S4 Ep3: Siri Khalsa, Founder and CEO of Stance Advocacy Services

This week’s ship.energy podcast features Professor Simon Baughen, Professor of Shipping Law at the University of Swansea. In conversation with Mark Williams, Professor Baughen considers the impact of the EU’s ‘Fit for 55’ basket of measures on the shipping sector, including the possibility that shipbuilding contracts may require revision. He looks at the ongoing discussion about altering charterparties to replace due despatch clauses with voyage optimisation clauses. He also addresses some key questions about the EU’s proposed Ocean Fund, such as its administration and decisions on the allocation of funding. Professor Baughen was appointed as Professor of Shipping Law at the University of Swansea in September 2013. He studied law at Oxford and practised in maritime law for several years before joining academia. His research interests lie mainly in the field of shipping law, but also include the law of trusts and the environmental law implications of the activities of multinational corporations in the developing world.  His book, Shipping Law, has run to seven editions (soon to be eight) and is well-known to academics and students alike as by far the most learned and approachable work on the subject. Furthermore, he is now the author of the very well-established practitioner's work Summerskill on Laytime. He has an extensive list of publications to his name, including International Trade and the Protection of the Environment, and Human Rights and Corporate Wrongs - Closing the Governance Gap. He has also written and taught extensively on commercial law, trusts and environmental law.  Professor Baughen is a member of the Institute of International Shipping and Trade Law, a University Research Centre within the School of Law, and he currently teaches at Swansea on the LLM in: Carriage of Goods by Sea, Land and Air; Charterparties Law and Practice; International Corporate Governance.

This week, ship.energy contributing editor Mark Williams is in conversation with Gina Panayiotou, an ESG strategist with a background in maritime law and an MBA focused on change management and ethical leadership. They discuss where decarbonisation sits within an overall ESG strategy as well as the role of P&I clubs in supporting this agenda. Gina has held senior roles, mainly within shipowning organisations, and is the founder of consultancy firm Oceans Arena, aimed at leading industry stakeholders through their ESG journey, from strategy formulation to brand positioning. Gina has also acted as a Communications Consultant of the IMO-UNEP-Norway Innovation Forum. She currently leads the global ESG strategy at West of England P&I Club. Based in London, she is the UK Chair of the G100 Network Sustainable Brand Creation & Marketing, the Secretary of WISTA UK and the Co-Chair of the WISTA International Environment Committee, while she also supports the World Ocean Council as an Associate o

In this week’s ship.energy podcast, Steve Bee, Group Commercial & Business Development Director for fuel quality testing specialist VPS, discusses the company’s approaches to digitalisation and decarbonisation, including its Core software which enables vessel owners to plan for fleet-wide emissions-reducing initiatives. Steve also talks about marine biofuels and the absence – as yet – of a commercial standard for their use, as well as the uptake of methanol as a bunker fuel and VPS’s work on sampling and testing this fuel. With VPS now owned by the pan-European investment firm Fremman Capital (since 2021), Steve also looks at the role of private equity in shipping’s decarbonisation. Steve joined VPS in 2016 and in his current role he is responsible for the development and implementation of the company’s global commercial strategy. A graduate of Northumbria University with a BSc (Hons) in Applied Chemistry, Steve worked as an R&D Chemist for BNFL, ICI and Sanofi-Aventis, before joining Anachem Ltd, in a commercial role in 1997.  Following sales and marketing roles at A1 Envirotech, he joined Lintec Testing Services Ltd, a subsidiary of Intertek, as Operations & Key Accounts Manager in 2007, before becoming General Manager of Lintec in 2011, and then Director of Intertek ShipCare in June 2012, a role he held until he moved to VPS.

This week’s ship.energy podcast guest is Madadh MacLaine, the Founder and CEO of Zero Emissions Maritime Technology Ltd (ZEM-Tech) and Secretary-General of the Zero Emissions Ship Technology Association (ZESTAs), which was recently granted consultative status at the International Maritime Organization (IMO). The IMO recognises that 15% of GHG emissions from international shipping result from vessels under 5,000 GT, and Madadh believes that the IMO and EU must include such vessels in environmental legislation, as excluding them is a wasted opportunity and lack of policy is a key barrier to action. With only seven years to 2030, she believes that we should focus on where we can reduce emissions right now to keep shipping in line with 1.5ºC of warming. Madadh also highlights that the zero-emission fuel supply chain needs to start small and build out, and that finance is ready to back a swathe of new investment but needs assurance from policy makers to trigger upscaling. Madadh is also co-founder of the International Windships Association (IWSA), as well as Founder Director of the sustainable development NGO, Fair Winds Trust. She has a background in hydrogen water electrolysis and maritime systems, having represented ITM Power plc in the maritime industry. She has been working in zero-emissions shipping since she began designs for a zero-emission multi-access cargo ship in 2000. Frustrated by the lack of available technology, she set off on a course to bring zero emission ship technology to the market.

Martin Crawford-Brunt, CEO of Lookout Maritime, returns to the ship.energy podcast to discuss his work with the Baltic Exchange and ship owners on implementing the Carbon Intensity Indicator and shipping’s entry to the EU’s emission trading scheme. Martin and Mark Williams discuss ‘the good, the bad and the ugly’ elements of the CII and how it could take two more years of adjustments for it to work properly. They talk about the pitfalls of not being fully briefed about the ETS and the potentially huge impacts on ship owners’ working capital requirements that carbon trading presents. They also discuss the enhanced requirements for transparency from the CII and ETS and what that means for shipping’s operating model.

On this week’s ship.energy podcast, Alberto Llopis Pascual of bound4blue talks to Mark Williams about the company’s rigid sail technology and its energy/emissions saving benefits – as well as the all-important ROI. He also considers the take-up of wind technology so far and outlines his hopes for its future. Alberto is Lead Aerodynamics Engineer at bound4blue where he is responsible for the aerodynamic development of the company’s technology, both numerical and experimental.   Alberto holds a PhD in Aerospace Engineering in the field of experimental aerodynamics (University of Manchester, 2017). Previously, he spent six years working with University of Manchester, BAE Systems and a NATO task group researching and developing fluidic control effectors for aircraft, designing, and building the first aircraft to fully integrate and demonstrate this technology.  Later, he also spent two years carrying out the aerodynamic design of medical delivery drones.

Our first podcast guests in March are Elissama Menezes, a climate and shipping consultant and the Global Director of the Say No to LNG campaign, and Dr Melissa Lem, a Vancouver-based physician who is President of the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment. Elissama has ‘field experience’ as a deckhand working and living in a vessel designed to be a green ship, running primarily on wind power. In her role with the Say No to LNG campaign, she coordinates a growing network of global technical experts mobilising stakeholders toward a methane-free shipping industry.  Elissama supports NGOs and the maritime sector in the consultant space with research, advocacy, strategising, and engagement with communities and international forums.  An oceanographer by training and having a Master's in Marine Management, she makes it her mission to work towards ambitious, long-term, and sustainable changes and solutions for people, the ocean, and the planet. As President of the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment, Melissa has engaged in advocacy and policy work on a broad range of issues, from climate change and hydraulic fracturing to sustainable health care and low-carbon transportation.   Her work has appeared in media including the CBC, Vancouver Sun, Toronto Star, Montreal Gazette, The Narwhal and National Observer. As a climate change panellist on CBC Radio's Early Edition, an in-house medical columnist for CBC TV Vancouver and Clinical Assistant Professor at the University of British Columbia, one of her major priorities is knowledge translation.  Melissa was the inaugural winner of University College’s Young Alumni of Influence Award at the University of Toronto, the recipient of the 2022 Adult Nature Inspiration Award from the Canadian Museum of Nature, and a 2021 World Parks Week Ambassador.  She sits on the Advisory Committee of the IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas Health and Well-being Specialist Group. 

This week, Steven Jones, Founder of the Seafarers Happiness Index, talks to Mark Williams about the training requirements for new low and zero carbon fuels. As seafarers recover from the difficulties of the pandemic, deal with the threat to their roles from autonomy, and cope with geopolitical uncertainty and conflict, how are they responding to the debate about decarbonisation?  Listen to this conversation for a clear voice from the bridge on the practical challenges that lie ahead. Steven spent a decade working as a navigation officer, mainly on cable ships. He has a Chief Officer certificate and Masters’ degrees in both Marketing and Communications, and International Relations. After working in a range of shore-based roles he founded the Seafarers Happiness Index working with the Mission to Seafarers. The aim of the project is to produce data and insight from seafarers, finding the mechanisms to address concerns of crew, ensuring that the voice of those at sea is heard.  He is author of a range of maritime publications, Past President of the Propeller Club Liverpool, an Associate Fellow of the Nautical Institute, and Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. 

This week, Ben Murray, CEO of Maritime UK, talks to Mark Williams about the organisation’s engagement with environmental issues – one of its five priorities, its cooperation with overseas industry associations, and the ways in which it can leverage industry concerns into government policy discussions. Maritime UK is the umbrella body for the maritime sector, bringing together the shipping, ports, services, engineering and leisure marine industries. Its purpose is to champion and enable a thriving maritime sector. Maritime UK has responsibility for the coordination and delivery of industry recommendations within Maritime 2050. Ben joined Maritime UK from a political consultancy. Prior to this he worked for the Labour Party as a campaign manager and ran the Labour deputy leadership campaign of Angela Eagle MP. He studied Politics at the University of Warwick and East Asian studies at City University of Hong Kong. Ben is a director of a digital communications agency.  He has responsibility for coordinating and leading the activity of Maritime UK, working with the National Council to implement its strategic plan including coordination and delivery of industry recommendations within Maritime 2050.

In this week’s ship.energy podcast, Siri Khalsa, Founder and CEO of Stance Advocacy Services and a member of the board of directors of the Monaco Hydrogen Alliance, discusses the ambitions of the not-for-profit Association and explains how its members are working  to promote the use of green hydrogen in land, air, and maritime transportation, including through the Monaco Prize for Innovation in Renewable Hydrogen and Transportation. Siri’s current work focus builds on her decades of global experience in political advocacy and social impact in the US, the Middle East, Central Asia and Europe. Links: https://www.stanceadvocacy.com https://monacoh2.org Twitter @CorpActivist IG @stanceadvocacy