People and Technology Must Synergise to Render Port Management Competitive and Efficient

People and Technology Must Synergise to Render Port Management Competitive and Efficient

Industry leaders from as far as the Asia-Pacific region to as close as right here at home in the Greater Caribbean, presented and discussed issues on the maritime sector. Throughout the day’s session, the prevailing theme was possibilities and potentialities, as experts exposed the Greater Caribbean’s senior port executives to technologies, mechanisms, processes and tools to adapt to the pandemic’s effect on the sector and to render port management and operations more competitive, robust and efficient to modern-day demands.

Ravi Kumar of DP World and Kris Vedat of P&O Maritime Logistics opened the workshop, driving home the topic of innovation, digitalisation and automation. Both speakers identified the synergies amongst those three key areas that would support the ushering in of a new era for maritime transport in the Greater Caribbean. They were followed by Paul Kim, also of DP World, who emphasised the relationship between innovation and technological use in fostering more efficient terminal system operations.

Silja Lorenzen highlighted three key concepts to render port management and port operations more streamlined and efficient – optimisation, standardisation and value proposition. While a heavy emphasis was placed on technological use, she reminded participants to keep the human factor foremost when adopting port improvement measures. Shaytel Patel followed her DP World colleague with a very engaging presentation on risk management in the maritime cybersecurity realm. She exemplified how technologies assisted port processes, possible sources of vulnerabilities, and demonstrated ways to manage cyber security risks. Her concluding statement resonated as she recommended a layered approach to defending from cyberattacks, and emphasised education and sensibilisation of staff to the port defense system.

The session concluded with an academic panel of Poul Hansen of UNCTAD, Ricardo Sanchez of UNECLAC and Lawrence Henesey of Zodiac fielding questions and presenting on trade facilitation, automation and change management in the maritime sector, as well as the coronavirus’ effect on trade and shipping. Sixty-two participants benefitted from the range of experiences and expertise present during this first day. This workshop will conclude with a second session to be held on March 31^st, 2021 and will feature Simon Sonoo and Sheikh Saaed as they discuss maritime industry development.

Maritime industry experts formed part of the group of presenters for the jointly held Association of Caribbean States (ACS)–DP World workshop “Looking towards the Future of Ports in the Caribbean” of the 2^nd Course on Maritime Port Upgrade for Executives from the Greater Caribbean. It was attended by the Chair of the Special Committee for Transport, Cuba Ambassador H.E. Tania Diego Olite; the Secretary General of the Association of Caribbean States, H.E. Rodolfo Sabonge; the Chief Executive Officer of DP World Dominican Republic, Morten Johansen, and the Chief Operating Officer of DP World, Mahmood al Bastaki. The day was moderated by Director Safiya Horne-Bique of the ACS and Tariq al Tayer of DP World.