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Driver for change:
The University of Hull’s
Prof. David Gibbs

A new University of Hull study has revealed that ports are central to achieving significant reductions in carbon emissions in the maritime industry.

Researchers found that port companies could act as effective and influential drivers of change in reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the industry’s hugely complex supply chains.

The study looked at the environmental actions taking place in 72 UK port locations and compared them with initiatives abroad. The findings revealed that carbon emissions from ports and port-related activity are small compared with emissions from ships and the haulage companies that serve them.

But, say the researchers, with more than 50% of global container traffic being controlled by 20 major ports companies, ports can take a leading role in bringing about major reductions in greenhouse gas emissions from shipping.

The work forms part of a wide-ranging Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council and industry-funded project entitled Low Carbon Shipping – A Systems Approach, which aims to find ways of reducing the industry’s carbon footprint.

Researchers from several departments were led by Prof. David Gibbs of the Department of Geography and Prof. Chandra Lalwani of Hull University Business School, alongside the universities of Plymouth, UCL, Newcastle and Strathclyde.

www.lowcarbonshipping.co.uk
www.hull.ac.uk

An award-winning language and enterprise festival for schools has received the support of local translation and interpreting business, Language is Everything.

Eurofest 2011, which is organised by the North Yorkshire Business Education Partnership (NYBP), and helped by local organisations, encourages pupils in the region to speak languages.

Pupils from local schools were given a big welcome by Language is Everything’s customer relations director, Dawn Bowes, who opened the event at the Regan Centre in Riccall, near Selby.

“Language is Everything is involved in Eurofest as it enables us to highlight the usefulness of language skills in business and everyday life, and gives us a chance to show our support for an initiative with which we have a great deal of empathy,” said Mrs Bowes.

The festival, which has won a CILT European Award for Languages and a Euro London Appointments Business Prize, featured year eight pupils from Brayton High School, the Holy Family Catholic High School, Selby High School, Selby College, The Snaith School and Sherburn High School

Also involved were Selby Modern Languages Forum, Routes into Languages Yorkshire and the Humber, Sanako UK & Ireland, Sainsbury’s (Selby), the University of Hull and the University of York.

Mrs Bowes, who gave a talk in the afternoon on the importance of languages in business, presented the winning pupils with their awards.

Sherburn High School won best use of French and German, and Selby High School won best use of Spanish.

See: www.languageiseverything.com

Hi-tech company, the Select Group, has strengthened its relationship with World Trade Centre Hull & Humber by becoming an official partner.

The information systems provider, formed in 1989 and based in Castle Street, Hull, is the latest firm to back the centre’s business-boosting activities.

Richard Newsom, Select’s technical director, said that the World Trade Centre had a crucial role in the development of a thriving economy that everyone in the Humber region wants.

“With its global network, it provides access to countries around the world and expert advice on doing business with them,” he said.

“It is also close to renewables developments and because of its potential to benefit the region it has relevance to all companies, not just those that depend on global trade.”

Select designed and installed IT systems for the World Trade Centre’s original offices on Humber Quay and managed the move of IT to new premises on Queen Street last December.

Services to the World Trade Centre, which is now run by a private sector consortium, include providing voice over IP telephony (VoIP) for international calls at little or no cost, and managing the video conferencing facilities.

Mark O’Reilly, director at Team Humber Marine Alliance, on making the most of Humber companies’ expertise in the renewable sector

“One of the key functions of Team Humber Marine Alliance is to promote the region’s capabilities to the UK and international renewable energy industry.

“The Alliance, with a growing membership of more than 120 companies, puts Humber businesses at the heart of the biomass, wind energy, tidal and wave power sectors. We have a deep understanding of what is happening now and of likely future developments.

“Member companies from the region, north and south of the river, are involved in almost every aspect of the renewable energy sector, from R&D to manufacture, service and maintenance to product supply.

“Team Humber puts a lot into marketing this Humber supply chain offering, such as providing our sector champion industry experts to represent members at renewable industry events. This continues to bring the area some notable successes, including at All-Energy in Aberdeen in May and Seawork International in Southampton in June.

“We also orchestrate trade missions to bring business to our region. A good example is the recent deal struck by MTL Group to supply 97 boat landing systems to Aker Solutions, the Norwegian energy group, for Nordsee Ost, a German offshore wind farm.

“The agreement came as a direct result of an inward trade mission facilitated by Team Humber Marine Alliance, in conjunction with Enterprise Europe Yorkshire.

“It is a deal that stands for everything that is on offer here at Team Humber Marine Alliance. Yes, we promote the advantages of a comprehensive renewable energy supply chain in the Humber region – but we get tangible results.”