UKZN Academic Presents Paper at Maritime Economics Conference

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Dr Mihalis Chasomeris of UKZN’s Graduate School of Business and Leadership, presented a paper at the Annual Conference of the International Association of Maritime Economists (IAME) in Mombasa, Kenya.

The paper, which Chasomeris co-authored with Mr Chris Lotter of the Ports Regulator of South Africa, was titled: Valuing Long Term Regulated Port Assets: Proposing a Framework.

Themed: Sustainable Maritime, Port and Logistics Industries in Emerging Economies: Towards a Path of Blue Growth, this was the first time the IAME conference was hosted in Africa. The conference attracted more than 270 participants.

The paper by Chasomeris and Lotter examines three main approaches to port infrastructure asset valuation: Financial Capital Maintenance, the Physical Capital Maintenance and the Economic Capital Maintenance.

The authors propose an asset evaluation framework, making the finding that ‘the inherent long term nature of port infrastructure assets and the low rate of replacement thereof make a strong argument for a methodology based on the principle of Financial Capital Maintenance, but that record keeping and other structural impediments impacting on the accounting records of long lived assets may warrant a more direct approach.’

The Chair of the panel on African Port Development, Dr Alexandre Lavissière, invited Chasomeris to present and discuss port developments in southern Africa. Chasomeris also reviewed papers as a member of the International Scientific Steering Committee.

Next year, the IAME conference will be held in Athens, Greece. Chasomeris encourages all staff and students with an interest in maritime and port studies to consider joining IAME and attend the conference.

For more information, go to: https://www.mar-economists.org/

 Words: Ndabaonline