Against a backdrop of economic and financial uncertainty as well as the climate change we have come to realize that the development of sustainable shipping is of utmost importance. The environmental background and economic changes have led to the globalization of the world economy and fostered the theme of the 2010 Annual Conference of the International Association of Maritime Economists (IAME 2010), “The quest for sustainable shipping and port industries”.
Within this context, the Conference Local Organizing Committee received almost 400 abstract of which 369 from 44 important maritime nations and representing a body of 615 researchers were evaluated. This is an overwhelming response to the call for papers that was released during the summer, after the Copenhagen Conference that received 256 abstracts and almost the double of the ones received in 2002 by the IAME Annual Conference that took place in Panama.
We believe that IAME 2010 has already created a perfect platform to meet and discuss the industry’s key challenges and opportunities, and therefore, comes up as an opportunity to gather in a small area the most recognized and representative people of the sector at an international level. We hope to see you in Lisbon in July 2010.
Ana Cristina Paixão Casaca
Chairman of the 2010 IAME Annual Conference
