Reflecting on MIAL’s Modern Maritime conference

AlphaXO attended the recent Modern Maritime conference, hosted by Maritime Industry Australia Limited.

We’ve been reflecting on 5 of the key things impacting the local marine industry that we heard:

1. Increased use of technology and automation is increasing productivity and also introducing new threats, including malicious cyber activity.

2. Australia has a significant reliance on fossil fuels. The “Star of the South” is an enterprising example of a clean energy source initiative to develop wind farms off the coast of Gippsland, Victoria in conjunction with the Maritime Industry.

3. Australian ports need to plan for the transition from exports of primary resources to more energy efficient products. For example, Newcastle Port is now handling the majority of wind turbine imports.

4. The need to improve logistics infrastructure, primarily rail, to help modern ports survive.

5. The trend towards larger container ships (15,000 TEUs) is a challenge for Australian ports.

David Lowen AlphaXO and Terry Dodd Pacific Marine Group & Sealink Group

AlphaXO’s David Lowen and Matthew Wood