Sustainability in the Marine Industry Conference

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Jointly organised by Quaynote Communications and YachtMedia, the ‘Sustainability in the Marine Industry’ conference is powered by METSTRADE and is technically supported by the International Council of Marine Industry Associations (ICOMIA).

Staged on Monday 14 November, the day before METSTRADE 2016 the program follows on from last year’s ‘Future of Yacht Recycling Conference’. Having already announced a number of high profile speakers and expert panellists, including SANLORENZO’s Paolo Bertetti and Land Rover BAR’s Susie Tomson, the organisers have added more expertise and content to the programme.

This is intended to enable exploration of sustainable design and construction concepts in line with future environmental demands, as well as revisiting and reviewing current progress on yacht disposal processes and schemes which can cater for the ever growing global fleet of End-of-Life Boats.

Victoria Cerrone Director of New Business Development and Sustainable Luxury at Clear Yacht International will explain how her company’s yacht design and operations program is purposefully holistic and built on the foundation of ‘Circular Economy Thinking.’ She will go on to outline the importance of ‘Education and Ocean Initiatives’ within this holistic approach and how it ultimately seeks to engage and motivate the yachting industry in promoting the critical connection between ocean preservation and the health and well-being of all life.

Pino Spadafora, Northern European Area Manager for RINA the Italian maritime class association, will address delegates and represent the view and role of classification societies in encouraging and enabling this kind of sustainability concept in the future. Much can be learned from the commercial shipping world, which has been subject to somewhat more regulatory pressure related to environmental issues than the leisure marine industry has thus far. Pino will outline the thinking behind RINA’s Green Plus Class Notation scheme and how it has evolved in commercial shipping. He will explain how Life Cycle Assessment is taken into account, and how such a ‘goal based’ point scoring system can be applied to the building of a yacht whose owner wishes to voluntarily exceed current regulatory environmental guidelines. The International Council of Marine Industry Associations (ICOMIA) brings together national boating federations in one global organisation and represents them at an international level, presenting a strong and united voice when dealing with issues challenging the industry.

Also with a record in commercial shipping sustainability projects, together with being a very keen yachtsman himself, Eelco Leemans of Leemans Maritime Consultancy has been working in the field of sustainable maritime operations for more than 15 years. As founder and first President of the Clean Shipping Coalition, Eeelco has coordinated a group of NGOs at the International Maritime Organisation and has worked on strategies for ship recycling, emission control and incentive schemes to enhance sustainable shipping. His presentation will be structured to provide some valuable insights into the possible strategies for sustainable boating.

Per Hökfelt, Vice President for Sustainability representing the Swedish DIAB Group, will present practical case histories illustrating how his company has partnered on sustainable vessel design and construction projects. These have for example, brought together the twin advantages of hybrid propulsion with super lightweight composite construction materials. Per will explain how these designs have impacted on Life Cycle Assessment with particular regard to fuel efficiency and associated carbon emissions.

Finally, Dr. Jaap van der Woude, Chairman of the Sustainability Committee within the European Composites Industry Association (EuCIA.), will present his group’s work in developing a Life Cycle Assessment Tool for the composites manufacturers in Europe, which will calculate the environmental impact of their composite products from ‘cradle to gate.’ Dr. van der Woude recently retired as Director of Science & Technology with PPG Industries where he had global R &D responsibility for their reinforced thermoplastics products and processes. As such he will bring a lifetime of industrial experience in composites technology to the SIMI16 conference sessions on recycling of End-of-Life Boats, and the methodology of Life Cycle Assessment.