The Manila Times hosts maritime forum

TMT hosts maritime forum
Genivi Factao August 25, 2020 https://www.manilatimes.net/2020/08/25/news/national/tmt-hosts-maritime-...

The challenges facing the country’s maritime industry as it navigates its way through the global health crisis will be taken up at The Manila Times’ second forum on maritime shipping and logistics today.

The forum, titled “The Future of Maritime Transport and Logistics,” will enable key leaders and maritime professionals to share their outlook and strategies for surviving the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic, which has devastated the industry.

“The Maritime Industry Authority (Marina) has kept afloat amid the raging tide of Covid-19
global pandemic,” said Administrator Robert Empedrad, the forum’s keynote speaker.

Empedrad will bare his ten-year development plan for the maritime industry.

The forum will also provide a platform for sharing notes on sustainability in shipping and how the emerging global situation impacts both local and international shipping.

“It is without a doubt that the tragedies at the start of 2020 and the Covid-19 pandemic have caused a widespread impact on the shipping and logistics sector. Shipping and transport industry is reeling from the chain reactions of ships being unable to sail, while the people manning it were either trapped or locked down. Some ports in many countries and flag states were closed and some countries have tightened their borders,” said Carmela Huelar, The Manila Times maritime editor.

Industry players said the pandemic has caused a “paradigm shift” in the shipping and transport industry. The movement of cargoes and people has almost ground to a halt.

Crew change has become a humanitarian crisis. The crew of vessels transporting goods around the globe is subjected to unprecedented problems such as fatigue and mental stress.

Invited as guests to the forum are experts and key players in the shipping and logistics industry, Dante “Klink”Ang 2nd, president and chief executive officer (CEO) of The Times, said.

Among them are Empedradn Patrick Ronas, president of the Association of the International Shipping Lines; Chryss Alfonsus Damuy, president and CEO of Chelsea Logistics and Infrastructure Holdings Corp.; Paul Rodriguez, president of Asian Marine
Transport Corp.; and Reginald Rivera, marketing manager of Asian Terminals Inc.

The maritime transport and logistics forum, to be moderated by maritime journalist Yashika Torib, will be broadcast on the Manila Times TV Facebook page.

The Times’ partners in the forum are the Association of the International Shipping Lines, Asian Terminals Inc., Chelsea, Fastcat, Bright Maritime Corp., Magsaysay, MOL and Cargo Safeway Inc.