Above: Our Busy People: Some of the PIANC Board and Local Organising Committee at PIANC APAC – August 2024
PIANC AU-NZ Chair, Luke Campbell, looks back over 2024.
The old saying goes, ‘if you want to get something done, ask a busy person’! How about – ask a busy organisation! A volunteer-based Not-for-Profit organisation at that! Looking back over the year proved a useful exercise in seeing how much PIANC AU-NZ gets done!
Local Events
Last year saw a record number of PIANC AU-NZ events organised mainly by our amazing regional chapters and Young Professionals, who between them organised thirty-one technical and networking events in seventeen cities and ports. PIANC events were held in Adelaide, Auckland, Brisbane, Bunbury, Christchurch, Darwin, Fremantle, Gladstone, Gold Coast, Hobart, Launceston, Melbourne, New Plymouth, Newcastle, Sydney, Wellington and Perth, some of which were also held online.
Our events and gatherings included conferences, port tours, site visits, YP leadership breakfasts, industry networking events, and numerous technical seminars and webinars on cutting edge issues, exploring important local experience, challenges and achievements. We shared top class technical knowledge as well as providing wonderful opportunities for networking in person. Four of the technical seminars were recorded and are available online – see https://www.youtube.com/@pianc_anz
Not surprisingly with all this activity, the year also saw an increase in our membership and social media outreach, with numbers of LinkedIn followers rising by a third. Our three minute info and celebratory videos gained 11,000 viewers over the year.
Getting Global
While we were busy at home, we are also mindful of and grateful for our belonging to a global organisation, and many of us attended the exciting PIANC World Congress in Cape Town. Many local members also put up their hands for participation in new International Working Groups.
Of particular pride to our region is that we currently have three outstanding members chairing or co-chairing three new international Working Groups. Jordan Butler, Senior Structural/Maritime Engineer at WGA is Chair of MarCom WG251 ‘Guidance on the Design of Parted Mooring Line Arresting Systems‘, Ex-Chair of the PIANC AU-NZ Board, Professor Will Glamore is now co-chair of EnviCom’s WG256: Understanding Blue Carbon: A Practical Guide, while Fauzan Zulkhepli, Senior Project Manager – Shore Power, for the Port Authority of NSW, (PANSW) is chairing MarCom WG248 Guidelines for Onshore Power Supply (OPS) for Ships.
Congratulations to all those beginning their WG journeys, those still in the thick of them, and to PIANC AU-NZ Board Member Harvinder Singh who was part of WG211 PIANC Fender Guidelines, published in 2024. In July 2024 Harvinder provided PIANC members with a special technical webinar on the WG. You can view his webinar here. Congratulations also to our Aotearoa NZ Young Professional Andy Brown who was appointed to the PIANC YP-Commission Board as the Vice Chair for Asia Pacific in November 2024.
Changes
2024 was also the biennial year for AU-NZ Board elections, and in June 2024 we had a wonderful influx of new members, as we farewelled some PIANC legends who have done sterling service for our work.
PIANC APAC Conference 2024
The jewel in the crown of a busy and successful year would have to be our hosting of PIANC’s third APAC Conference, held in Sydney in August. With 320 participants from 21 countries and over 100 presentations, the Conference with its theme of ‘Connecting Asia Pacific Ports in a changing world’ was a huge success – affirming and strengthening PIANC’s global mission to bring people together to share knowledge, experience and solutions for the ports and maritime community. Thank you to Jayne Hindle and all her colleagues at East Coast Conferences. Thank you to the hard working champions on the LOC, led by David Dack, and to all our keynote speakers, presenters and attendees. We were particularly appreciative of the visit and support from PIANC President Francisco Esteban Lefler, who gave the opening address at the APAC Conference.
Thank you everyone!
Really, we had a great year, and I cannot sufficiently thank the Board, Regional Chapters, Technical Commission Leads, Young Professionals, Working Group participants, and the APAC2024 Local Organising Committee for all their work, energy, passion and commitment to PIANC. Big shout out also to our admin (all part-time) team, Executive Officer Paul Weston, Comms Mary O’C and our new Membership & Financial Assist– Patricia du Preez. What a team we have!
Looking ahead
The end of the year saw our Comms team create a reflective video from interviews with PIANCers at APAC2024 –Is PIANC Future Ready? The question is if course rhetorical. Are we what!?
Thank you to all our members, and hope to see you many of you at Coasts&Ports2025, if not before. Keep busy everyone! But don’t forget to acknowledge your achievements either.
Luke Campbell, Chair, PIANC AU-NZ Board