LNG Bunkering is becoming a topic of increasing relevance to anyone operating in an emission control area or considering building ships that are dual-fuel or LNG ready. An Introduction to LNG Bunkering on September 7 at The Baltic Exchange is a one-day seminar designed to bring delegates up to speed with the technical, operational, practical and safety-related aspects of using LNG as fuel.

The same day sees Nautilus UK examine the demographics of supply and demand for skilled seafarers with particular reference to city-based services. Shore Enough? Meeting the demand for Maritime Professionals will be held at the Royal Society of Arts, WC2.

Great Circle attended the first International Shipowning & Shipmanagement Summit in Singapore and the second will be held on September 8 at Norton Rose Fulbright, SE1, exploring critical issues around shipmanagement and operations.

Britain and the Sea 4 Conference, on Tuesday at The Royal Society of Arts, WC2 is a multidisciplinary conference considering the balance between commercial opportunity, risk, security and defence. Examining co-operation, competition and confrontation in a globalised economy, the event tackles free trade and protectionism; the costs of limiting ship emissions; competitiveness in UK maritime education and research; geopolitics, sea power, the security of trade routes and rethinking ocean governance.

Among the centrepieces is Ship Efficiency: The Event Conference & Exhibition on September 8-9 at the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre, SW1. Held in association with Inmarsat and now in its fifth year, The event aims to provide the most up to date information and trends in operational and energy efficiency within the shipping sector.

Also on Tuesday, seafarer welfare agencies come together for Maritime welfare: The Big Debate at the Willis Building, EC3 and an afternoon of ‘discussion, argument and reasoning’ as four separate panel sessions debate contemporary issues concerning seafarers’ rights and their welfare.

Wednesday sees the International Chamber of Shipping hold its conference at the British Library, NW1 with high level speakers discussing industry trends, regulations, flag state performance and the current migration crisis.

The official LISW Conference takes place on September 10 at the Grosvenor House Hotel, W1 with government and industry speakers from around the world sharing their views and considered opinions on the challenges and opportunities facing the maritime industry. How can a global industry serving a global community achieve a level playing field, ensure it is a real engine for economic growth and better exploit technology.

Running in parallel with LISW is the IMPA London conference and exhibition on September 9-10, at the QEII Centre, SW1. In addition to the exhibition, the Purchasing & Supply Conference is focused on helping delegates increase their purchasing power with speakers on internal communication, more effective purchasing and managing relationships.

Global Navigation Solutions will be at IMPA and is tempting visitors to its stand No. 24 with a bar serving real ale from local brewer Meantime based in Greenwich while looking at the new version of the Voyager Management System and Voyager Planning Station.

The Voyager Management System (VMS) went live in May, bringing on stream GNS’s global cloud-based hub facility which enables shore-based ship managers to manage navigation compliance of their fleet from anywhere in the world.

VMS is available to all GNS customers using the Voyager Planning Station and since launch customers responsible for more than 1,500 vessels have begun using the service.

Among its features is an online route planning facility which allows shipmanagers to quickly estimate distances and steaming times for vessels and check whether their ships are carrying the required charts and publications in either digital or paper format, and that all relevant corrections have been received onboard and applied.

GNS will also be showcasing Voyager Planning Station Essentials, a new entry-level option, which offers crews at-sea access to alerts for new editions and subscription expiries, an ENC and Admiralty Information Overlay viewer, route planner and product catalogue.

Voyager’s existing route planning functionality has also been enhanced to provide new passage planning tools, together with deeper integration with Admiralty Digital Publications and improved product navigability.

Customers taking advantage of Voyager’s updating services also now benefit from simpler and faster access to chart and publication updates via Voyager’s new Action Centre. Both VMS and VPS reflect and enhance how bridge teams and shore-based managers work and an entry-level version of Voyager is designed to enable even more users to experience how the software can benefit back of bridge operations.

We recommend that you pre-register for IMPA to beat the queues: http://impalondon.com/

Finally, the UK Hydrographic Office will use LISW to hold another in its series of ECDIS seminars, this one at the IMO, SE1. Entitled ‘Living with ECDIS’ the seminar is designed to help the shipmanager and ship’s officers remain up to date with changes in legal requirements and operational issues.

ECDIS expert Paul Hailwood will be joined by UKHO’s Tom Mellor, Head of Original Equipment Manufacturer Support and Digital Standards and chair of the ENC Working Group which assesses standards on behalf of the IHO.

Shipping company responsibilities will be discussed in relation to topics including ECDIS maintenance and management and in helping everyone involved in meeting regulatory requirements and working to maximum efficiency. Delegates can register online here: www.regonline.co.uk/builder/site/Default.aspx?EventID=1733678.

More details on all LISW events at https://www.londoninternationalshippingweek.com/events/2015-09/.