Ship managers gathered in London this week for the Annual General Meeting of their industry trade body – InterManager – where they discussed plans to work together to identify solutions to the challenges facing today’s ship management sector.
Addressing the AGM gathering at the London offices of Willis Towers Watson, InterManager President Björn Jebsen said, “Going forward, InterManager members will pool resources and share experience to seek solutions and identify best practices to meet the challenges our sector faces and identify innovative and successful solutions.”
He pointed out, “The strength of our association is in gathering like-minded people and I encourage our members to cooperate closely and exchange ideas to ensure we support each other as we embark on this voyage towards tomorrow’s shipping industry.”
Highlighting challenges such as the 2020 sulphur cap, he said ship managers are concerned about the potential impact this stringent new regulation may have on vessel operation and crew safety. “We appreciate that 2020 will pose a serious challenge on many levels, not just in terms of the environment and economic measures but also in relation to human health,” he said. “We must ensure we approach matters carefully, doing our homework and considering all angles.”
Jebsen advised members that 2018 has been a very successful one for the organization, particularly in terms of its position at the heart of international shipping. In particular, InterManager is proud to be a non-governmental organization with the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and attends meetings on behalf of its membership and the wider ship management sector. This summer InterManager has been pleased to see IMO adopt some of the findings from the important crew fatigue research project Martha, with which InterManager has been actively involved for several years.
Over the past year InterManager has also participated very actively in many maritime industry committees, including the Human Element International Group; the International Lifeboat Group (InterManager is the only organization which keeps comprehensive records of lifeboat accidents, stretching back 13 years); the Equasis Editorial Board, and antipiracy initiatives including the production of the recently-published BMP 5.
“We ship and crew managers have a very important role to play and I will make sure that we continue on this path,” Jebsen said.
At the conclusion of the AGM the Executive Committee re-elected Björn Jebsen to serve as President of InterManager for a further two years. This was followed by lively debate as InterManager members attended the fifth International Shipowning and Shipmanagement Summit (ISSS18), co-organized by the association.
