VADODARA: MSC India organized a seminar on ‘The Sustainable Ports & Shipping Network' (SPSN) on August 22, 2012 at Vadodara in keeping with its aim  of increasing the awareness of the trade.

 

The  eminent speakers of the event were  Mr Dirk Vande Velde, MSC's Director for Environment and Social Business Affairs, and Corporate Manager, MSC Chemical Transports, Antwerp.

 

 Addressing the event,  Mr Dirk Vande Velde said  that SPSN is an international collaborative group of ports, terminals, carriers, inland transporters, classification societies and, if required, consultants with general or specific expertise in areas where companies, local and national Governments can improve the socio-environmental performance of their supply chains and transport infrastructure.

 

“The network's focus is to collect accurate, complete, consistent and transparent quality data of contaminants to land, sea or air and to provide a wide range of effective and equitable solutions to reduce energy use and emissions from logistics activities in the total supply chain”, it was  pointed out.

 

The importance and modalities of port and ship safety and energy efficiency for environmental sustainability were also highlighted, with stress on integrated system design, standardised data as well as integrated transport, port and vessel design.

 

The Cargo Incident Notification System (CINSNET) was elaborated upon. It was pointed out that CINSNET was developed to analyse global operational information on all cargo and container related accidents, with the aim of allowing seaborne carriers to share data so as to establish areas of concern and trends in order to improve safety in the transport chain.

 

At the heart of the CINS initiative are corporate social responsible or CSR carriers, it was emphasised, with the primary concern being for the safety of people onboard and ashore.

 

The importance of appropriate, UN-approved packaging of dangerous goods during transport was also touched upon i.e. packages that will retain the product safely, not react with the product, and withstand the normal rigours of sea transport.

 

Earlier, after the welcome address by Mr Anshuman of MSC India, the seminar was inaugurated by Mr Velde and Capt. Deepak Tewari, CEO of MSC India, by lighting the traditional lamp.

 

In his inaugural address, Capt. Tewari stressed that MSC believes in Gujarat, pointing out that it was the first line, in 2003, to start operations from Mundra port. It will be doing the same at the new Adani terminal in Hazira, he said.

 

He called for Gujarat cargo to be handled at the state's ports and lauded the vision and pioneering initiatives of the state Government.

 

He described Mr Velde as an institution on social, sustainable and safe shipping, highlighting that in the event of an accident, he is the first person to reach the site and take control of the situation.

 

Elaborating on MSC, Capt. Swaminathan of MSC India said that the line has 440 container vessels serving 6 continents, and a wide network of 12 own offices and 21 associate offices in India.

 

He further informed that it offered a number of services, such as IPAK, ISES, Golden Gate etc., from North/West and South/East India to destinations around the world.

 

Capt. Inderpal Singh of MSC India was all praise for the role played by the Gujarat Maritime Board in the development of the sector in the state. He highlighted MSC's new box terminal coming up at Mundra and its focus on the terminal at Hazira.

 

He also spoke of the rail services and CFS operations of Hind Terminals, pointing out that it runs 50 trains a week and was expanding to destinations in the south.

 

The occasion also saw special awards being given to United Phosphorus and Prakash Chemicals for their assistance in clearing the spill from their chemical-laden export containers following the capsizing of the MSC Chitra in the Mumbai harbour channel in August 2010.

 

The event concluded with Mr Bhadresh Bhatt, Branch Manager of MSC India in Vadodara, proposing the vote of thanks. He especially thanked Mr Velde for coming all the way to Vadodara and the MSC India management for giving his team the opportunity to hold this important seminar in the city. He introduced his team to the gathering from the Vadodara trade and assured the best of services.

 

The event was attended by a cross-section of the trade and senior management of MSC India.