New IAPH President

The Kenya Ports Authority Corporate Services manager Mr. Gichiri Ndua is the new

President of the International Association of Ports and Harbours (IAPH).

Mr. Ndua was unanimously elected on 28th May 2009 during the 26th IAPH conference

that took place in Genoa – Italy .He becomes the 28th President of the Association

succeeding Madam O.C. Phang,former General Manager,Port Klang Authority. The

Conference is being attended by over 300 delegates.

Acceptance Speech by the New IAPH President Madam Chair Conference Vice President

IAPH Vice Presidents Distinguished Conference Delegates

Ladies and Gentlemen Time to reach out and also invest We have traveled this far

with the support and goodwill of many of you industry lovers. Your prayers,words

of encouragement and good wishes have landed us at the helm of this World Ports

body.

It is neither easy nor possible to place on record those of you,in this Plenary or

outside,that have touched our hearts and paced the strife towards Genoa. It is

however important that some few milestones be pronounced without which the history

of the caravan would be incomplete or one sided. Back in February,2005,following

the inevitable exit of the then 3rd Vice President,Mr. Siyabonga Gama,Mr. Jason

Rugaihuruza observed that “you Kenya Ports Authority have the ability to provide a

replacement”.

During the IAPH Africa/Europe meeting held in early March 2005 in London,the then

IAPH President Mr. Pieter Struijs made a telling statement “if you,African Region,

give us a credible candidate we shall support you”. The then CEO,Kenya Ports

Authority,Mr. Brown M.M. Ondego threw the gauntlet in this direction when early in

the morning of 9th April 2005,he posed the question,“can you take up the

challenge of 3rd Vice President of IAPH?”.

It was then left to him to put forward my name to the African Ports caucus in

Johannesburg on 19th April 2005 for purposes of agreeing on the African

candidature. I wish to tender my unreserved gratitude to my African comrades for

speaking in one voice. I further request we applaud the three gentlemen for their

wonderful thoughts and convictions that have led to this historic destination. Much

has also been done by my colleagues at the Kenya Ports Authority and I sincerely

thank them. Allow me however to single out the support and resources extended by

the Chief Executive Officer,Mr. James Mulewa and those before him. Ladies and

Gentlemen.

We have benefited from demonstrable leadership of the outgoing President,Madam

Datin Panduka O C Phang whom we shall emulate in steering the Association. As the

first Lady President of our Association,she has left behind a legacy that speaks

volumes as you might have gathered from her speech. In particular,she was

instrumental in the involvement of Ports in embracing the virtues and objectives of

the Clinton Foundation’s Climate Initiative.

Conference Participants Things rarely remain the same. The world today is going

through some hallowing experiences ranging from economic downturn to global warming

and commercial piracy. Laying up of cargo vessels to building of new cruise liners.

Renewed investment in human capital to laying off of personnel. It is therefore

unfortunate to assume that it can be business as usual.

One year down the line,ports world over were largely congested with containers

occupying every available inch in the terminals. Today,a good number of ports are

crying for business. Congestion has vanished and “empty” container yards are

evident. Now is the time to act. It is the time to reflect and address the

challenges that allowed congestion to cause us nightmares.

To address recession,governments and nations are investing more than they

ordinarily do with the express expectation of enlisting the services of the

populace who can then enter the market to procure goods and services. By continuing

to implement and/or initiate the projects and programmes that were envisaged to

overcome congestion,we shall be doing two noble things:-

 Assisting the economies to get out of the trough,and§
 Availing to the§ ports the requisite capacity to meet the demand of the economies

as they rise from the slumber which they will be doing soon.

In moving forward,I strongly feel that we need to close ranks by acknowledging

that Ports are on one side of the market while Shipping Lines are on the other.

Ports serve shipping industry through provision of services to both cargo and

ships. Because ships call on us,ports,they are invariably ahead in terms of

business intelligence. At any rate they ply between continents,while ports are

fixed. Their projections and estimates are in the short term better informed than

those of the Ports. Many are times when Shipping Lines surprise ports with their

demands,for instance for greater drafts or cranes with longer reach. Hence,if we

stayed closer to each other,we in ports will be able to know from them the

direction the trade will take without necessarily investing heavily in market

research and in traffic forecasts.

In this regard I am proposing that we make deliberate efforts to engage shipping

lines. With your permission,I shall run this agenda through the IAPH Board. Madam

Chair Global warming is loosely speaking associated with climatic change. I say

this because,matters of climate are deduced over a long period – 30 years. Global

warming is itself associated with environmental degradation which has many causes.

To develop container terminals,ports in most cases clear green fields. And once

they have developed the Terminals,they become homes to vessels and their

stakeholders. From cargo handling equipment to marine crafts,from port buildings

to internal roads and rails,they become abettors of fuel and energy consumption.

Because of their nodal nature,they are hubs of green gas emissions.

It is however gratifying that IAPH has placed climatic change as an important theme

that will occupy centre stage in its future businesses. We shall remain on this

course. IAPH is well aware that all ports and their host countries are not at the

same level of economic evolution. Similarly,investments in development of human

skills,social capital,are at different levels. To be able to cope with growing

maritime trade,new and better skills and competences will be desirable. Towards

this end,even small ports will be called upon to improve on their way of doing

things. Knowledge will inevitably become a key determinant of the pace of growth

and development in our industry.

My request is that we keep this in sight as we seek to agree on prioritization and

the implementation programme. Incidentally,we will be called upon to provide more

resources towards this goal than we have hitherto done. Ladies and Gentlemen
One formidable challenge that faces the port industry is piracy and possible

terrorism activities. This has assumed new and high dimensions especially in the

Gulf of Aden and the Somalia waters. Hijack of commercial vessels for economic

gains has introduced a difficult dimension to piracy. Vessels have to detour

thereby occasioning them excessive operating costs including higher insurance

premiums.

This is likely to impact severely on some of the ports. The world maritime trade

will have to come together in addressing this menace. It will no longer be the

collaboration between World Customs Organization and the IAPH on matters of

security of cargoes and facilities thereto incidental,but rather stretching

ourselves a field to collaborate and support the Coast Guards and Surveillance

Agencies that ply and oversee the international waters. In conclusion,we shall

count on your cooperation and dedication towards efficient and sustainable maritime

trade that will propel our ports to greater economic heights.

 Thank you and may God bless us all