The new industry event, TOC (Terminal Operations Conference) Middle East was held in Muscat, Oman on 20-21st September 2010.

"Ports are required to balance the costs and benefits of taking action to reduce the GHG emissions to ensure efficiency and competitiveness. `If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it'. It is important that ports understand their emissions profile before taking actions to mitigate the risks" says Shahrin Osman, Head of Management Advisory Middle East

A collaborative effort across regions
Despite being the first event held by TOC in the Middle East, it attracted numerous players in the Port industry and in particular the Container sector including Maersk Line, APM Terminals, ABB, etc. DNV took part in this event by presenting a paper titled “A Vision of Greener Port Operations” presented by Shahrin Osman, Head of Management Advisory Middle East.

“Mr. Osman’s presentation on behalf of DNV on reducing ports’ environmental footprint was succinct but all encompassing. He covered the tools and methods available for ports to reduce both their carbon footprint and harmful emissions. Having worked in similar projects in the US, I can tell that he was very knowledgeable about timely issues in port environmental management,” says Dimitris Pachakis from Moffatt & Nichol.

DNV’s involvement in the event was a result of DNV’s participation in TOC China earlier this year., Shinta Rotty from Clean Technology Centre, Singapore took lead in representing DNV at the event. Shinta observed that environmental issues in the port industry were not on the agenda. Having learned that the next TOC would be held in the Middle East, she approached the organizer and sold the idea to include port environmental management as a key topic in the next event.

“It was certainly well received,” says Shinta. “By leveraging on DNV’s expertise in Shipping and Climate Change Services, DNV aims at assisting ports in responding to climate change needs, including the identification of emissions reduction opportunities,” she adds.

As part of the Port Centre of Excellence implementation plan, DNV Singapore has been proactively, together with DNV local offices in the division, chasing business opportunities in the ports & terminals segment in the division. The initiative in the Middle East is certainly a good business case of collaborative effort.

If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it
A large portion of port operation’s emissions is connected to shipping. Although shipping has significant environmental impact, shipping is considered as the most energy efficient transport mode. It is approximately 80 times more efficient than airborne transport and 4 times more efficient than train transport.

With stricter regulations on NOx, SOx and PM emissions and a growing number of local emission-controlled areas, ports are recognizing that they are under increasing scrutiny to reduce greenhouse gas emissions (GHG). Furthermore, societal pressure on port operation’s impact to their well-being, in particular the ports located close to populated areas and cargo owners, is increasing.

A number of port green innovative solutions are already underway worldwide such as carbon footprint inventory, shore side electricity (cold ironing), speed reductions of vessels while in port, Environmental Ship Index (ESI), modal shift from trucks to coastal shipping & railway, CCS, & smart grid, cleaner conventional energy in equipment, port vehicle & nautical services and renewable source of power such as solar panel, wind turbines, tidal power generation, etc.

Yet, ports are required to balance the costs and benefits of taking action to reduce the GHG emissions to ensure efficiency and competitiveness. “If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it”. It is important that ports understand their emissions profile before taking actions to mitigate the risks.

DNV port innovative solutions to combat climate change
DNV has been actively involved in many leading industry organizations worldwide such as AAPA, WPCI, IMO, SIGGTO, API, ASME, OCIMF, NFPA and ANSI. DNV experts have continually been at the forefront of the climate change business. In this event, DNV proudly shared with the participants, three innovative projects that benefits ports on improving environmental footprint, safety and at the same time maintaining efficiency of port operations. The projects were the Quantum project, the Synchroport project and the LNG fuelled ship for short sea shipping project.

What’s next
Subsequent to the conference, Shahrin Osman teamed up with Shinta Rotty to meet several port-related parties including Dubai Maritime City Authority and Abu Dhabi Department of Transport. These meetings have opened up a wider door for DNV to the Middle East ports stakeholders. Ports & Terminals business development initiatives are already underway in the Middle East conducted by the team in DNV Advisory Dubai.

New port investment plan in the region till 2030
Around USD 40 billion investment is underway in the Middle East with USD 34 billion in the Container sector, USD 8 billion in Marine Infrastructures (breakwater, etc.) and USD 5 billion in the Oil & Gas sector. Around another USD 40 billion is in the Pipeline sector. The following is the breakdown of the investment:
• The biggest new seaport plan is Qatar’s New Mesaieed Port ($ 6billion),
• King Abdullah Economic City Seaport, Saudi Arabia ($ 6billion),
• Port Said East, Egypt ($ 5.4billion)
• Sirte Port, Libya ($ 5billion)
• Khalifa Port & Industrial Zone, Abu Dhabi ($ 3.8billion)
• Ras Laffan Port, Qatar ($ 3.8billion),
• Duqm Port, Oman ($ 3.2billion),
• Bubiyan Island, Kuwait ($ 2billion),
• Jebel Ali, UAE ($1.7billion)
• Ras Al Zour Port, Saudi Arabia ($ 700million),
• Red Sea Gateway Terminal, Jeddah Islamic Port, Saudi Arabia ($ 450million),
• Port Sultan Qaboos, Oman ($ 400million)

Links: TOC Middle East 2010 (http://www.tocevents-me.com)