A panel of experienced shipping and ports operators met at the Safe & Efficient Port Operations Forum 2026 held in Sydney recently.
The panel was moderated by Shipping Australia CEO, Capt Melwyn Noronha, and the panel comprised of Myron Fernandes, Harbour Master, Sydney, Port Authority of NSW; Andrew Haysm Harbour Master, Melbourne, Ports Victoria; Carl Kavina, General Manager, Flinders Ports / senior marine-operations role, Adelaide; Mick Wall, Harbour Master, TasPorts.
“Harbour Masters make decisions every day at the intersection of safety, efficiency and, most importantly, risk,” Captain Noronha told the assembled audience. He then asked Myron to discuss the biggest strategic challenge in balancing safety obligations with the increasing commercial pressure for faster and more efficient port turnarounds.
“We never signed up for difficult questions!” Harbour Master Fernandes quipped to a general chuckle from the audience.
Myron argued that it is not about getting the balance right between safety and efficiency as, in his view, they are different things with different outcomes.
“You are always looking at your operations and your decisions, reviewing them and trying to improve them, while making sure that safety remains at the forefront. But you also need to be mature enough to recognise that the safety decisions we make ultimately have an impact on someone else,” he told the audience.
He added that, in all of the PANSW’s conversations, they talk of safety of being of paramount importance. Myron argued that if there is an unsafe incident then efficiency is automatically affected, and can be affected for a long time because decision-making naturally becomes more conservative following a serious incident.
The Safe & Efficient Port Operations Forum 2026 was held at the International Cruise Terminal, near Circular Quay, Sydney, on 04 September and was organised by the Port Authority of NSW.
