INTERCEM Shipping Forum 2013

 

 

The 2nd INTERCEM Shipping Forum, held in Barcelona over the 23rd and 24th of January, attracted over 100 delegates from 20 countries as far afield as Chile, China, India and Colombia and from all across the cement and shipping industries.  

 

This excellent networking opportunity gave delegates representing major cement and shipping companies around the world a chance to share their expert knowledge on a range of topics including cement ship loading / un-loading, fleet structure and charter contracts, and create opportunity for new business.

 

The series of informative presentations opened with Elaine Chen of Ocean Shipping Consultants giving an introduction to the global cement shipping industry at the start of 2013, followed by Paco Castañer, Manager at Auto Chartering S.A, analysing and addressing the challenges that face cement shipping today.

 

These first-rate presentations were followed by those of Ad Ligthart, Partner of Cement Distribution Consultants, discussing global trade flows in cement shipping and Maro Varvate, Cement Shipping Analyst at Ocean Finance Ltd, concluding the morning session with her presentation on efficient 
management of a cement carrier fleet.

 

After lunch, Rory Gogarty, Partner of Holman Fenwick Willan discussed some of the current legal issues for cement shippers and traders, whilst Simon Cox, Director of Dry Bulk Chartering at Howe Robinson Shipbrokers presented on the general bulker market in 2013 and beyond. 

Ansgar Reismann, Territory Sales Manager at Claudius Peters Projects outlined the different options for various port set-ups with regard to self-unloading and shore based ship-unloaders. The afternoon session was then brought to a close by Sylvie Doutres, Partner of DsG Consultants, who then gave her insight into the recent port developments and impact on shipping activity across terminals in the Mediterranean.

Overall, the event again proved a great success with INTERCEM receiving overwhelmingly positive feedback of “an excellent forum", a "good and useful event" and "a worthwhile conference with some excellent presentations" which gave all in attendance an exceptional and up-to-date insight into meeting the shipping and handling challenges of the modern industry.