International workshop on reducing the introduction of pests through the sea container pathway

Registration

The registration for the Workshop will be open from 15 June to 31 July 2022.

Please proceed to the following link to register for the Workshop: https://ee.humanitarianresponse.info/x/wCHzp1xC

For NPPOs, please note that the email address field is case sensitive, hence, please make sure that the email address corresponds with the one provided to the IPPC Secretariat.

Background

National economies depend on the efficient and uninterrupted movement of trade, which is facilitated by the efficient movement of sea containers through a complex and time-sensitive logistical system. With over 240 million containers shipped each year, the scale of sea container operations is monumental. As a consequence, any regulatory requirements or changes to the system could have substantive negative knock-on effects that may far outweigh any benefits arising from the regulations.

Over the last several years, the IPPC Community and partners worked together to identify various challenges and opportunities and explore considerations to reduce the movement of pests in the sea container pathway.

The Commission on Phytosanitary Measures (CPM), its committees and subgroups have actively considered the subject of pest movement via contamination of sea containers since 2008. The huge complexity of sea container logistics operations posed a significant challenge to efforts to move forward with the work. In 2016, work on a draft International Standard for Phytosanitary Measures (ISPM) was paused, and the Sea Container Task Force (SCTF) was established to collect existing data from countries, and consider the issue.

Throughout these years it became obvious that the type of commodity and the handling and storage of commodities prior to and during the packing of the container constitute the most important stage of potential pest contamination of containers; that there was no way to track all stakeholders involved and therefore full accountability or custodianship was missing; that contracting parties may lack the capacity and legal basis to carry out inspections, given the large volume of container movements involved; and that the costs associated with container inspections would be very high, would result in significant delays, and present considerable challenges (e.g. resources, availability of inspection locations).

Objectives of the Workshop

• To present and discuss the conclusions and recommendations of the SCTF report
• To achieve better understanding of potential ways to address the issue of pest contamination of sea containers and their cargoes and the advantages and disadvantages of each.
• To enhance knowledge of the factors limiting the development of new measures and implementation of a CPM Recommendation and/or an ISPM.
• To analyze how potential targeted measures could address the issue of pest contamination of sea containers and their cargoes, and the advantages and disadvantages of each while achieving a reasonable level of risk reduction with minimal impact on container logistics.
• To raise awareness among the IPPC community on any guideline, recommendation or specific solution to reduce phytosanitary risk in the sea container pathway.
• To demonstrate importance of cross-regional and global cooperation to increase understanding of the information and prerequisites for developing successful measures.

Expected outcomes of the Workshop

• Awareness on the risks and impacts of moving, via sea containers and their cargoes, pests that are harmful to plants is raised and the importance of avoiding contamination of containers and their cargoes by all parties in the global supply chains is promoted.
• Questions on issues that remain unanswered and require further clarification are identified and discussed;
• Practical and cost-effective solutions to reducing risks of transfer of pests and contaminants by the sea container pathway are explored and discussed.
• Recommendations on the path forward to globally address the pest risks associated with the movement of sea containers and their cargoes in a practical and sustainable way are collected for further consideration by CPM Focus Group in close collaboration with the Industry Advisory Group.

Participants

Representatives of NPPOs, RPPOs international organizations such as IMO, CBD, WCO and WBG and industry stakeholders such as container owners, shipping lines, container manufacturers, freight forwarders, packers, port authorities, marine terminal operators, shippers, importers, exporters.

Location and dates

The workshop will take place from 19 to 20 September 2022, at Queen Elizabeth II Centre, London, United Kingdom. Participation is free of charge.

Language

The workshop will be held in English.

The preliminary programme for the Workshop is posted below!

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