SIMIC

2024 will be a pivotal year for ports and their communities. Geopolitical instability is on the rise. Physical and digital security is under threat, at sea and on shore. Shipowners, supply chain providers and cargo owners must adapt rapidly. The energy transition towards low- and zero-carbon fuels must be balanced against national energy security concerns.

The aim of the IAPH 2024 World Ports Conference is to offer insights on these topics, revealing how ports - from developing and developed nations - are building secure and sustainable solutions to these shared challenges, in a deeply interconnected world.



Day one will be high level and focus on what next steps the industry will take on its decarbonisation journey, just one week after the crucial MEPC 82 IMO negotiations in London, with the intervention of Secretary General Arsenio Domingue, among others. There will be high levels sessions on digitalisation, the challenges and opportunities AI has to offer the industry, how to combat illicit trade and how to build up resilience.



Day two will look at the energy transition, specifically on low and zero carbon fuels of the future, how they will be deployed and managed at ports for bunkering and cargo transportation. Each day will have breakout sessions illustrating the tools available to ports and their stakeholders from IAPH and their partners, as well as practical workshops and site visits. In the Port of Hamburg, shore power technical visits will be organised to both Hamburg's cruise and container terminals, a cyber security workshop will be organised and there will be two gameplays of the highly successful Port Endeavor sustainability game.



On the evening of day two there will be the gala dinner announcing the winners in the six categories of the IAPH 2024 Sustainability Awards, which count on seventy-one candidates from over seventy ports from fifty countries.



Day three will continue with a global outlook on the port sector markets from an economic perspective with world-leading economists and the conference will close with a keynote of the highest order looking into the future for ports.



Speakers from the IMO, World Bank, UNCTAD, World Economic Forum, World Customs Organization, the International Chamber of Shipping, BIMCO and the world's leading port authorities will make IAPH 2024 and essential date in the diaries for the port executive.