On 31 October 2023, Dato’ Azman Shah Mohd Yusof, Chief Executive Officer of Northport (Malaysia) Bhd (Northport), participated as a panelist in one of the panel sessions at the International Association of Ports and Harbors (IAPH) World Ports Conference 2023 held in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. The session, titled ‘Integrating a Sustainable Safety Culture in Ports’ also featured Mike Yarwood, Managing Director of Loss Prevention at TT Club and was moderated by Victor Hsieh, Communications Director of IAPH.

During the session which highlighted Northport, an IAPH Sustainability Awards winner as a case study, Dato’ Azman shared Northport’s experience in managing safety culture through its “Journey towards HSE Excellence” programme. For the record, Northport was announced as the winner of the IAPH 2022 Sustainability Award under the Health Safety and Security category during the IAPH World Ports Conference 2022 held in Vancouver, Canada. With the project titled “Journey towards HSE Excellence”, Northport defeated two other finalists, Port of Montreal and Port of Amsterdam, in this category. Northport is the first Malaysian port to receive this prestigious international award.

During the presentation, Dato’ Azman spoke about the “Reinventing Northport” initiative to become a Safer, Greener, Smarter, Better port, the challenges in improving and inculcating a safety culture and the key success factors which led to its achievements.

IAPH World Ports Conference is a world-class annual event that assesses and discusses the role of ports in global maritime trade and brings together key industry stakeholders for learning, information sharing, networking and collaboration. The 2023 IAPH World Ports Conference was held from 31 October to 2 November 2023 at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre (ADNEC) and was hosted by AD Ports Group. This marks the first time that the Conference was held in the Middle East and North Africa region.

Under the theme of ‘Reinventing Ports’, the Conference provided a framework for ports to collectively rethink, reimagine, and reshape the industry in various key areas, including investments in innovation and technology, energy sources, digital transformation and the development of skills and talent within the port sector, all with a focus on sustainability.