Though still in its formative stages, the organisation’s “Commodore” is investment banker/ deal-maker Dave Herman, of midtown-based Castine Maritime, who took the initiative and organized two meetings- the first in late July, and the most recent at end October. The venue for the meetings is Hendricks Tavern, in Roslyn, a “North Shore” suburb not far from the outer reaches of New York City proper. In Colonial days (when George Washington was an overnight guest at the 1740-vintage building now housing Hendricks), Roslyn was among a whole string of coastal ports that served the timber and general merchandise trades.
Rather than providing a dinner speaker, the group has decided that participants should discuss important shipping issues while they eat- with barbecued ribs being a house specialty. Though Mr. Herman attempted to steer the late October conversation towards the dry bulk markets, and possible investment opportunities, the group got caught up, instead, in a discussion of the Jones Act, forming a consensus that its US build component might possibly be coming under serious scrutiny in the future. Like everything else with shipping, geography looms large.
The group has agreed that Manhattan and Connecticut residents with weekend/ summer residences in the Hamptons - geographically part of Long Island - and residents of Brooklyn and Queens - administratively in New York City, but physically on “the island” be allowed to participate in the organisation. The attire is business casual, but tanker brokers/ project specialists wearing green or pink pants will be allowed per the “dress code” section of the LISA constitution being drafted by a prominent maritime lawyer who is a member of the group.
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