News & events

On Wednesday 19 February, the Maritime Institute and its sister research group, the Ghent Rolin-Jaequemyns International Law Institute (GRILI) held a closed seminar on recent developments in international law of the sea with both internal and external speakers. In-house, PhD researcher Louis McDonough spoke on the implications of the recent ITLOS Advisory Opinion on climate change on international fisheries law, while external colleague Alessio Devis from the University of Utrecht presented on how to address the conflicting climate and environmental objectives in marine spatial planning for offshore wind energy.

Many thanks to all those present for the engaging questions and discussions as well as to the researchers for their excellent presentations.

At the ICO Car Terminal in Zeebrugge, students Maritime Science observed the operations of Europe's largest automotive port. Annually handling approximately 2.5 million vehicles across its terminals in Zeebrugge and Antwerp, ICO specializes in roll-on/roll-off (RoRo) cargo, managing the storage and processing of new vehicles for major car manufacturers. 

During a lunch meeting with representatives of the Port of Antwerp-Bruges we discussed the port's pivotal role in the European and Belgian economy. The merger of the ports of Antwerp and Zeebrugge has created a versatile global port, excelling in various sectors, including container handling, breakbulk, petrochemicals and other types of cargo and industry. The port's strategic locations and high capacity infrastructure facilitate seamless connections to and from the European hinterland, enabling global trade and prosperity in the region.

At ECS, we learned about logistics and supply chain management. ECS specializes in road, rail, and sea transport to optimize the flow of goods, among other for just in time deliveries to the UK's supermarket retailers. Their commitment to sustainability and efficiency is evident in their operations, with a warehouse that runs with automated pallet transporters & high-bay storage capacity. Special height 35-foot containers can be double stacked with heavy and light loads, and in doing so moving more goods with less trucks.

Kicking off the second semester with more visits to come!

On Tuesday the 21st of January, Maritime Institute researcher Frederik Rogiers was invited by DG Mare (Directorate General for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries of the European Commission) for a seminar on the protection of critical maritime infrastructure and its lacking protection under international law. During his presentation, Frederik Rogiers tackled the current regime, what options are available to States to act in both the territorial sea and in the Exclusive Economic Zone, as well as the challenges we face as we try to interpret the current legal framework in present-day geopolitics.