TOC Asia 2010 to be held in Shanghai from March 16-18

THE 14th Terminal Operations Conference and Exhibition in Asia, or TOC Asia 2010, a leading event for the container terminal industry, will be held in China for the third year in a row, moving back to Shanghai.

With the support of SIPG, CRI, Kaohsiung Harbour Bureau, Tianjin Port Group and CFLP support, TOC Asia 2010 will examine the shape of "Shipping and Ports in the Post-Crisis World," organisers say.

Held from March 16-18 at the Shanghai International Convention Centre, the conference will assess the impact on ports and terminals throughout the Asia-Pacific region and discuss what they can expect over the coming decade.

"Tomorrow's port industry will have significantly different characteristics from those of the pre-crisis boom. Access to investment finance is already tighter and likely to remain so for some years. The whole container shipping and port industry is moving into a state of maturity. So, even as traffic rebounds, ports will have to rely on revenue growth from greater productivity and value-added services, rather than just volume growth," a statement from organisers said.

"The legislative and political environment will also be different. Ports could find themselves firmly within the orbit of a new cargo liability regime, potentially resulting in higher insurance claims. And terminal operators will find that environmental performance and sustainability will become a central strategy to win new, and retain existing, concessions," it said.

The container trades in China and Asia may well rebound sooner than expected, particularly as China is steadily emerging from recession, and cargo volumes are starting to show progress. In fact, the country's second tier ports that are located outside Shanghai and Shenzhen are reported to already be back to pre-crisis levels.

"At the same time, however, the liner shipping business is still under severe financial pressure. Given that port-related costs are among the largest elements in liner shipping economics, it is by no means clear that container trades will simply resume the same growth patterns as in the past decade."

The TOC Asia 2010 Conference is being prepared in consultation with an expert advisory group, representing senior industry practitioners, analysts and consultants.

The advisory group members feature Charles De Trenck, founder, Transport Trackers, Hong Kong; Pilar Dieter, director, Alaris Consulting, Hong Kong; Parakrama Dissanayake, chairman and CEO, Aitken Spence Maritime, Sri Lanka; Fu Yuning, chairman, China Merchants Group, Hong Kong; Larry Lam, chairman, Portek Group, Singapore; Kieran Ring, CEO, Global Institute of Logistics, USA; and Howard Wren, technical director, AECOM, Australia.

Topics for discussion are: Go West whereby China's rapidly growing intermodal network is linked with the major maritime gateways; a look at the big new ports opening up close to Shanghai; Cross-Straits trade and what growing maritime links between China and Taiwan mean for the port industry; container shipping's woes and why should ports be worried; the changing dynamics of terminal concessioning; the Rotterdam Rules; terminal finance and the credit crunch; lean optimisation and identifying the challenges of going lean; playing catch-up with state-of-the-art terminal automation; Vietnam's growing port power; India's port success; and "What Now for Colombo: Still a Gateway to the Sub-Continent?"

Guest speakers include Dr Fu Yuning; Charles de Trenck; Ashley Dinning, chief commercial officer, Gujarat Pipavav Port Limited; Nolan Gimpel, partner, Mercator International LLC; Steven Rothberg, partner, Mercator International, USA; Laurence Jones, director Global Risk Assessment, Thomas Miller Pty Ltd; Dr Parakrama Dissanayake; Kieran Ring; Peter Stockli, legal counsel, TT Club; Troy Thompson, president, Cargotec Port Security; Howard Wren; Kenny Chou, senior vice president, Yang Ming Marine Transport Corp; Hsiao, Ding-hsun, director-general, Kaohsiung Harbour Bureau; and Richard Nicholson, managing director, Macquarie Capital Funds.

(Source: www.schednet.com)