2024 in Review and Looking Ahead to 2025
2024 in Review and Looking Ahead to 2025.
Dear valued IMPA members, friends and colleagues,
Happy New Year to you all. I hope that you were able to spend an enjoyable year-end and New Year period with family and friends, and that you are looking forward to another exciting year in shipping.
As we do each year, we like to take a moment to reflect on the year passed, consider what has been achieved, and look forward to the year that is ahead of us.
2024 was a return to normality in terms of our programme of activity with the pandemic seemingly in our wake, the IMPA five pillars of Insights, Sustainability, Marine Stores Guide, Education and Networking, all saw significant developments and key milestones achieved within a busy schedule that will continue through 2025 and well beyond.
Insights
This was a year where our resource portfolio for members developed significantly with the launch of our new IMPA BLOG, considerable investment in the IMPA magazine - Supply Chain and Sustainability, as well as increased resources for members across the board. We believe this was reflected in the membership numbers which in 2024 surpassed 1100 companies across the globe - the first time in our history and fantastic encouragement for us to keep the momentum going.
Sustainability
Once again, sustainability in shipping dominated our agenda. With such an important role to play for all of us in supply chain management, this will no doubt continue as our principal focus in 2025 and for some years to come – there’s much to be done and things continue to change for us all on an almost daily basis.
The IMPA ACT programme saw some developments through 2025 that mean the programme is very much aligned to new legislation and particularly the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive. As companies move to adopt this, we will be supporting all the way with educational seminars planned for 2025 as well as additional resources. We will offer an industry specific template for our members that will be available on our online platform which will make documentation of sustainability due diligence that much easier.
The IMPA SAVE initiative led by Mikael Karlsson and the IMPA SAVE council made great strides in the move to create a more sustainable supply chain environment. The launch campaign to remove single use drinking water bottles continues to grow and now has over 100 pledgers.
A new initiative was launched in September during IMPA London and officially rolled out in October after a Joint Industry Statement was agreed and signed by several companies. The initiative – the IMPA Environmental Footprint Initiative (IMEF) – is a project that establishes a new standard for calculating and managing corporate environmental footprint that sets a robust baseline for calculating Scope 3 emissions by adopting an activity-based approach and produces guidance to correctly integrate carbon footprint data into key decision-making. The initiative has now passed its 20 pledgers mark.
To support the launch of the IMEF, the IMPA SAVE website underwent new developments this last autumn, including the addition of a new pledge form and a new category of IMPA SAVE supporters. A new welcome resource pack designed for IMEF pledgers was created and shared with new supporters.
A new IMEF Working Group has also been set up to manage this important project inviting several high-profile leaders and organisations to join the initiative. There will be many webinars, podcasts and open forums planned for the year ahead on this project and it will of course be one of the subjects at our events.
Events
This year we will again hold events in Hamburg in April, London in September and Athens in October as well as Singapore in November. We look forward to seeing you all in person at one or more of these events and discussing the IMPA portfolio in detail, as well as all the other things impacting and changing our day-to-day business. IMPA’s role will always be to bring you insights and guidance on industry developments and those factors affecting maritime supply chain management.
Education
I have always been motivated and enthusiastic about IMPA’s education programme and I am pleased that this year saw significant progress made on our new beginner-level online course.
It has been the priority for 2024 and has proven to be an initiative with a lot of interest from the industry. Since beginning to market the programme, we have had many submissions of interest from both potential students, as well as from companies wishing to enrol a larger cohort of students.
The programme is being created with the help and support of the industry and with great efforts made by the council and the administration team, and I am confident the programme will offer new recruits and those fresh to the industry a detailed and comprehensive induction into shipping and purchasing.
2025 we will see the official launch of the programme and I’m thrilled that we will be able to provide such a valuable programme for members and the industry. I’ve always been keen to see our association help younger people in the industry and this course will provide a wonderful and comprehensive introduction.
Marine Stores Guide
2024 was a historic year for the MSG portfolio and saw the introduction of the 8th edition of the MSG book and data set. This latest edition is not any regular edit but a major overhaul and features over 40,000 code edits and over 3,000 brand-new codes, the 8th edition also includes indicators for sustainably focused options when selecting codes in the MSG. The book now features full-colour images and improved diagrams, layouts, and more.
We also continued the extensive development of our new digital platform, which will succeed the Marine Stores Guide Online Service (MSGO). This new service will allow users to browse the MSG catalogue online and offline and offer many new features, including custom catalogues, list exports, and more!
A key achievement in 2024 was the continued development and partnerships of our new Application Programming Interface (API). We understand the critical role data plays in the global maritime industry and are steadfast in our goal of maximising its potential. To streamline operations, we worked with third-party data resellers to incorporate our API data into their systems. This collaboration aims to enhance maritime data exchange’s efficiency, accuracy, and reliability– a fundamental factor in optimising shipping operations in purchasing and supply.
Lastly, as an organisation continually striving to meet our customers' evolving needs, we plan to introduce new ways to engage with MSG. We understand that today's maritime business environment demands agility and flexibility, and our new licencing options are designed to reflect this. In 2025, MSG will offer different licencing options that adapt and align with your specific requirements, ensuring a seamless, reliable, and robust MSG experience.
Finally, I would as always like to thank each member, ambassador, partner, and stakeholder for the unwavering support you have offered to our Association.
Collaboration in our industry is so important and we are gaining more and more followers and supporters in the work we do, we couldn’t make headway without this support and we don’t ever forget that.
As our journey continues into 2025, I hope that we can continue to add to our group of supporters and their energy and enthusiasm for our work and hope that we can continue to provide increasing value to the industry.
Faithfully,
Susan Wraae Koefoed
IMPA Chair and CEO