Milestones

The World Ocean Council is pleased to announce the launch of “BlueFIN 21” - the annual Global Blue Finance Summit.

BlueFIN 21 is an invitation-only event which will commence in 2021. The specific dates and location will be determined early in the coming year.

BlueFIN 21 builds on the success of the WOC Sustainable Ocean Summit (SOS) in late 2019 “Investing in Ocean Futures: Finance and Innovation for the Blue Economy”, which is the most comprehensive global Blue Finance event organized to date and followed on from longstanding WOC Ocean Investment Platform developments.

• The SOS 2019 “Investing in Ocean Futures” Program is available here.
• The SOS 2019 Executive Summary Report is available here.
• The list of CEOs/Senior Executives who attend the WOC SOS is available here.

The WOC “Ocean Investor Roundtable” began meeting monthly in early 2020 with a steadily growing finance and investment network on ocean sustainable development, as a direct result of the SOS 2019.

BlueFIN 21 will convene the investment and finance community involved in or interested in the sustainable ocean economy, including:

• Asset owners and Asset managers
• Ocean Funds and Impact Investors
• Institutional Investors
• Family Offices and Philanthropic Investors
• Corporate Investors and Venture Capital
• Government Funding Agencies and Multi-lateral Funding Organizations

BlueFIN 21 will address a full range of ocean finance and sustainable development topics, such as:

• Blue Finance Opportunities: Ocean Economy Sector Trends and Forecasts
• Ocean ESG Framework: Standards, Metrics, Indicators, Monitoring and Reporting
• Institutional Investors and the Ocean: Pension Funds, Sovereign Wealth Funds and the Blue Economy
• Corporate Investing and Venture Capital for Ocean Sustainable Development
• Ocean Impact Investing and the Growing Ocean Funds Community
• Philanthropic Investment and the Blue Economy
• Family Office Financing for Ocean Health and Sustainability
• Multi-Lateral and Public Funding as Partners for Risk Mitigation/Guarantees
• The Role of Banks in Ocean Sustainable Development
• Blended Finance and Blue Finance
• Ocean/Maritime Insurance Community, Risk, and Sustainable Development
• Ocean/Maritime Legal Community Support for Advancing Blue Finance
• Blue Finance and Blockchain

To receive to BlueFIN 21 news and updates, click here.

Equinor announces that Ulrica Fearn has been appointed chief financial officer (CFO) and executive vice president, with effect from 16 June 2021. Fearn will succeed acting CFO Svein Skeie, who will become senior vice president CFO Performance Management and Risk with effect from the same date.

Survitec has carried out a combination of more than 50,000 liferaft exchanges and inspections since 2012 with technicians recording that the liferafts inspected are in perfect condition even after 30 months of service.

Royal Dutch Shell and Equinor will develop the next generation of Shell Inventory Optimiser, a solution that leverages advanced analytics on historical data to optimize operational spare part inventory levels.

Global energy consultancy Xodus Group has invested in expanding their emissions team to support clients and the wider energy industry in achieving its Net Zero goals.

Nexans has joined the Climate Group's RE100 initiative and is committed to achieving 100% renewable electricity by 2030. 

On January 1^st, 2021, Morten Hasås will join Kongsberg Digital as Senior Vice President for Maritime Simulation. Previously CEO of Scantech Industries, Morten has held top management positions at ScanSense, Scanmar and Kongsberg Maritime.

Subsea instrumentation designer and manufacturer Aquatec Group, announces the start of its 31^st year in business with a novel online click-and-raise landing page on its website. For every click on its corporate timeline, the company adds an amount up to a fixed sum that will be donated from its own funds to the Marine Conservation Society.

Cyberhawk, a global leader in drone-based inspection and creator of iHawk, a cloud-based asset visualization software, increased its yearly revenue by 51 percent in 2020 after strategic growth plans saw the company expand its headcount and grow its footprint in key international regions. 

EnerMech has appointed Steve Jones as its new Southern European general manager as the company looks to grow and further diversify its presence across the region.

Greensea, creator of OPENSEA®, the open architecture robotics platform for the marine industry, has hired Karnveer Gill, Junior Robotics Engineer, to help advance OPENSEA’s software tools and applications.

Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI), which controls about 10% of the global newbuild market, has reached agreement with container line giant HMM Co., Ltd and Jotun, the world’s number one supplier of marine coatings, to utilize Jotun’s revolutionary Hull Skating Solutions (HSS) on a series of newbuilds.