Helsinki Maritime Forum on Green Shipping, press release 21st March 2022
Finnish-Hellenic Chamber of Commerce and St Thomas Polytechnic: Helsinki Maritime Forum on Green Shipping, 21 March 2022, Oodi Central Library, Helsinki, Finland
New opportunities for cooperation
The first Helsinki Maritime Forum was organised by the Finnish-Hellenic Chamber of Commerce and St Thomas Polytechnic RC, Singapore in Helsinki, Finland, on 21 March 2022. The live event at the Oodi Central Library of Helsinki gathered together stakeholders from the government, shipping community and business alike.
Said Mr Teemu Lehtinen, Secretary General of the FHCC after the conference: “As the speakers of our forum pointed out, despite the apparent physical distance between the two countries, there are great opportunities for cooperation in Green Shipping between these two seafaring nations. Finns have the early adopter knowhow and experience in moving towards lower emissions fuels. Greeks have the world’s third largest fleet. Combining these two, there is an extraordinary opportunity of adopting cleaner technologies faster and more efficiently.”
Mr Eero Hokkanen, Ministerial Adviser at the Finnish Ministry of Transport and Communications, highlighted the decarbonisation challenges of shipping in Europe’s northernmost seas under harsh and unpredictable conditions. Mr Hokkanen emphasised the ambitious national targets of Finland and how this has led to cutting edge automation and digitalisation of shipping solutions which could be put to use by the Greek shipowners.
Mrs Päivi Wood, Senior Adviser on Transport Policy at the Central Chamber of Commerce of Finland, spoke about the impact of greener transport policies and green shipping on Europe’s competitiveness and how this is going to remain a challenge for the foreseeable future. She noted that there is a possibility of regional Green Shipping policies to emerge unless the International Maritime Organisation moves quickly towards uniform solutions. Such regional arrangements will further complicate the market conditions in global shipping.
Captain Class A Spyros Kotzias, LNG/C Master Mariner, representing the St Thomas Polytechnic, described some of the practical challenges large global shipping companies are facing with the new requirements for low sulphur fuels and how most shipowners are still assessing their options case by case. The seismic shifts in global shipping due to Covid-19 and now the Ukrainian war and increased fuel costs have only made all these issues more apparent and urgent to tackle.
Mr Markos Diamantides, Purchase Director of Arkas S.A., provided his views on the Environmental Management Systems of shipping companies. According to Diamantides, training, both for the seafarers and equally, if not more, for on shore personnel is crucial for the success of moving towards greener shipping solutions.
For more information:
Teemu Lehtinen, FHCC, +30 6943 29 95 38
Isidoros Pachoundakis, St Thomas Polytechnic, +30 6973 45 83 33
About the Finnish-Hellenic Chamber of Commerce: FHCC aims to develop and promote business relations between Finland and Greece. Our Chamber acts as a channel for the establishment of business relations between individuals and/or companies from the two countries, and provides its members with information on the Finnish and Greek economies, market analysis and studies and research. FHCC actively participates in public debate in Greece to improve the business environment and promotes Finnish investment and business community through meetings and events with stakeholders and decision makers in Greece.
About the St Thomas Polytechnic RC, Singapore: St Thomas Polytechnic offers professional, scientific and research programmes and life-long learning programmes which meet the need of the global shipping industry for integrated and optimum educational services. We are a broad-based, research-intensive institution, open to all who want to benefit from our offer. St Thomas Polytechnic delivers excellent interdisciplinary research, experiental education and civic engagement.