Turning 18 is an important event in the life of a person, and it was just as important for MundoMaritimo, the leading publication in the maritime and port sector in Latin America. In celebrating the ‘coming of age’ of the website, MundoMaritimo did what it does best: quality content. Taking the virtual scenario brought on by the pandemic, the digital sphere became their platform of preference to reach readers and talk with them about the issues that marked the agenda of the maritime and port industry in the year when the coronavirus made us all look at the world with different eyes.

Along with law firm Durán & Cia Abogados, the Center for Maritime Law of the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso School of Law and the Ibero-American Maritime Law Institute, MundoMaritimo launched on August 20 the beginning of a series of 7 webinars titled “COVID-19 and the maritime industry,” that covered a broad range of topics from insurance and P&I, climate change, impact of the IMO2020 norm and even sustainable logistics. “Celebrating the 18 years of trajectory of MundoMaritimo through the webinar series turned out to be an incredibly satisfying experience, because it allowed us to connect with our readers in a different format, creating debate and opening the discussion on issues that affect all of us who work in the maritime & port industry, with a broad vision, from different angles, so that we could enrich the conversation in the present and the future,” says Claudia Magna, Partner and Commercial Director MundoMaritimo.

Navigating the pandemic 

For five months, with over 3,200 unique registrations for the entire webinar series and an average of 225 live attendees on each session, the “COVID-19 and the maritime industry” series had a clear positive impact and managed to attract the attention of all who work in the maritime industry in the Latin American region. During the majority of the sessions, Rafael Durán, main Partner at law firm Durán y Cía. and VP of the Ibero-American Maritime Law Institute, Chilean Chapter, acted as moderator.  

Speakers at the first session, titled ‘Claims and P&I coverage,’ were Elizabeth Turnbull, Partner Preston Turnbull LLP (UK); Claudio Barroilhet Acevedo Lawyer PUCV - LLM Shipping Tulane Law School; Andrew Cave, Cave y Cía.; and José María Sánchez, Claims Manager MSC. Later, the second session focused on ‘Port law in Ibero-America,’ speakers were Katerina Vuskovic, Partner Vuskovic Aramburu Escalante & Asociados (Peru); José Antonio Morillo-Velarde del Peso, Head of State Legal Counsel, State Ports Spain; Javier Franco, Partner Franco y Cía Abogados (Colombia); María Belén Espiñeira, Partner - IT&L Legal Consultants (Argentina); José Antonio Pejovés, Partner Pejovés Estudio Marítimo (Peru); and Bernardo Melo Graf, Partner Melo Abogados (Mexico).

The third session, moderated by Maximiliano Alcorta, WCSA Regional Operations Manager MSC, under the title ‘Reflections on the new normal in ports of the region,’ had Jan Hoffmann, Chief Commercial and Logistics Division UNCTAD; Ricardo Sánchez, Senior Economic Affairs Officer, Infrastructure, Transport & Ports, ECLAC; and Rodolfo Sabonge, consultant and investigator as speakers. 

On the fourth session, dedicated to ‘Mitigation and adaptation to climate change,’ PUCV lawyer  especializing in climate change, Monserrat Madariaga; Francisco Ulloa, WCSA Director Maersk; Osvaldo Urrutia, Director of the Center of Maritime Law PUCV; and Gordon Wilmsmeier, Kühne Professorial Chair in Logistics Universidad de los Andes (Colombia), were speakers. ‘Ship arrest, risks and accidents in maritime transport,’ was the fifth session, where speakers Ernesto Rivera, Lawyer Partner Penningtons Manches Cooper; Erick Oms, Main Associated Lawyer Estudio Jurídico Lesmi & Moreno (Argentina); Pablo Pinochet, General Manager Suatrans; and Matthias Reinarz, independent consultant, representative LionRock Maritime for Latin America, shared their experiences.

The IMO2020 norm could not be absent from the discussion, taking over the sixth session under the title ‘Impact of IMO2020 beyond the bunker,’ with Eugenia Benavides, Director Marinos en Organización Terpel S.A.; Alexis Xavier Rodríguez, specialist in Environmental Protection Panama Canal; Hernán Salazar, WCSA Regional Planning Manager MSC; and Philipp von Meyenn, CCO Empresas Taylor. The seventh and final session was all about sustainable logistics ‘Opportunities fot the maritime & port industry and international trade,’ closing off the series with the participation of Ricardo Sánchez, Senior Economic Affairs Officer, Infrastructure, Transport & Ports, ECLAC; Silvana Sánchez, Consultant ECLAC; Luis D. Torres; Founding Partner SustainaValue; Luis Fuentes; Sustainability Manager Puerto Ventanas S.A.; and Rodolfo García, General Manager Green Logistics.

“The success of the webinar series would not have been possible if it had not been for the participation of each of the speakers who shared with us their time, their space, their knowledge and their insights regarding the paradigm change the pandemic has meant for each area of the maritime and port industry. Without a doubt, the microscopic virus has left a visible print, but the impact is worth nothing if we don’t analyze it and learn from it. That is what we achieved thanks to the specialists from each area, from law to insurance, environment and logistics, everyone pitched in and we were able to see everything from a broader perspective and understand and learn together,” says Víctor Gallardo, Managing Director MundoMaritimo.

Teamwork 

The challenge of putting together the contents was selecting what to talk about, since the ample variety of activities that the maritime and port industry entails makes for many interesting and relevant conversations. “Among the best things we can take away from 2020 is MundoMaritimo’s 18-year anniversary webinar series, which we are proud to have been part of. It was a great achievement to coordinate 7 sessions and talk about important topics of the maritime and port sector. As a bureau, we are proud and grateful of the opportunity created by MundoMaritimo, as well as thanking the participation of all the speakers for their time and their top-level presentations,” says Rafael Durán, who also participated in the editorial committee and organization of the sessions. “Even though 2020 was challenging, the videocalls made it easy to keep in touch and stay connected with our clients, which is important as many of them are from out of Chile. We hope that in 2021 we can continue to work with MundoMaritimo in new and exciting challenges,” adds the lawyer.

On his part, Claudio Barroilhet Acevedo, Lawyer PUCV - LL.M. Shipping Law Tulane Law School, of the Center for Maritime Law of the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso School of Law adds that “for us, celebrating MundoMaritimo’s ‘adultohood’ is a happy occasion as we see the leading website of martime & port news in the Latin American region consolidating. Also, since the beginning of the CML we have developed activities together to diffuse content in relevant matters, offer our courses and publications and now co-participate in the organization of webinars. We hope to continue our relationship of collaboration for a long time and we wish MundoMaritimo a prolific activity, good sailing and to continue to contribute to the development of maritime activity for the good of the national and regional community.”

Challenges in 2021 will be no doubt marked by the legacy of 2020 and the denouement of the pandemic still to come thanks to the arrival of vaccines all over the world which promise a ‘return to normal.’ Maybe, that is where the focus of the 19-year anniversary will be during this new year that is just beginning.