On May 15 2017, IMO Secretary-General Kitack Lim pushed the lever of ship telegraph to officially launch the MTCC-Asia, together with H.E. Mr. He Jianzhong, Vice-Minister, Ministry of Transport of China, Mr. Chen Yin, Vice Mayor of Shanghai Municipal Government, Ms. Vicky Pollard, First Counsellor- Environment and Climate Change, Delegation of the European Union to China and Mongolia, representing the EU, Mr. Xu Ruqing, Director General of China Maritime Safety Administration, and Mr. Huang Youfang, President of SMU.
Mr. Lim said the new MTCCs in the GMN network would form part of IMO's two-pronged approach to address GHG emissions from international shipping. "It is a great honor to be at SMU to open the MTCC-Asia. I would like to show my appreciation to the hard work you have done to make the MTCC-Asia possible. But I know tougher job awaits you. I am glad to know that SMU will give full support to the MTCC-Asia. I am amazed by the equipment, the teaching building and facilities; I hope MTCC-Asia can build into one of the best of the 5 MTCCs." Lim said.
He Jianzhong, vice Minister of Transportation Ministry of China said, " Shanghai Maritime University won the bidding of MTCC-Asia among many other bidders, which reflects that the IMO and the international shipping industry acknowledge the green development in China's shipping sector, the construction of Shanghai International Shipping Center and the SMU's achievements in education and research." He also believed that "the establishment of MTCC-Asia in Shanghai will bring new opportunities and tremendous vitality to China's green shipping development and the Shanghai International Shipping Center.
Mr. Huang Youfang, on behalf of SMU, showed welcome to all the guests. He said that SMU would spare no effort to promote the development of the center. Under the guidance of IMO and under the support of Asian shipping countries, the center would become a professional, open, cooperative, excellent and important platform to make a positive contribution on achieving security, clean and sustainable development of the world shipping. He also exchanged gifts with Mr. Kitack Lim.
Xu Ruqing, Director General of MSA China shortened the distance with the audience of SMU when he said that he was the alumni of SMU. He introduced the actions taken MSA China to battle the GHG such as ECA and shore power supply. It was one of the missions of MSA China to reduce GHG emissions in the process of development.
Zhang Lin, vice director general of SMTC highly praised the SMU in the bidding for MTCCs. The MTCC-Asia would serve as a platform for Shanghai to redouble the effort to build Shanghai International Shipping Center.
Maritime Technology Cooperation Centre-Asia was founded in SMU on May 15th, which will provide leadership in promoting ship energy-efficiency technologies and operations, and the reduction of harmful emissions from ships. The centre will cater to the needs of the Asia region under the Global Maritime Technology Cooperation Centre (MTCC) Network (GMN) – a project funded by the European Union (EU) and run by IMO.