Moore Greece participated as a sponsor in the "SEA THE CHANGE" event, which took place as part of the 22nd NAVIGATOR 2023 - THE SHIPPING DECISION MAKERS FORUM, on Thursday, May 25th, 2023, at Tatoi Club. The speakers were:
- DECARBONISATION: George Pateras, Chairman - Hellenic Chamber of Shipping
- INTERSECTION OF HUMAN PERFORMANCE, TECHNOLOGY & TRAINING: Costas Kontes, Managing Director - V.SHIPS GREECE
- DIGITALIZATION: Georgios E. Poularas, CEO - ENESEL
- DIGITALIZATION: Matthew Maheras, Vice President, AMMITEC - Association of Maritime Managers in Information Technology & Communications & CIO - METROSTAR
- ESG: Dr. Konstantinos Rokkos, Chairman & CEO TST International SA
The moderator was Angelos Pantouvakis, Dean of the School of Shipping and Industry at the University of Piraeus.
From the very interesting discussion that took place among the excellent panel, the following key messages stood out:
1. Regarding the environment and future fuels for shipping:
- The prevailing fuels to replace oil for ship propulsion are hydrogen and nuclear energy.
- Carbon capture and storage (carbon capture) is a practice that will help improve the environmental performance of shipping in the near future.
- Any change in fuel will have extremely high costs, as it will require investment in the retrofitting of relevant parts of the ship, as well as the cost of personnel who need to be suitable and properly trained to safely handle the new fuel.
2. Regarding the human factor:
- The evolution of technology has resulted in a rapid increase in data volume.
- However, it is clear that the role of technology is supportive in decision-making, and human judgment and experience cannot be replaced, at least in the visible future, by artificial intelligence.
- The combination of data volume and human judgment increases awareness, thus reducing costs through improved work scheduling capabilities (predictive maintenance)
3. Regarding ESG reporting in shipping:
- The pressure on shipping currently comes from investors and lenders.
- ESG reporting is not currently a prerequisite for financing, but its presence leads to improved spreads.
- There are currently no specific targets to be achieved. ESG is essentially another presentation of the company, showcasing its actions and performance (through the implementation of specific standards, the Sustainability Standards) in the three fields of ESG's interest: environment, society, and governance.
- It is logical that audit firms can provide services related to ESG Reporting, especially since future information will cover both financial and non-financial aspects (Integrated Reporting).
As noted by Mr. Xiradakis, President of the Union of Banking and Financial Executives of Greek Shipping, the loan portfolio of Greek-owned shipping has decreased in recent years from $75 billion to $40 billion.
At
Moore Greece, we believe that Greek shipping can regain a larger share of financing through outward-looking approaches in order to maintain its competitiveness. This will be challenging without ESG reporting, as a significant portion of financial institutions, especially in Europe and America, are themselves subject to ESG reporting obligations, resulting in its integration (currently through questionnaires and spread rewards) into their own financing decisions. Additionally, since we do not expect immediate changes in ship fuels, we anticipate that the competitiveness of shipping companies in terms of financing will be determined to a considerable extent by the transparency, consistency, and responsibility with which they approach ESG reporting.