Seatrade Maritime is part of the Informa Markets Division of Informa PLC

This site is operated by a business or businesses owned by Informa PLC and all copyright resides with them. Informa PLC's registered office is 5 Howick Place, London SW1P 1WG. Registered in England and Wales. Number 8860726.

Singapore Shipping Association celebrates 31 years

Singapore Shipping Association celebrates 31 years
These may not be the best of times for the maritime sector but that did not stop 1,800 people from the industry turning out for the Singapore Shipping Association (SSA) 31st annual dinner on Friday.

While numbers were down on the last two years it was still an impressive turnout at the Marina Bay Sands ballroom.

Getting a large crowd of shipping executives at an event in Singapore to actually listen to speeches is a notoriously difficult, if not impossible task. SSA president Esben Poulsson started his speech with the good news that he would be the only one speaking at the event. However, he also quipped the bad news was that as guest-of-honour Khaw Boon Wan, Singapore Minister for Transport was not giving a speech he presumably did not have goodies to give away to the industry from the government.

In a review of SSA’s activities over the last year Poulsson noted a number of ongoing initiatives to encourage Singaporeans to take a career in the maritime sector. Not surprisingly in the current market he noted, “The finance work group headed by councillor Lee Keng Mun, in collaboration with MPA (Maritime & Port Authority of Singapore) and the SGX (Singapore Exchange), is facing challenging times trying to attract more IPOs to list on the SGX.”

Looking back over the last year he noted he’d been asked what had been his proudest moments over the last year.

“To me, one was our 30th anniversary gala dinner last year when more than 2,000 people attended, including Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean and (then) Transport Minister Lui Tuck Yew. Another was our role in organising OSV@VIVO which saw over 3,000 visitors during Singapore Maritime Week in April, making it a huge success.”

ssa30