The issue of decarbonisation was hotly debated between international maritime industry stakeholders during the Posidonia Web Forums Week held over a plethora of digital platforms from 21 October το 3 November 2020, the  organisers of the event said in a statement.

Leading maritime media and policy organisations, such as Tradewinds, Lloyd’s List, Seatrade, Capital Link, Newsfront/Naftiliaki and Maritime London, as well as traditional Posidonia exhibitors and educational organisations, such as ABS, Marine Traffic, Isalos.net and BCA College, participated in this project.

And it was shipping business as usual, albeit on a new format, as the world of shipping converged online in their thousands to fill the physical void left by the cancelation of the 2020 edition of the biennial shipping exhibition due to the pandemic.

Registrations exceeded expectations and attendance and active participation was high at all times during the web events..

A total of 16 online events were held during the Posidonia Web Forums Week, which included the Annual European Shipping Seminar of the virtual event’s exclusive sponsor S&P Global Platts.

Charlotte Bucchioni, Associate Editor EMEA, S&P Global Platts, asserted that the industry is standing still in anticipation of the International Maritime Organisation’s (IMO) clarifications on decarbonisation compliance issues.She said: “We have to wait till 2023 to get a clearer picture from IMO with regards to what the shipping industry would have to do to comply. This has caused negative feedback from the industry which has an order book that is the lowest we have seen in ten years due to a combination of weaker crude demand due to carbon reduction targets and uncertainty over fuel regulations.”