Andria Kouloumi, Associate at Michael Kyprianou & Co LLC, represented the firm at the Singapore Maritime Week (SMW) 2024, which took place between the 15th – 19th of April 2024, in Singapore.
The event brought together more than 10,000 visitors including delegates from close to 80 countries and regions, attending conferences, workshops, networking and co-located events.
The importance of the Singapore Maritime Week is reflected by the position that Singapore holds in the maritime industry, retaining its top spot as leading maritime city globally for the 6th time in a row in the 2024 DNV-Menon Leading Maritime Cities of the World report.
The SMW Opening Ceremony was highlighted by the presence of the Singapore’s Minister for Transport Mr Chee Hong Tat and that of Mr. Arsenio Dominguez, Secretary-General of the International Maritime Organisation delivering the keynote address and the Singapore Maritime Lecture, respectively.
Mr. Chee Hond Tar shared that Singapore will focus on innovation, talent and reliable operations to evolve as a global maritime hub adding that the city-state has to persist in its efforts to remain a leading hub port while Mr Arsenio Dominguez urged members to be ‘role models’ in defending the sector and highlighting its successes. Mr. Dominguez also acknowledged that there is more work to be done in areas such as diversity, transparency and inclusion.
The various insightful sessions and panel discussions provided for an opportunity to, amongst other, examine and discuss the matters of decarbonisation, alternative fuels, green shipping, energy transition and digitalisation. As noted by Ms Saskia Mureau, Director Customer Digital at the Port of Rotterdam, the rise of green and digital shipping corridors is a cause for optimism, but we need to continuously accelerate progress.
The 3-day “Expo@SMW”, taking place in parallel with the main SMW conferences, also showcased various innovative maritime solutions, from physical ship models to crane simulators to three-dimensional infrastructure models.
