From 15 to 17 February 2023, the conference brought port operators together with all players in the maritime supply chain to discuss global and regional sustainable practices.<\/p>\n
The event was an opportunity for the Port of Newcastle, among others, to showcase its sustainability efforts and achievements.<\/p>\n
Located more than 150 kilometres north of Sydney, the city is home to the biggest coal exporting region in the world and discussions centred around the port\u2019s strategy of diversification and use of sustainability-linked finance options.<\/p>\n
Port of Newcastle CEO Craig Carmody, told conference delegates: \u201cIt\u2019s beholden on all of us to prepare for the future\u201d adding this needs to be done in a \u201csustainable, resilient and methodical way.\u201d<\/p>\n
Port of Newcastle\u2019s business strategy is for \u201c50\/50 by 2030\u201d, that is 50% of revenue should derive from non-coal sources by the end of this decade. Currently the split is 31% from non-coal trade, up from 11% in 2018.<\/p>\n
\u201cFour years ago\u2026 we were losing banks because we were the world\u2019s biggest coal port. And we\u2019ve worked over four years to change that. So if a port as big as ours in coal can change, this idea that transition is too costly is absolute nonsense.\u201d<\/p>\n
As it stands, coal has made the Port of Newcastle critical to the success of the state of New South Wales\u2019 economy, contributing AUS$70 billion in trade and providing 10,000 jobs.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are the single largest revenue source for the State Government. So, we can do all this [diversification] and we don\u2019t put at risk our role or the economy of NSW,\u201d Mr Carmody said, adding the port handles 160+ million tonnes of coal per year.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd we don\u2019t know when coal will end, nobody knows. We are getting ready now\u2026 for that inevitable day,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
As he rightly pointed out, \u201cyou can\u2019t overnight find 160 million tonnes of something else.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSo what we\u2019re doing is creating new business opportunities at the port while we can afford to do so. We do it with a plan, not in a crisis.<\/p>\n
Creating a level playing field<\/strong><\/p>\n The opening panel session canvassed views from port operators, shipping lines and freight forwarders, including insights from two small island developing states.<\/p>\n While there was discussion around innovation, collaboration and alternative fuels, the topic of levelling the playing field for investment in decarbonisation took centre stage.<\/p>\n Maersk\u2019s My Therese Blank said there was an opportunity for more to be done at the level of the International Maritime Organization (IMO), specifically \u201cmarket-based measures to cover the competitiveness gap between the fossil fuels and the green fuels\u201d by 2025. Maersk would also like to see a strengthening of emissions reduction targets.<\/p>\n However, Ms Blank said there was a great opportunity for industry to make a difference.<\/p>\n \u201cIn 2022 there was only 30,000 tonnes of green methanol produced globally.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have signed eight partnerships already to enable 750,000 tonnes to be available in the next two years.<\/p>\n Mr Carmody commended the work of the IMO but said creating level playing field for decarbonisation needed to be based on scientific targets.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not for people to come up with their own idea of what success looks like. It has to be science-based, target-based, it has to tie in with international targets that have been agreed to.<\/p>\n \u201cThose of us in the first world\u2026 are going to have to do some of the heavy lifting.<\/p>\n \u201cThe truth is, if we are going to do this we\u2019re all going to have to pull ourselves up and some of us are more capable based on our wealth, to do that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n This was a sentiment mirrored by PNG Ports and the Solomon Islands Port Authority.<\/p>\n \u201cWe will follow the guidelines of the IMO as a guide only. It\u2019s what we can manage within the resources we have,\u201d said Rodney Begley, acting CEO of PNG Ports.<\/p>\n The organisation has \u201cconflicting challenges\u201d in meeting the needs of the community in a country with 95% unemployment and limited education, and the demands of the government as a state-owned enterprise.<\/p>\n \u201cSustainability is a blessing and a curse and how we manage that,\u201d Mr Begley said.<\/p>\n He said sustainable action is currently focused on \u201clow hanging fruit\u201d and factors over which the port has control such as efficiency of vessel unloading, truck turnaround times and shore-based power.<\/p>\n Eranda Kotelawala, CEO of Solomon Islands Ports Authority said, \u201cWe need support\u2026 around 80% of infrastructure in Pacific ports is more than 50-60 years old.<\/p>\n \u201cWe do a lot to mitigate climate change from our perspective, but probably not enough.<\/p>\n \u201cWe look globally at what ports are doing and we try to learn from them,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Available solutions<\/strong><\/p>\n Several sessions at the conference focused on the relationship between ports and other supply chain players in decarbonising shipping.<\/p>\n One avenue for the cruise industry to reduce its carbon footprint is through the use of shore power.<\/p>\n Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) members have committed to equipping their vessels to connect to shore-side electricity facilities wherever available at ports \u201cas soon as possible but no later than 2035\u201d, according to the association\u2019s managing director, Joel Katz.<\/p>\n \u201cRight now, 40% of global capacity is already fitted to operate on shore-side electricity, which is a 20% increase over the last year.<\/p>\n \u201cOf newbuild capacity, 98% is either committed to be fitted with shore power or be configured to add shore power in the near future.<\/p>\n \u201cBut\u2026 only 29 ports around the world currently offer us the ability to use shore power in at least one berth,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Taking up the call for shore power is the Port Authority of NSW. The organisation will deliver a world-first 100% renewable electricity shore-powered precinct and first shore-powered cruise terminal in Southern Hemisphere.<\/p>\n Shore power will be one of the biggest contributors to the port authority achieving its goal of net zero emissions by 2040 with a focus on Scope 1 and 2 emissions (and 75% emissions reduction by 2030).<\/p>\n CEO of the Port Authority of NSW, Philip Holliday said: \u201cIt will be the first bulk precinct in the world to operate with that capability.\u201d<\/p>\n The port authority will provide 100% renewable shore power for cruise and bulk terminals at White Bay and Glebe Island by 2024. It is investing AUS$60 million in renewable shore power in the region, reducing ship carbon emissions by 14,000 tonnes per year or the equivalent of planting 70,000 trees.<\/p>\n Carbon neutral towage was another topic of discussion. Svitzer Australia\u2019s Ivan Spanjic said the Australian Government and industry partners need to take action to make biofuel a feasible option in the region.<\/p>\n He said carbon-neutral towage operations in the country would not be possible by simply building different kinds of tugboats.<\/p>\n Svitzer will bring around 180 new tugboats into service by 2040, less than half its global fleet.<\/p>\n \u201cThe horrible truth is that we\u2019re not going to get there by building, we can\u2019t build our way to a sustainable future,\u201d Mr Spanjic said.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s going to require the optimisation of our existing assets, a switch to biofuels and rapid introduction of low or zero emission power sources.\u201d<\/p>\n While tugboats may account for only 4% of total shipping carbon emissions globally, that\u2019s still around 40 million tonnes of CO2 or the equivalent of seven million cars per year.<\/p>\n Today\u2019s solution is biofuel but uptake is hampered by gaps in the supply chain in terms of infrastructure, policy and legislation.<\/p>\n \u201cEveryone talks about methanol which we also subscribe to, we also talk about batteries, but biofuel is just as effective, it\u2019s just not as well known,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Green finance<\/strong><\/p>\n Many delegates were keen to hear about green financing options for the maritime sector and they were rewarded with a comprehensive session on the topic on the second day of the conference.<\/p>\n The Port of Newcastle has undertaken three sustainability-linked transactions in the last two years. The organisation\u2019s CFO, Nick Livesey, said: \u201cNow more than ever we\u2019re seeing lenders use their power and influence to drive sustainable behaviours and actions.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s a good thing, it\u2019s positive and I think the key message is, \u2018banks might be doing it now, but it will broaden into other areas like customers and suppliers\u2019 and we\u2019re already seeing it with insurers.\u201d<\/p>\n Sustainability-linked lending involves attaching targets or KPIs (key performance indicators) to a loan instrument that impact the price of that loan.<\/p>\n \u201cFor example, you might have a target to cut Scope 1 emissions over a number of years\u2026 so you\u2019ll have staged [emissions] reductions over that seven years,\u201d Mr Livesey said, adding that challenging targets are advisable but should also be achievable.<\/p>\n For AUS$515 million in bank debt in April 2021, Port of Newcastle had five KPIs linked to the loan: reduction in Scope 1 and 2 emissions, screening suppliers for modern slavery, providing internships for Indigenous students, mental health training for staff and achieving improving status with Sustainability Advantage (NSW Government agency).<\/p>\n Later loans for the port included annual targets for diversification away from reliance on coal revenues, and targets around Scope 3 emissions.<\/p>\n In answering the question of whether green financing works, Mr Livesey said cynics may see it as a public relations exercise and there may be some truth to this.<\/p>\n \u201cHowever, this is now getting so commonplace, having sustainability terms in loan instruments is becoming standard.<\/p>\n \u201cTo that end, it will apply to everyone and then frankly, do you care about the motivation?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n \u201cIt still gets the action happening,\u201d Mr Livesey said. \u201cIf everyone is cutting their Scope 1 and 2 emissions, influencing their supply chain on Scope 3, pushing diversity and inclusion, then the change is happening and for the better.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The City of Newcastle was host to the first ever GreenPort Congress in the Southern Hemisphere, writes Paula Wallace.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":3185,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[70],"tags":[725,113,855,454,724,929],"sponsor":[],"class_list":["post-3184","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-australasia-greenport","tag-events","tag-greenport","tag-greenport-congress-oceania","tag-port-of-newcastle","tag-smart-ports","tag-sustainabilty"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/greenport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3184","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/greenport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/greenport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/greenport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/greenport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3184"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/greenport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3184\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3186,"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/greenport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3184\/revisions\/3186"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/greenport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3185"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/greenport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3184"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/greenport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3184"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/greenport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3184"},{"taxonomy":"sponsor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/greenport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sponsor?post=3184"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}