The burning issue of decarbonization was hotly debated between international maritime industry stakeholders during the Posidonia Web Forums Week held over a plethora of digital platforms from October 21 until Tuesday.
It was shipping business as usual, albeit in a brand-new format, as the world of shipping converged online in their thousands to fill the physical void left by the cancellation of the 2020 edition of the biennial shipping exhibition due to the Covid pandemic.
Registrations exceeded expectations and attendance and active participation was high at all times during the web events.
Posidonia again managed to bring the shipping world together to debate the current challenges facing the industry.
A total of 16 online events were held during the Posidonia Web Forums Week which included the annual European Shipping Seminar of the virtual event’s exclusive sponsor S&P Global Platts.
During an agenda-setting series of presentations, Charlotte Bucchioni, associate editor for EMEA at S&P Global Platts, asserted that the industry is standing still in anticipation of the International Maritime Organization’s clarifications on decarbonization compliance issues.
She said: “We have to wait till 2023 to get a clearer picture from IMO with regards to what the shipping industry would have to do to comply. This has caused negative feedback from the industry which has an order book that is the lowest we have seen in 10 years due to a combination of weaker crude demand due to carbon reduction targets and uncertainty over fuel regulations.”