The 2^nd CSN Cyprus Shipping ICT Conference brought together key industry experts from industry bodies, shipowners, ship managers, service providers and equipment manufacturers and have looked into at the operational aspects impacting the Cyprus Shipping ICT sector.

The Conference stimulated a dialogue among key stakeholders with the purpose to accelerate the smooth and safe Digital Transformation of the Cyprus Shipping Industry in order to maintain its competitiveness and leading position globally.

There were lead discussions on Digitalisation, Cybersecurity, Digital Technologies used for Decarbonisation, E-Learning, Crew Welfare during COVID times and ICT Challenges for Shipping in 2021.

Over 200 people attended the event considering that it was the first Cyprus Shipping conference with physical presence since the pandemic started. The conference took place at the same placew where the Maritime Cyprus is usually taking place and some of the delegates described it as a Mini Maritime Cyprus Conference.

The conference was under the auspices of the Cyprus Shipping Deputy Ministry and supported by the Cyprus Shipping Chamber, the Cyprus Union of Shipowners, the Cyprus Marine Club, CYMEPA, WISTA Cyprus, YoungShip Cyprus, the Nautical Institute Cyprus Branch and AMMITEC of Greece. 

Busy event

On 1^st morning session, Cyprus Shipping Deputy Minister, Vassilios Demetriades, in his keynote speechinformed us about the recent developments in the Shipping Deputy Ministry with regards to digitalisation.  Thomas Kazakos Director General of Cyprus Shipping Chamber then addressed the conference and in his speech mentioned that the fields of Digitalisation and Decarbonisation are interconnected and must go hand in hand towards the digital and greener transition of Shipping.

Sven Brooks, Senior Business Development Director – KVH gave an insight on “How does dedicated IoT connectivity assist a modern technical shipmanagement company?” in a very lively presentation.

On 2^nd morning session there was a panel discussion held by Andreas Chrysostomou, Chief Strategy Officer – Tototheo Maritime where the Shipping sector while called to tackle the issues caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, it is also expected to be at the forefront with regard to decarbonisation, and continue and even intensify its efforts to handle climate change, through energy conservation and emissions reduction. The panel discussed the unexpected course of events of the last almost 2 years, which could form a driving force for the Shipping Industry to achieve its mid-term environmental goals and become even greener with the use of new digital solutions and technologies.

On 1^st afternoon session Georgios Strouzakis – Founder and CEO at EYEONIX SA moderated a panel during which was discussed the paramount importance, that Shipping companies must have a cyber security policy in place to protect the business and its people and respond successfully in case of an incident. An incident response plan for cyber security should include information on the procedures for preparation, identification, containment, eradication and recovery from a cyber-attack but companies should continue reviewing the plan on a regular basis in line with the outcome of the risk management assessments. The panel furthermore discussed the cyber security culture among the organisations, cyber security training of the staff and investment in new technologies to improve the level of network security are some of the critical components for the protection against a cyber-attack.

On 2^nd afternoon session Panel moderated by David Tropp Hag – Senior Sales Director for EMEA East, KVH the discussion topic was on “Connectivity as an enabler of crew welfare, e-learning and remote trouble shooting” where the increased usage of digitalisation on board and possible benefits/improvements to shipboard safety and welfare were discussed and in some cases the discussion became quite emotional, but with the outcome that digitalisation can improve seafarers’ welfare and safety on board.

Strong support

The 2^nd CSN Cyprus Shipping ICT Conference was supported by KVH (Platinum sponsor), Tototheo Maritime, Qatar Airways and SAP (Gold sponsors), Ocean Technologies Group (Silver Sponsor) and the rest of the sponsors GT Maritime, Cablenet, Monjasa, SQLearn, Eventpro and CarobMill, without whom we would not be able to organise this conference.

 

Presentations and Photos of the event

The event’s presentations can be found under the following link:

https://cyprusshippingevents.com/2nd-csn-cyprus-shipping-ict-conference-2021/

The event’s photos can be found under the following link:

https://cyprusshippingevents.com/?r3d=2nd-csn-photos