Week, the Women in Maritime Charter Panel for pilot companies takes place next week, and our Maritime Masters programme is ramping up as students’ dissertation topics are submitted and shortlisted.
Friday 26th April saw two major events on the MUK calendar coincide, as the Maritime UK National Council met to discuss and evaluate the progress and process of the organisation, and the Maritime UK Awards were launched, and nominations opened.
The Maritime UK Awards are the first truly national maritime awards in the UK, created by industry for industry. The awards will be held in a different UK maritime region each year, and will this year coincide, both in time and place, with the Southampton International Boat Show.
The awards are open to all industries in the maritime sector, including shipping, ports, services, engineering, and leisure marine. Nominations for the large range of different categories, reflecting the depth and breadth of the sector, are now open, and can be submitted here. Tickets for the awards evening, which will take place on 19th September, will soon be available.
After the hustle and bustle of the National Council on Friday, last week started in a similarly grand fashion, with Maritime UK participating at the annual lunch hosted by the British Ports Association (BPA) at historic Draper’s Hall. BPA are both one of our members, and our lucky office neighbours, making Tuesday’s event a happy meeting with their familiar faces, as well as 300 of their closest colleagues. See a video from the event here.
Among guests at this event was the Maritime Minister Nusrat Ghani, who spoke on the importance of ports in accommodating the work of the other maritime industries, as the "gateways for numerous maritime sectors including cruise, fishing, offshore energy, leisure and of course general cargo movement, with UK Ports handling 95% of the nation’s goods".
The Minister also highlighted "the important work of ports and to meet the environmental challenge to be as clean and green as possible", echoing the reports made by the Committee on Climate Change (CCC). The CCC is an independent adviser on climate change for the UK government, and reported this week that they believe it is possible for the UK to reduce carbon emissions to nearly zero by 2050.
Maritime UK Chair Harry Theochari stated that “The UK maritime sector welcomes the CCC’s ambition. Moving goods by sea is already the most efficient and sustainable mode of transport. However, we can and must do more. (....) Last year an international agreement was reached to cut carbon emissions in shipping by 50% by 2050. In the UK, Maritime 2050 sets out an ambition to go even further, to 0%.”
Last week Maritime UK hosted dinner with the Maritime Minister and British Marine to discuss the leisure marine industry and its role in delivering Maritime 2050.
On Friday Maritime UK Director Ben Murray joined BBC Solent’s H2O podcast to talk about the Maritime UK Awards, the future of the sector and the role it plays in the Solent.
Also, on Friday, a new report showed that London has jumped to second in the global ranking of best cities to invest in, commenting: “People want to live and work there and that means London can attract the world’s most skilled employees. London, like a number of other true global cities, remains at the centre of the global economy despite challenges surrounding Brexit.”