Countdown to GreenTech 2013, Vancouver

UPCOMING EVENT INFORMATION

The countdown to the sixth edition of Green Marine's annual environmental conference has begun, with only 10 days to go before delegates and distinguished speakers gather for a West Coast first at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Vancouver, beautiful British Columbia, Canada on May 29, 30 and 31.

GreenTech 2013 will hold two full days of presentations focussing on real-life experiences, case studies, and leading-edge research that demonstrate how best practices, new technologies, and insightful partnerships are making notable improvements in the environmental performance of companies involved in maritime transportation.

"We're really excited to be holding our conference in Vancouver for the first time," says Greg Wight, Green Marine's chair, and president and CEO of Algoma Central Corporation. "It has been one of Green Marine's goals to move the conference's location every year to make it possible for more of the staff from our participating companies to attend at least once every few years."

Real Experience, Innovative Technologies

This year's conference will focus on the actual experience that Green Marine participants have had with a range of innovative and in some cases still experimental technologies, as well as recently incorporated best practices inspired by Green Marine's goal-oriented framework.

As in the past five years, the conference will follow the basic structure praised by attendees. Topics of broader interest will be addressed in general sessions, and parallel sessions will then be held for representatives of port authorities and terminal facilities in one conference room, and for the delegates from shipping companies in another room.

The opening reception will be held in the exhibition room and will provide networking opportunities from the very start of the event. "We planned this as an official event so that attendees and exhibitors can meet and network from the very start," says Manon Lanthier, Green Marine's communications officer. "We know this will make attendees less hesitant to later stop by the company booths to speak with representatives."

The keynote sessions on Thursday, May 30, will feature Andreas Chrysostomou, the former chair of the International Maritime Organisation's Marine Environment Protection Committee, as well as Robin Silvester, CEO of Port Metro Vancouver, and Seaspan's CEO Jonathan Whitworth.

A technology forum will also be held again this year. "Attendees said they appreciated the session we introduced in Quebec City to give a number of exhibitors a few minutes each to present their company, products and services," says David Bolduc, Green Marine's executive director. "We've asked Maritime Innovation, one of our Green Marine partners specialising in marine-related IT, as well as Transport Canada, which has always supported GreenTech as an ideal platform for promoting marine-related innovation and technology, to help us to select the innovators for this year's flash presentations."

The conference would not be complete without the presentation of the Green Marine certificates to all of the companies participating in the environmental program. "This is always a proud moment for each of these companies because of all the hard work that's done to achieve the year-to-year improvement demanded by the Green Marine program," Wight says.

Further information on the event can be found at: http://www.green-marine.org/annual-conference/home.