IBIA Chair: Message to IBIA members
Dear friends and fellow IBIA members,
We are approaching the conclusion of a dynamic year, and an excellent one for our Association, with targeted interventions, worldwide presence, representation and continuous expansion, particularly if one looks at our membership list and sees both the expanding numbers and the diversity of our members’ background, especially those from the shipowning side.
Most importantly, we recently concluded our Annual Convention in Athens, held from the 5th to the 7th of November. We all looked forward to this and great effort was made by our secretariat team, together with our Events WG and our board of directors.
It is not an exaggeration to say that it was a hugely successful, impactful and perfectly organised convention. We all enjoyed and appreciated first our training sessions and then our panels and discussions, all of the highest calibre. We were honoured to hear keynote speeches by our guests the Honourable Minister of Maritime Affairs and Insular Policy of Greece Mr. Stylianidis, and His Excellency the Ambassador of the United States to the Hellenic Republic Mr. Tsunis, together with a video recorded salutation by the IMO’s Secretary General Mr. Arsenio Dominguez. All three speeches touched upon the urgency for action and the importance of associations like ours, the key role we perform in bringing all stakeholders together and moving forward concretely.
Our panels were thought-provoking, open and sincere (something which is never a given in an era of plentiful conferences and conventions) and they all captivated our audience, which approximated 280 delegates from 30 countries.
Our convention also marked an important announcement. One of the ways for IBIA’s expansion is through our Regional Boards which serve as a platform of local engagement and regional concerns.
Our active Regional Boards in Asia, Africa, the Americas, and the Middle East are a true testament of this. During our Athens Convention I formally announced the establishment of our final Regional Board, in Europe. With new regulations being implemented next year, like the forthcoming Med ECA Zone or FuelEU, and with a plethora of radical developments, IBIA intends to stay at the forefront in Europe as well. This new board will consist of highly respected and experienced individuals, all experts in their field:
Mrs. Charlotte Rojgaard – Global Marine Fuels Director at Bureau Veritas Verifuel, who will be the Regional Board’s Chair.
Mr. Peter Grunwaldt, Vice President at Hafnia
Mr. John Stirling – World Fuel Services Director, Marine Technical
Mr. Kenneth Juhls – Managing Director at ZeroNorth Bunker
Mr. Andrea Realfonzo – Grimaldi Group, Manager Corporate Bunker & Chartering Dept.
Mrs. Sofia Furstenberg Stott – Partner at Furstenberg Maritime Advisory
Captain John Ghio – Port Captain and CEO of the port of Gibraltar
Jan Christensen – Senior Director at Fuels, Lubricants & Chemicals at Hapag-Lloyd
I wish them every success and assure them of mine and the Global Board’s full support, always. These times are indeed complex, challenging and potentially frustrating, however they are also exciting, promising, and fit for those people, associations and companies alike which want to be a dynamic part of the most significant evolution in modern times. Decarbonisation is the clear goal, and we know that the obstructions are massive. We, in the shipping industry, were, are, and will remain pioneers, and IBIA is determined to play a major role and become more relevant than ever before. This is exactly why we focus on diversification of IBIA’s membership as we engage all stakeholders: upstream producers, energy majors, classification societies, oil traders, technical experts, port authorities, regulators, bunker sellers, shipping companies.
Apart from our excellent Annual Convention, IBIA was actively present during SIBCON 2024. I had the honour of being invited to be a panellist and converse, along with the IBIA delegation team, not only with a wide range of shipping professionals, but also with the Maritime Port Authority of Singapore, as well as with the Global Centre of Maritime Decarbonization, partners in our efforts for comprehensive training and for studies on the new technologies and fuels. I was also honoured to receive on behalf of our Association the confirmation of cooperation with the MPA regarding IBIA’s inclusion as a partner of MPA’s Marine Energy Training Facility (METF), celebrated at the opening of SIBCON through the announcement of Dr Amy Khor, Senior Minister of State for the Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment and the Ministry of Transport.
I was pleased to attend ARACON in Rotterdam, as a panelist at the “Leadership” panel and to represent IBIA in the in-depth discussions relating to the newly formulated European fuel landscape.
There is no doubt that IBIA is impactful, sought out for its expertise, its encompassing and sober voice, its wealth of representation through our 500 members, our IMO’s work and submissions, our Working Groups, our Regional Boards, our Members’ Meetings, our Training sessions, our Events. We are gearing up as times become increasingly complex and in further need of closer and sincere cooperation. We have accomplished a lot lately, and more is yet to come, through you, our members, and your active participation, which no one in IBIA will tire of repeating is of the utmost value and importance.
I look forward to the continuance of this acceleration of our Association’s dynamic trajectory. It’s a joint and team effort we all embrace.
Constantinos Capetanakis
IBIA Chair