It was a topic that Singapore Shipping Association (SSA) honorary secretary Esben Poulsson addressed to the global industry at the annual Connecticut Maritime Association (CMA) event last week. There can be no arguing with Poulsson’s point that a stronger unified voice is required by Asian shipowners on key issues such as ballast water, emissions and piracy.
However, at least based on the press release put out by the SSA, his speech was rather short on solutions as to how to achieve this, apart from saying Asian shipowner organisations should work more closely together.
There are longstanding “associations of associations” such as the Federation of Asean Shipowners’ Associations (FASA) and Asian Shipowners’ Forum (ASF), but by and large these have been somewhat toothless with a need for consensus often neutering their message. This is not actually surprising as national agendas often interfere, as do regional rivalries and a host of cultural factors.
Imagine trying to get the Greek, Norwegian and US shipping interests all on the same page and you might start to get some idea where the problems lie.
As a result what has happened is it has been left to individual associations, and then often individuals within them, to try and drive an agenda for Asian shipping. Notable names in recent years would include the Hong Kong Shipowners’ Association’s Arthur Bowring, former SSA president SS Teo, more recently Gerardo Borromeo from the Philippines in his roles at Intermanager and the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS), and now it would seem being joined by Poulsson at SSA and ICS.
We can only applaud the efforts of these individuals, who have given up huge amounts of their own time to promote the Asian voice, but it does seem something more is needed for the next step.
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