The 76th  session of the Council was held from 12 to 16 December 2022 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and by video conference. 32 new documents (Recommendations, Guidelines, and Model Courses) were approved as well as one workshop proposal and the budget for 2023.

VTMIS

Election of next Secretary-General

The Council approved the procedures for holding the election of the Secretary-General at the July 2023 session of the Council (C 129). Applications from candidates for the position of Secretary-General will be invited to reach IMO by 31 March 2023 at the latest.

With their joint venture Ecowende, Shell and Eneco have won the tender for the construction of an offshore wind farm at Hollandse Kust (west) lot VI.

On 15 December the United States’ only operational heavy icebreaker, the. Coast Guard Cutter Polar Star (WAGB 10), made a scheduled port call at Chowder Bay, Australia.

It was announced on 17 December that the Egyptian Minister of Transport, Lieutenant General Kamel Elwazer, has paid a visit to Hutchison Ports Port of Felixstowe.

The Minister was accompanied by HE Sherif Kamel, the Egyptian Ambassador to the UK and a delegation from the Ministry of Transport. The group met port executives and were welcomed by Eric Ip, Group Managing Director of Hutchison Ports, via video link from Hong Kong.

In a ground-breaking move, Hutchison Ports Port of Felixstowe is believed to be the first port in Europe to introduce autonomous terminal tractor units (ATs) into mixed traffic container terminal operations. The first two battery-powered units to enter service at the UK’s largest container port have been supplied by manufacturer Westwell.  This was announced in mid-December.

On 24 May 2020, APL England was making way down the east coast of New South Wales, with a cargo of containers, bound for Melbourne, Victoria. Early that morning, in adverse weather, the ship underwent a series of heavy rolls that resulted in the loss of 50 containers overboard and shutdown of the main engine.

On 5 December, the EU Transport Council reached a provisional agreement on the review of the TEN-T guidelines of 2013.

The European Sea Ports Organisation (ESPO) welcomes the text of the Council General Approach, since it clearly backs the Commission’s approach to lift the importance of the maritime dimension and strengthen the role of ports within the framework of Europe’s TEN-T policy.