IMO’s response to the needs of developing countries for building capacity and facilitating technology transfer to promote low-carbon shipping was highlighted at the Environmental Sustainable Shipping Industry Conference (ESSIC), held in Panama City, Panama (14 March). The international conference was held in parallel with the Panama Maritime XIII World Conference and Exhibition. IMO’s Jose Matheickal talked through the Global Maritime Energy Efficiency Partnerships Project (GloMEEP) funded by the Global Environmental Facility (GEF), which focus on legal, policy and institutional reforms in developing countries to implement MARPOL annex VI requirements. He also spoke about the Global Maritime Technology Cooperation Centres (MTCC) Network (GMN) project funded by the European Union (EU), which aims to establish five globally connected regional centres of excellence to facilitate capacity building and create an enabling environment for technology cooperation, promotion and adoption by the industry.
Assistant Professor Vivian Rambarath-Parasram, Head of the MTCC-Caribbean, hosted by the University of Trinidad and Tobago, spoke about the vision for the MTCC for Caribbean region. MTCC-Caribbean, the first centre to be established, was officially launched on 8 March. The ESSIC conference aimed to raise awareness within the national and international maritime industry on climate change issues and on international standards for energy efficiency, the use of new sources of energy (such as liquefied natural gas) and technology on ships.