Young Executives at the Interorient Shipmanagement stand at the Maritime Cyprus 2015 Conference

The second day of the Conference focused on the theme “The New Shipping “Environment” ”. The discussion examined some of the elements that influence the regulatory decisions in international shipping and addressed some of the key challenges the shipping industry is facing today in relation to the use of cyber-physical systems onboard ships. The debate was divided into two sessions, the first session focused on the subject “Do Shipping people influence decisions?”, while the second session focused on the subject “e-shipping”.

The first session was moderated by Mr. Andreas Chrysostomou, Acting Director of the Department of Merchant Shipping, Ministry of Transport, Communications and Works of the Republic of Cyprus.

The distinguished panelists focused the debate on the regulatory decision making process giving particular attention to the participation and the influence of the maritime industry in the decision making process at the International Maritime Organisation and the European Union. The panelists agreed that the maritime industry can be influential depending on the nature of the debate and the political decisions taken.

Subsequently, a discussion took place on “e-shipping”. Mr. Edwin Lampert, Group Managing Editor of Riviera Maritime Media Ltd was the moderator for this session.

During the debate the panelists indicated that e-shipping should be ‘user needs led’ rather than led by technologists or regulators. Furthermore, the panelists indicated that the success of “e-navigation” will rely heavily upon the proper involvement of all parties concerned and in particular the seafarers throughout its development and implementation.

Concluding, the panelists indicated that despite the advanced technological developments, “e-shipping” has not yet matured and further studies are required especially with regards to maintaining the cyber security which is vital for the ship and the port facilities.