THE PORTS Australia Biennial Conference brought the port community together in Hobart this week to discuss the international maritime landscape, regional collaboration and a broad range of issues affecting the sector.
The conference, now in its 48th iteration, follows the theme of “navigating new horizons” and adapting for tomorrow’s challenges.
Following tours of the Australian Maritime College on Monday and the Port of Hobart on Tuesday, formal sessions got underway on Wednesday 30 October with an opening address from federal minister for infrastructure and transport Catherine King.
Minister King looked toward some of the changes on those new horizons and some recent news from the Tasmanian port of Burnie: the installation of a new shiploader.
“It’s a project that paid tribute to both the maritime past and future of this great state, as well as setting the local economy up for decades of success to come,” she said.
“It also speaks of how essential maritime logistics are to our day-to-day lives.”
International Association of Ports and Harbors president Jens Meier and managing director Patrick Verhoeven positioned Australia’s ports sector within an international maritime context, outlining the challenges shared by ports around the globe.
“I believe 100% that we can only tackle the challenges together,” he said.
A highlight of the day was a discussion on collaboration among the ports of Oceania, featuring presentations from Tonga’s minister for infrastructure Sevenitini Toumo’ua, Lyttelton Port Company CEO Graeme Sumner and PNG Ports director Belinda Manning.
The discussion was loaded with insight into a range of challenges and natural disasters, from the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai eruption in 2022 to the aftermath of the Christchurch earthquake in 2011 and, now, the risks of tsunamis.
“We know like a lot of other ports, that insurance costs are becoming extraordinarily expensive, and so for us at least, since that time our insurance costs have risen more than 30-fold,” Mr Sumner said.
“And each of us will have a different appreciation of risks, but unfortunately, like Tonga, our major risk is not earthquakes; it’s tsunamis.”
Sessions throughout the rest of the day focused on port governance, green shipping and the economic and geopolitical landscape.
The conference will wrap up tomorrow afternoon (31 October) following another day of discussions.
Further coverage of the Ports Australia Biennial Conference will appear in the DCN magazine.
