CSC October’s Members Meeting

16.11.2021

CSC October’s Members Meeting

After a long brake from classic events organized by the Cyprus Shipping Chamber caused by the coronavirus pandemic, finally a live meeting was held. The event took place on 21.10.2021 in the Amathus Hotel premises in Limassol. For the Meeting purpose the Chamber arranged a presentation of new Cyprus shipping strategy, developed by Mr. Vassilios Demetriades, the Shipping Deputy Minister, under the name „SEA2030 „.

As usually, the Meeting was opened by Mr. Themis Papadoupulos, Chamber’s President. In addition to the monthly Chamber’s business report, few words were passed about the Chamber’s CSR matters. The Chamber has organized the Volleybnall beach tournament. The main purpose of this event was to raise funds for a Cypriot fundation dedicated to helping children suffering from cancer. The check on behalf of the Foundation was collected by its President. After that the floor was gave to the Shipping Deputy Minister.

After nine months of public consultations, the Deputy Ministry of Shipping of Cyprus (SDM) presented SEA Change 2030, a long-term strategic vision for Cypriot shipping. The vision was presented by the Minister of Shipping, Vassilios Demetriades, explaining the three strategic pillars and a number of specific initiatives that will enable the deputy ministry of shipping to implement the vision.

Minister Demetriades underlined the importance Cyprus attached to the shipping sector, saying that a long-term strategy would create the conditions for Cypriot shipping to become more resilient and sustainable. SEA Change 2030 is the result of a collaborative process involving internal, local and international stakeholders.

It contains 35 individual actions to ensure sustainable progress for shipping, broken down into three main pillars: sustainable, extroverted and flexible. A new unit has been established within the SDM to implement these initiatives. Each of the goals was given a specific time to implement. The minister then went on to present the new vision.

(S) SUSTAINABLE

Perhaps the most important pillar of the vision, most of the activities are under this heading. The series of initiatives aims to foster a proactive quality culture on Cyprus-flagged ships, provide a flexible, fast, efficient and hassle-free 24/7 customer-centric service, create a culture of „curiosity” for shipping, and create a culture for the maritime, maritime and blue competitions.

(E) EXTRACTIVE

Cyprus has always prided itself on being a collaborative and proactive nation, recognizing the importance of its place on the global stage. By taking initiatives to consult continuously with individuals, industry, regulators and other countries, Cyprus will invite more industry representatives to speak to, creating an environment that enables informed decision-making.

(A) ADAPTABLE

The Cypriot SDM will align its policy, orientation, interests, organizational structure and work processes with the results of the consultation campaign. These new initiatives will allow the ministry to make significant changes to the elements of its activities, with maximum benefits for the Cypriot-flagged fleet as well as for the larger global shipping industry. Announcing the strategy, Vassilios Demetriades, Deputy Minister of Shipping of Cyprus, said: “Today is an important turning point for Cypriot shipping. The implementation of our SEA Change 2030 strategy defines our vision for a more sustainable future, supported by 35 concrete actions to achieve this vision.

“Our goal is to set a course towards continuous, lasting, positive change. This strategy focuses on actions that will make shipping in Cyprus even safer, as well as more sustainable, extroverted and digital. While we start at the local level, we believe this approach can be adapted and scaled both regionally and internationally. We want to lead by example and change the way of thinking towards continuous, lasting and positive change. „

The strategy is the culmination of a large public consultation campaign which has gathered views on important issues in four key areas; environmental sustainability, digital transformation, global challenges (well-being of seafarers, piracy) and local / regional issues. Feedback was collected through a dedicated web portal as well as through interviews with key maritime stakeholders. Each of them could submit their own proposals and suggestions, which were then reviewed by the Ministry. Thanks to this approach, a vision was created taking into account the „voice of the local maritime sector”, which seems to be realistic. The only question is whether the decision-makers will have enough determination? As Unibaltic Holding, our answer is „YES”. This can be seen in the decisive actions of Minister Demetriades. Therefore, we wish him good luck in the implementation.