Page 3 - AGM 2018 Brochure
P. 3

Chairman’s Message




       The year since our last Annual General Meeting has come to be one of
       the  most  important  years  in  shipping  history.  The  agreement  on  the
       IMO Global Strategy on GHG emissions is truly historical. Similarly, the
       discussion  now  initiated  at  the  IMO  regarding  Maritime  Autonomous
       Surface Ships will be historic indeed. Closer to home, so to say, we saw
       the  re-election  of  The  Bahamas  to  the  IMO  Council,  showing  the
       importance and influence of our Flag on the development of shipping.
       During the past year we have continued work to make the Bahamas Shipowners Association
       even  more  recognised  as  a  proactive  and  trusted  body  on  the  international  arena.  The
       Association  has  been  represented  and  active  in  various  capacities  at  numerous  meetings
       with the IMO and ICS as well as the ILO. The strategy we embarked upon two years ago is
       clearly setting its mark and I look forward to our continued progress in times to come.

       To summarise, the IMO ambitious strategy aims          The  BSA  offers  owners  the  opportunity  to  be
       to  cut  the  total  greenhouse  gas  emissions  of    proactive in topical industry issues, including the
       shipping  by  at  least  50%  by  2050, compared  to   discussion  of  prospective  international  policy
       2008  –  with  an  agreed  efficiency  goal,  as  an   and  legislative  changes,  with  international
       average for the sector, for a 40% improvement          maritime authorities and associations. This year,
       by  2030  compared  to  2008,  and  a  70%             in our joint delegations with the BMA, we have
       improvement by 2050. So that the entire sector         met  with  USCG,  EPA;  Chamber  of  Shipping  of
       will  be  in  position  to  decarbonise  completely,   America;  CLIA;  and  BIMCO.  These  meetings
       consistent with achieving the 1.5° climate change      consistently  prove  to  be  constructive  and
       goal identified by the UN. The full effects of the     productive  –  and  this  year  was  no  exception  -
       strategy  are  still  to be  seen, but  as  shipowners   with  exchanges  that  lead  to  insights  and
       we  can  expect  to  see  changes  in  ship  design,   enhanced  awareness  on  all  topics  within  the
       operations,  propulsion  systems,  with  the           respective fields of endeavour and responsibility.
       development of new types of fuels. Whereas the         One such topical industry issue, and focus for the
       former are more tangible, the latter is somewhat       future,  is  the  aforementioned  ‘MASS’  –  which
       nebulous  at  this  time.  Whilst  there  is  a  certain   leant  itself  to  the  theme  of  this  year’s  AGM  &
       scepticism  of  MBMs  as  a  means  of  further        Conference:  ‘Human  Element  &  Automation  at
       incentivising  CO2  reduction,  they  could  have  a   Sea’. Forecasts show that we can expect to see
       ‘part to play’ in the future. In this eventuality, I   autonomous  ships  trading  in  the  near  future
       would  anticipate  reprising  my  role  as  Chairman   however, it is also clear there will be degrees of
       of  the  ICS  MBM  Working  Group  together  with      automation - with evolving automated processes
       BIMCO, INTERTANKO and INTERCARGO.
                                                              and  decision  support.  We  need  to  assess  the
       The  recognition  of  the  important  role  of  the    effects and impact on our seafarers, and how we
       owners  in  maintaining  the  registry’s  reputation   as  shipowners  will  ensure  systems  onboard  are
       and  standards,  led  to  the  strategic  decision  to   designed with feasibility and safety as a priority.
       create  the  Bahamas  Shipowners’  Association         In  closing,  I  wish  to  acknowledge  Domenico
       (BSA). The BSA encompasses all shipping sectors        Rognoni  of  Carnival  as  BSA  Vice  Chairman  and
       and  promotes  the  interests  of  owners  of          his  active  and  effective  involvement  with  the
       Bahamian  registered  vessels  and  facilitates        BMA Board and Bahamas Government to date. I
       consultation  with  the  Bahamas  Maritime             also express my sincere thanks to the Board and
       Authority (BMA). The BMA is one of the world’s         Secretariat for their invaluable support.
       premier  ship  registries  whose  growth  has  not
       been at the expense of quality. The relationship
       between  the  BSA  and  BMA  is  the  key  to  our     John Adams
       success.  We  acknowledge  BMA  Board  Chair           Chairman
       Denise Lewis-Johnson, Deputy Chair Peter John
       Goulandris,  and  Acting  CEO  &  MD  Capt.  Dwain
       Hutchinson.
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