Energy Themes Enthrall AAPA Seminar Goers in Vancouver

Duncan Wilson welcoming delegates to the AAPA Energy & Environment Seminar on behalf of the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority
Photo/AAPA

More than 100 port industry professionals gathered in Vancouver (BC) September 14-15 for AAPA’s second Energy & Environment Seminar. Port executives, environmental managers, business development professionals and service providers convened to hear from experts on a variety of energy and environmental topics of interest to ports of the Western Hemisphere.

Barry Worthington, president, U.S. Energy Association, gave an outlook on energy, covering current and projected consumption as well as fossil fuels and renewables. Port representatives and industry experts discussed the environmental considerations of ports in the energy business, covering the perspectives of both ports in the energy generation/utility/microgrid business and those who handle energy and energy-related cargos from coal to petroleum products to wind turbine blades.

Erik Neandross of Gladstein Neandross & Associates and Margaret Doyle of Eagle LNG focused on liquefied natural gas (LNG), the state of export facilities and the trends and obstacles to adoption of LNG as a marine fuel. Other speakers discussed port energy financing, the attractiveness of these projects to private investors, and the status of offshore wind power on the Atlantic and Pacific coasts.

On the environment side, speakers discussed emissions issues, how ports are handling carbon and climate change and ocean management. Rebecca Ruggles, director of the Maryland Environmental Health Network and a participant in the seminar panel on Communicating Environmental Concerns, provided the perspective of a local health organization on working with ports.

Download seminar presentations on the AAPA website.

Duncan Wilson, vice president, corporate social responsibility, for the Vancouver-Fraser Port Authority, delivered welcoming remarks. The port authority hosted a reception for seminar participants and a guided vessel tour of its facilities for members of AAPA’s Maritime Economic Development Committee.