IBIA AFRICA REGIONAL MANAGERS REPORT: Q3 2022
HEADLINE: IBIA Africa’s Voice: Help formulate IBIA’s position and get involved
We would be very pleased to have more of our IBIA Africa members actively involved in working groups and speaking at our upcoming conferences.
As we head into the second half of 2022, we can reflect that it is now ‘business as usual’. Our experience here in Africa is a steady joining of new members to the IBIA Africa membership, and we welcome them all to the association, and look forward to meeting face to face in due course.
Some of the more positive take aways from the time of global isolation and pandemic limits on travel, is the broader acceptance of online meetings and events. Whilst all these tools were readily available pre-Covid, the adoption of digital meetings and activities has assisted us in a far wider reach and has brought countries and companies together with ease.
Exemplary examples of this are the IBIA Member Meetings, Future Fuels Working Group, chaired by Constantinos Capetanakis, Bunker Director (Starbulk S.A.) and IBIA Vice Chairman, Bunker License and Mass Flow Meter Working Group chaired by Alexander Prokopakis, CEO (probunkers) and the IBIA Africa Regional Board meetings. We have a number of IBIA Africa members participating in our working groups and would like to extend a further invitation to them to join these workings groups or get in touch with me to explore other opportunities for further involvement.
Future Fuels Working Group
The world is changing, and we need to change with it. Shipping needs new fuels to meet the ambitions of the IMO’s greenhouse gas strategy to dramatically cut carbon emissions. This working group focusses on how the bunker industry can be proactively involved in identifying and developing solutions. It will be where we formulate IBIA’s positions and input to the IMO and collaboration with other organisations. The working group has already produced informative tables assessing new and existing fuels and will be meeting beginning September to discuss the next projects.
Bunker licensing development Working Group
IBIA has stated its ambition to work for bunker licensing schemes, preferably introducing mandatory massflow meters, to be implemented in the 10 most important bunker hubs around the world. This working group’s task is to drive this work forward, including identifying the key elements of licensing schemes, which bunker hubs to approach and how to overcome obstacles. Many of our members participated in the survey conducted to assess the appetite for these schemes, and further actions will be discussed in the upcoming meeting end September.
The IBIA Africa online survey will remain available until end September. We are looking to gain valuable insights to further understand and identify the specific regional needs of the Africa markets. The regional team proposes to establish a more targeted and region-specific offering to our members, industry and future members. The online survey, aimed at the wider maritime industry, will serve as a valuable tool to get the industry’s views, and help mould IBIA Africa’s strategic growth and engagement.
We continue to finalise plans for the 3rd IBIA Africa Conference. This conference will take place in West Africa and will allow us to bring the Africa shipping and bunker industry together and will be making the announcement in the next two months.
I would like to extend a warm invitation to our Africa members to attend and participate in the upcoming IBIA Annual Convention, which will be held in Houston, Texas this November (15 – 17) as well as the much-anticipated IBIA Annual Dinner, hosted in London on 27 February 2023.
Should any of our members wish to discuss these plans in more detail please contact me directly.
More generally, if you would like to engage with the IBIA Africa team, or become a member of IBIA, speaker, sponsor or find out more about our local engagements and events, you can contact me at:
Tahra Sergeant
Regional Manager: Africa
Mobile +27 (0)79 990 7544
E tahra.sergeant@ibia.net
S sergeant.tahra W ibia.net