The long-awaited countdown to the UK Chamber of Shipping’s major conference, ‘Shipping UK: Into the New Era’, has finally come to an end. The event opened its doors for the first time at the prestigious QEII Centre in Westminster, London, welcoming 300 attendees to discuss the global challenges and opportunities that the shipping industry is facing.

Addressing Global Challenges

In recent years, the maritime industry has faced a series of unprecedented challenges, from the global pandemic and armed conflicts to economic uncertainty, a growing dependence on technology and data, political instability, and the ongoing challenge of decarbonising the sector. The conference has gathered industry experts to analyse issues and trends. The day was divided into a key panel, six breakout sessions, and a keynote address.

The breakout sessions focused on: Maritime Tourism, Global Supply Chain Trends, Transition Finance, Human Resource - at Sea and Ashore, Data Transformation and Ship Repair and Buil.

Conference Highlights 

Rhett Hatcher, CEO of the UK Chamber of Shipping, opened the conference by thanking the 300 industry leaders for their participation in these important discussions. He was followed by the Secretary of State for Transport, Louise Haigh, who highlighted the importance of shipping to the UK's prosperity and wellbeing.

UK Shipping's Route to Decarbonisation

Today, the UK Chamber of Shipping has published a roadmap for how shipping in the UK can reach net zero by 2050 and set out plans for £700m of investments in the forthcoming Budget as part of a bold plan to help the UK become a clean shipping hub. 

The Chamber asks the Government to:

• continue to fund research and development via UK SHORE
• deliver shore power so ships can plug in when in port and avoid running their engines
• protect lifeline ferry services from costly emission trading scheme fees to allow them to decarbonise fully, and
• ensure the UK maritime sector has the new talent and manpower it needs. 

Visit Shipping Sets Out £700M Of Net Zero Investment Priorities for more information.

Refreshed Clean Maritime Plan

During his speech, Chamber CEO Rhett Hatcher stressed that a successor to the 2019 Clean Maritime Plan is something that would be greatly welcome across the industry. This new plan should be a multi-year framework, which provides much-needed certainty, and enables government and industry collaboration on emissions reduction. 

A long term plan is an important first step but this must be matched by delivering the infrastructure we need as is already happening in other locations. 

"This includes delivering on the required infrastructure, including a shore power revolution, to help attract green shipping to the UK, benefitting not just maritime communities but the entire maritime supply chain.

"The decarbonisation timeline, that we have published today, sets out the pathway to net zero that we believe is achievable and maximises the return on government investment that we need to see through unlocking industry finance and job creation, something we will explore with our expert panel later this morning.

Rhett Hatcher, UK Chamber of Shipping Chief Executive Officer.

Navigating the Future of Shipping

The UK Chamber of Shipping and the Merchant Navy Training Board (MNTB) have partnered with ITN to launch the 'Navigating the Future of Shipping' at the Shipping UK conference, a programme that explores the vital role the international shipping industry plays in global trade.

To watch the programme and learn more about the project, visit the page below:

'Navigating the future of shipping' launches at Shipping UK in collaboration with ITN.