On October 6, 2025, Dr. Ichio Motono, Executive Director of OCDI, convened the IAPH Technical Committee on Planning, Operations and Finance in conjunction with the IAPH World Ports Conference 2025 (Kobe) and served as moderator in his capacity as committee chair.

The committee is conducting research on the following two themes:

[Theme I] Good Practices in transforming obsolete terminals, and

[Theme II] Smooth and Effective Port PPP (Public-Private Partnerships).

Research findings to date on each theme were presented by the relevant team members.  

For Theme II, Mr. Katsuyuki Ozaki, OCDI Senior Researcher, provided an overview of the research and analysis results of global terminal operators’ regional expansion. Mr. Masahiro Yoshimi, OCDI Senior Director for Research, presented the results of a literature review and introduced a questionnaire survey to be conducted in future. Subsequently, Dr. Ennarasu Karunesan, IAPH Regional Director – India, introduced case studies from Indian ports, and Col. Andre Ciseau, Secretary General of the Port Management Association of Eastern and Southern Africa (PMAESA), presented case studies from East Africa.

Under Theme I, Mr. Kosuke Shibasaki, Manager, and Mr. Hisatoshi Ninomiya, Assistant Manager, both from the SDGs and ESG Management Division of Yokohama Port Corporation (YPC), gave an overview and presented their research findings. Subsequently, Mr. Taishi Yamamoto, Director-General of the Development and Construction Department at the Okinawa General Bureau of the Cabinet Office, shared good practices in Japan while Ms. Theresa Rawle and Ms. Karen Rendek from the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority and Mr. Phattthawut Kanokwannakhon from the Port Authority of Thailand introduced specific case studies from their respective ports.

Photo courtesy of Yokohama Port Corporation

・Discussion at the IAPH Technical Committee on Planning, Operation, and Finance