On October 7, 2024, the International Association of Ports and Harbors (IAPH) Technical Committee of Planning, Operation, and Finance (TC-POF) was held in conjunction with the IAPH World Ports Conference 2024 (Hamburg, Germany), and Dr. Ichio Motono, YPC Senior Executive Director and chair of the committee, served as moderator.

The committee has been conducting research on the following two themes, and this time, progress reports were presented by each responsible party.

【Theme I】How to avoid negative impacts on a port economy by PPP
【Theme II】Good practices in transforming obsolete terminals

In Theme I, Mr. Yoshimi, Chief Researcher at the Overseas Coastal Area Development Institute of Japan (OCDI), and Mr. Ozaki, Senior Researcher (on secondment from YPC), along with Ms. Vilosh Naidoo from the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA), presented their research findings. Dr. Kato Hironori, Professor at the University of Tokyo (Department of Civil Engineering), who serves as an advisor, also provided comments.

In Theme II, Mr. Shibasaki, Deputy General Manager of the Engineering Department of YPC, reported on successful examples from Yokohama Port and various domestic and international ports. Additionally, Mr. Christoph Dette from the Hamburg Port Authority shared successful cases from Hamburg Port.

The activities of the same committee will continue, with meetings scheduled to coincide with the IAPH World Ports Conference in Kobe in October 2025.