Stewart Lammin, Chair of Ports Australia and Chief Executive Officer of Flinders Port Holdings writes about sustainability in the ports sector:
The past twelve months has seen the importance of sustainable practices pushed to the forefront, now more than ever before, by the Australian ports sector.
This can be attributed to COVID-19 shining the spotlight on gaps missed in past planning, potential weaknesses in current operations, and areas needing a revisit for future mapping. Fortunately, we end 2020 with confidence in what we’re doing and where we are heading as a sector.
The objective of sustainable practice is often confused with environmental
protection, when it’s actually so much more.
It’s fortifying the future of your operations, and your relationship with the environment within which you operate. The environment with which you share this relationship encompasses surrounding communities, physical land and life, and the corporate workforce behind the operation.
If ports and supply chains are to evolve and serve their communities long into the future, we believe sustainability is a priority focus. Ports are economic foundations for facilitating trade, but they are also community members and environmental partners.
They also operate in some of our most beautiful and important natural environments. For these reasons, sustainability should be at the core of all businesses serving a supply chain.