Politicians, Ambassadors to Feature at Portugal Shipping Week Events in May

Much of the week's events will focus on how Portugal is engaging with the energy transition. File Image / Pixabay

Politicians and ambassadors as well as representatives of the shipping and bunker industries are set to gather in Lisbon next month for a series of events under the Portugal Shipping Week banner.

The week-long gathering, being organised by Petrospot, will take place in Lisbon from May 9 to 13.

Petrospot is putting on a conference on May 10 as the flagship event of the week. The event will address Portugal's growth in alternative energy supply, as well as a range of other maritime topics, Llewellyn Bankes-Hughes, managing director of Petrospot, told Ship & Bunker.

"Portugal has been one of the most serious shipping countries for centuries, but people outside the country don't know much about it," he said.

"The idea is to put it back on the map."

The conference will see keynote addresses from the Association of Portuguese Ports and Portugal's minister of infrastructure and housing, as well as speeches from representatives of the German, British and Norwegian embassies in Lisbon.

"The minister is going to talk about what Portugal is doing -- and of course it is going green, it's trying very hard to get into the hydrogen side of things and LNG," Bankes-Hughes said.

"The whole week, really, is about green ports, green shipping and green bunkers."

The second session will focus on the detail of the marine energy transition, including appearances by Simon Bennett of industry body the International Chamber of Shipping, and Jutta Paulus MEP of Germany's Green party.

Further sessions will follow on shipping's net-zero target and how ports are preparing themselves to support sustainable shipping.

Other events in the week include Petrospot's 'An Introduction to Shipping & Bunkering' and 'An Introduction to LNG Bunkering' courses, an event from the Shipowners Association of Portugal (EISAP) focusing on the country's flag registry, WISTA's Atlantic Forum, visits to the Yilport Terminal and Sines refinery and Galp's Atlantic Meeting.

For more information and to view the full programme, click here.