26 April 2023 marked a very special day for the Asian Shipowners' Association (ASA) as it held its very first ASA International Shipping Forum (ISF). ISF had successfully conveyed Asian Shipowners’ voices to the international shipping community and noting the result of ISF 2023, ASA will be considering more of such occasions in future to express Asian voices.
ASA was extremely honoured to have the Chief Executive of Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore, Mr Teo Eng Dih, to be the Guest of Honour. During his opening remarks, he emphasised the importance of achieving common prosperity, mutual trust and cooperation in shipping.
The next VIP whom attended the ASA ISF would be the Secretary-General of the International Maritime Organization (IMO), Mr Kitack Lim, sharing with everyone on IMO’s Direction towards Decarbonisation. Mr Lim reiterated the urgency for the shipping industry to move towards decarbonisation.
With the insightful presentation from the Secretary General of International Chamber of Shipping (ICS), Mr Guy Platten, the audiences had many takeaways from the ICS perspective on Net Zero Carbon Emissions by 2050. He mentioned that the three pillar approaches to net zero carbon emissions would be (1) global economic measure – “Fund & Reward Proposal”. (2) Clean Energy Marine Hubs Initiative. (3) Seafarers – ensuring a just and equitable transition.
Next, there was Mr Koh Eng Kiong, Director, Research & Projects from Global Centre for Maritime Decarbonisation (GCMD). He highlighted the mission of GCMD was to help maritime industry eliminate GHG emissions by shaping standards, deploying solutions, financing projects and fostering collaboration across sectors.
Eng Rafael Cigarruista, General Director of the Panama Maritime Authority (PMA), shared in the forum about their expectation and future, as a county and fleet regulator, how they are moving towards a Blue Maritime Industry. He also mentioned that Panama was one of the first countries to designate seafarers as essential workers at the onset of pandemic and committed to ensuring the safety of life at sea and shipboard operations.
The sixth speaker was Dr Song Kanghyun, Senior Vice President of Korean Register representing the Association of Asian Classification Societies (ACS). Dr Song shared his insights on how to respond to IMO GHG Regulations from ACS perspective.
The final presentation was done by Mr Keiji Tomoda, Vice President of Japanese Shipowners’ Association (JSA) and Chairman of ASA Shipping Policy Committee (SPC). He stressed the importance and value of ASA while sharing his insights on challenges towards the next phase of circular economy and sustainable supply chain: practices in Asia. He reiterated the importance of human resources and could never be replaced by artificial intelligence.
The ASA ISF also included 2 panel discussions held under the Chatham House Rule. The first session was on Blue Shipping to review on the IMO CII Framework. It was moderated by Ms Caroline Yang, Chairperson of ASA Safe Navigation and Environment Committee (SNEC) and President of Singapore Shipping Association (SSA). The panellists included Dr Song Kanghyun, Senior Vice President of Korean Register representing ACS, Mr Soren Larsen, Deputy Secretary General of BIMCO and Mr Wong Kai Cheong, Senior Technical Manager from the INTERTANKO.
The second session was on Safe Shipping to discuss how the shipping industry can enhance mutual relationships with the government agencies on sharing information for safety at sea. It was moderated by Captain Geoffrey John Pearson, General Manger of BW Group. The panellists included Mr Krishnaswamy Natarajan, Executive Director of ReCAAP ISC, LTC Daniel Ng, Deputy Head of Information Fusion Centre (IFC) and Captain Peng Chu Xing, Deputy General Manager of Pacific International Lines (PIL).
ASA would like to thank all the sponsors of the ASA ISF for making this happened!
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