Postgraduate shipping news and events

Keep up to date with the latest news and events for postgraduate shipping programmes

The Future of Freeports Under Brexit

A highly topical discussion on Freeports and Brexit was organised by the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (CILT) and Plymouth Business School. The event was held on 16 December 2020 in collaboration with the University of Plymouth and the Ports, Maritime and Waterways (PMW) Forum.

The event has attracted great attention from various policymakers and industry representatives and provides clear guidance for the future direction that Freeports should take under the Brexit environment.

Moderator: Dr Stavros Karamperidis, Lecturer in Maritime Economics, Member of PMW CILT and Chairman of CILT for Devon and Cornwall

Speakers:

Sue Terpilowski FCILT OBE, PPC Chair and Vice Chair of PMW
Mark Rowbotham, CILT PMW
Tim Morris, UK Major Ports Group (UKMPG)

Maritime Cybersecurity and Supply Chains: How to Navigate the Waters of Digital Innovation Post-Covid

Without doubt, 2020 was a year that put changes in the shipping industry in the spotlight.

Against this backdrop, on 15 December 2020, the Greek Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong held a webinar on maritime cybersecurity and maritime supply chains, bringing together a group of corporate and academic experts to examine how government and corporate actors in Hong Kong and Greece meet today’s challenges and upcoming opportunities.

After a highly engaging presentation by Mr Kapalidis, our panellists discussed the current maritime cybersecurity landscape and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the role of government regulations. They also deep-dived into the upcoming IMO Guidelines on Maritime Cyber Risk Management and assessed the projected impact on the maritime supply chains and the readiness of shipping companies for the 2021 IMO implementation.

Watch the webinar

Moderator: Dr Stavros Karamperidis, Lecturer (Maritime Economics, Department of International Shipping, Logistics and Operations), University of Plymouth

Speakers:

Mr Chronis Kapalidis, Integrated Security Practice Leader for HudsonAnalytix in EMEA, UK
Mr Torbjörn Dimblad, CIO of Anglo-Eastern Ship Management (AESM), Hong Kong
Mr Spyros Georgiou, Managing Director (APAC) at Navarino, Hong Kong

Maritime UK Awards 2020: Business of the Year Award

The University of Plymouth is sponsoring the Business of the Year Award as part of the Maritime UK Awards 2020.

Maritime businesses support just under a million jobs and contribute £46.1 billion to the UK economy, while they specifically support 108,500 jobs and contribute £3.8 billion to our local economy. The University hopes to achieve local, national and global impact through recognition of the maritime business sector and its contribution to further boost our economy and society. This will be accomplished by engaging with the sector in various research projects to make UK maritime businesses more competitive in an already highly competitive global environment.

Cyber Risk in the Ports and Maritime Sector

Brian Sullivan from the Ports, Maritime & Waterways Forum chaired a recent Webinar for an important and emerging topic -- cyber security and risk management for the maritime transport and ports sector. As the sector continues to increasingly digitalise its operations, cyber-attacks and their risk mitigation are attracting attention.

The Maritime sector in the last few years has suffered serious cyber-attacks. One of most famous was in 2017 the NotPetya attack on Maersk that cost approximately $300 million. Since then several shipping and port companies have experienced cyber-attacks with the most recent at CMA/CGM and MSC. We still do not know the actual cost of those attacks but British Airways has recently been asked to pay a reduced fine (due to COVID-19) of £20 million for recent data breaches.

Stavros Karamperidis from Plymouth University’s Department of International Shipping, Logistics and Operations (also Chairman of Devon and Cornwall CILT group and Member of the Ports, Maritime & Waterways Forum) started the presentations with an overview of the cyber threats that ports and maritime transport sectors face and how these have developed. He also demonstrated the need for ports and maritime transport to adopt the right risk assessment and mitigation strategies. He reminded attendees that the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) which itself has been the subject of a very recent cyber-attack has the requirement for cyber security to be addressed in safety management systems by January 2021.

Matthew Wilmshurst Senior Associate at law firm Holman Fenwick Willan reviewed the exposures and legal position of ports and other transport operators. He stressed the importance of contracts and good contract management and that contracts should be reviewed as when originally drafted and agreed most would not have given consideration to cyber risks.

Brian Warszona, Europe Cyber Growth Leader at Marsh insurance brokers highlighted the risks, the type and increasing frequency of losses that the insurance market is seeing related to cyber-attack in shipping and ports sectors. He also stressed the importance of companies carrying out regular risk assessments and risk reviews with their insurance brokers to ensure that the insurance purchased remains fit for purpose.

The session closed with a lively Q&A session and dialogue between the speakers and the webinar attendees. One of the main takeaways from the session is that ports and maritime transport sectors need to take action as soon as possible, as cyber-criminals have identified the lack of knowledge and preparedness against cyber-attacks in the sector so they are exploring how future attacks could be made. In addition, ports and maritime transport sector should prepare for a cyber-attack, as it is only a matter of time before most companies operating in that sector will become cyber victims if they take no action. Preparation is key.

We would also like to thank Erin Meehan, from CILT, for arranging and ensuring the smooth running of this successful event.

Brian Sullivan and Dr Stavros Karamperidis
Ports, Maritime and Waterways Forum

"This event demonstrates our strong industry links on topical issues such as the reduction of shipping emissions." – Dr Karamperidis

Reducing Maritime Emissions: The Vital Role Played by Hull Cleaning Technology

On 25 November 2020, the Chartered Institute of Transport and Logistics (CILT), Plymouth Business School and the MSc International Logistics and Shipping programmes welcomed our visiting speaker Mr Thanos Kapralos, Commercial and Marine Director at Sea Circle. Established in 2017, Sea Circle is a service provider that covers 250 ports from offices in London and Athens.

More than 40 participants, students of our Masters programmes and industry experts attended the event, which was hosted by Dr Stavros Karamperidis. Hull cleaning is a topic that rarely takes the limelight, yet it has a huge impact on fuel consumption as it can significantly reduce a vessel's emissions. Its relevance is demonstrated by the focus and financial support of the UK government and EU.

New technologies for the new normal: three perspectives on a changing maritime sector

On 18 June 2020, we hosted a series of remote learning webinars aimed at students studying maritime-related courses. A thread of the impact of Covid-19 on the maritime industry has extended throughout our webinars. In this session, we looked at technology as a theme and the role it may play in the ‘new normal’.

A great line of speakers shared their knowledge in this 60 minute session, which was followed by an engaging round of Q&A.

This event was organised by Maritime UK, Clarksons and Royal HaskoningDHV, illustrating the strong links between University of Plymouth academics and industry leaders, ensuring that our students have access to the most current knowledge from both parties.

Register to watch the event On Demand

Speakers:

Stavros Karamperidis, University of Plymouth
Miriam Goldby, Queen Mary University of London
Kevin Martin, Royal HaskoningDHV

Guest lecture from the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport

On 7 February 2020 a joint meeting was held between the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport and maritime business and logistics students of Plymouth Business School to discuss ‘How LNG Shipping is meeting the challenge for a low carbon world’.

Manos Panou, Commercial Manager, LNG Projects and Chartering, NYK Group and Philip Tripodakis, LNG Shipbroker, Simpson, Spence Young Ltd addressed members of CILT, students and staff on how Liquid Natural Gas (LNG) is shipped by specialist vessels to support industry and consumers around the world.

The discussion ended with a lively Q&A session looking at the commercial and environmental impact of boil-off, the pricing mechanisms used to price vessel charters and the commission taken by ship brokers upon successfully closing a deal, or in the industry jargo, 'fixing a ship'.

The lecture was featured in the CILT magazine Focus.

Financing decarbonisation of the freight transport sector

Programme Leader Dr Stavros Karamperidis moderated a panel at the “Financing decarbonisation of the freight transport sector” event, organised by the Decarbonising UK Freight Transport EPSRC funded project in London. Stavros moderated the panel “Identifying the key stakeholders that need to ‘buy in’ to the evidence to move forwards” which included panel members Duncan Buchanan, Tim Morris, Aoife O'Leary, Jos Standerwick and more than 100 industry experts who participated in a fruitful discussion for a vital topic regarding our environment.

Guest lecture

Supply Chain Risk Management with Professor John Manners-Bell

We had a dynamic start for 2020 in South West Region of CILT. Our first event for 2020 took place at the University of Plymouth on the 23 January 2020. The event was co-hosted by Plymouth Business School, CILT and CIPS. Prof. John Manners-Bell Chief Executive of Ti Insight, was invited to deliver a guest lecture on ‘Supply Chain Risk Management’. The event was well attended by more than 100 delegates ranging from Head of Supply Chains to undergraduate and post-grad logistics students.

The event introduced by Dr Stavros Karamperidis (Chair of CILT Devon and Cornwall Group and Programme manager of MSc International Logistics and Shipping programmes) welcoming all the attendees and Prof. Manners-Bell. Prof. Manners-Bell discussed current issues related to supply chain risk management. He illustrated the risks that supply chains had faced when clinical virus outbreaks had taken place, for example the swine flu. Based on that example he elaborated how the current Coronavirus might affect supply chains and the associated risks. He also demonstrated the concept of “known of the unknown” and provided tips that could accelerate how the supply chain can become more agile under the current business and trade environments. The presentation generated a large number of questions. The event finished with a lively discussion between the attendees and Prof. Manners-Bell.

The future of maritime education

The University of Plymouth in conjunction with Maritime UK as part of the ‘40 years of MSc International Shipping’ celebration hosted an event which was part of the prestigious London International Shipping Week. The event ‘The future of Maritime Education’ included discussions with a panel of leading maritime figures:

Richard Clayton, Chief correspondent, Lloyd’s List
Cara Carter, Operations and QA Director, Halcyon Recruitment
Syamantak Bhattacharya, Dean of Warsash School of Maritime Science and Engineering
Ross McKissock, London Container Terminal Asset Manager, Port of Tilbury
Katharina Stanzel, Managing Director, Intertanko

Dr Stavros Karamperidis hosted and chaired the event which generated a lively discussion among the participants and the panel. Dr Karamperidis also had the opportunity to demonstrate the maritime business teaching and research at Plymouth Business School, promoting our long maritime heritage and catching up with various industry leading graduates.

During the event Dr Karamperidis presented the best masters student projects selected by industry experts for the best UK Maritime Masters dissertation. Georgios Koligiannis and Andres Tsestidis represented the University of Plymouth.

Maritime Masters Finalist Georgios Koligianni

Georgios has been selected as a finalist for the best masters student project selected by industry experts for the best UK Maritime Masters dissertation.

"After spending countless hours tackling my research topic named “A critical analysis of the maritime cyber-security, possible countermeasures that could be adopted from the financial and the military sector” my dissertation was shortlisted in the top five among all the maritime UK universities. I was honoured to present my findings during the Maritime Masters Finalists Reception event, which was attended by Maritime UK Patron, HRH The Princess Royal.”

"I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Dr Stavros Karamperidis who brainstormed ideas about the challenging issue of cyber-security in the maritime domain and helped me significantly in my research as no one else in my previous academic studies. I should also mention my special recognition to the academics and practitioners who participated in the interviews and the survey and helped me to investigate my research questions thoroughly."

Georgios Koligianni

Coastlink conference 2019

Programme Leader Dr Stavros Karamperidis moderated a session in one of the most prestigious short sea conferences in Europe, the Coastlink conference, 12-13 June 2019 in Southampton. Students we’re invited along to network and meet with key industry experts.

Stavros moderated the session: The best cost and delivery solution with environmental consideration. Panel members were the following key industry experts, Andy Ellis, Country Manager of Unifeeder, Martyn Boyers Chief Executive of Grimsby Fish, Alex Veitch Head of Multimodal Policy of FTA, Duncan Buchanan Policy Director at the Road Haulage Association, Craig Barbour General Manager of Southampton Port.