Stephenson Harwood director of marine Rod Johnson welcomed attendees of the International Bulk Shipping Conference to the firm’s headquarters in November 2023, and delivered the keynote address
The International Bulk Shipping Conference was generously sponsored by the international law firm Stephenson Harwood (SH), and which lent its headquarters located within the City of London, close to the original locations of shipbrokers and shipping companies.
In fact, in his opening speech, Stephenson Harwood director of marine Rod Johnson mentioned that shipping is in the firm’s DNA, “This building was built for the Anglo Persian oil company in the 1920s, which later became BP” he said.
To celebrate its deep connections with shipping, the floor of the foyer is made from the deck plates of a BP tanker.
Those were different times, and he noted that delegates to the International Bulk Shipping Conference have very different concerns and themes to those that first crossed that tanker plating 100 years ago and he expressed gratitude to Riviera Maritime Media for assembling experts to discuss bulk shipping risk management, decarbonisation and regulations.
“On the regulatory front,” he said, “Bulk shipping is now having to deal with the additional reporting, accounting and unintended consequences of IMO’s approach to carbon intensity and energy efficiency.”
Mr Johnson noted that there were “… many lifetimes of accumulated experience in bulk shipping in the room…” and emphasised bulk shipping’s resilience and adaptability as an industry and thanked all those taking part in the event.
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