Hong Kong Shipowners Association News

Dr. Kishore Rajvanshy is stepping down after three decades as managing director of Fleet Management Limited (FLEET), currently the world’s largest third-party ship management company.FLEET announced it has begun implementing a phased succession plan as Rajvanshy transitions from his current role, with a global search for a new managing director underway.As part of this transition, Angad Banga, the chief operating officer of FLEET’s parent company, The Caravel Group, will co-lead FLEET with Rajvanshy – where Rajvanshy will continue to manage the technical…

Angad Banga of the Caravel Group was elected as new Chairman of the Hong Kong Shipowners Association (HKSOA). He succeeded Wellington Koo, of Valles Steamship Co., Ltd, who stepped down after completing his two-year term as Chairman of the HKSOA.Banga has also taken over the Chairmanship of Asian Shipowners’ Association (ASA) at the same time. Banga’s tenure as Chairman of ASA will come to an end on the day of ASA’s next AGM to be held in Hong Kong on 28 May 2024.

Angad Banga of The Caravel Group was elected Chairman of the Hong Kong Shipowners Association at the organization’s annual meeting held on November 22, 2023.Banga succeeds Wellington Koo, of Valles Steamship, who stepped down after completing his two-year term as Chairman.Richard Hext of Swire Shipping was elected Deputy Chairman, succeeding Banga. Qian Weizhong of COSCO Shipping (Hong Kong) and Wang Yongxin of China Merchants Energy Shipping Company Limited were re-elected as the Vice Chairmen.Koo…

Sabrina Chao has been named the 45th president of international shipping association BIMCO, taking over from Şadan Kaptanoğlu, managing director of Kaptanoglu Shipping, who has completed her two-year term.Chao has been in the shipping industry since 2001 and joined the family business Wah Kwong Maritime Transport Holdings Limited in 2002. Chao held the position as chairman of the group from 2013 until August 2019 and from 2016, she served a two-year term as chairman of the Hong Kong Shipowners Association.

The global trade association for shipowners and operators, International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) opened its China Liaison Office in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) on Tuesday, 21 November, during a reception hosted by the Hong Kong Shipowners Association.Liu Xiaoming, the Deputy Minister of Transport from the People’s Republic of China, Huang Liuquan, the Deputy Director of Hong Kong, Macau Affairs Office of State Council of the People’s Republic of China, and Frank Chan, Secretary for Transport and Housing Bureau of Hong Kong SAR were present to help oversee proceedings.On 20 November 2019, Mrs Carrie Lam, Chief…

The "Hong Kong Maritime Week 2018" (HKMW 2018), a major annual event of the maritime and port industries in Hong Kong, unveiled on Saturday (November 18) with the "Hong Kong orienteering race.According to a government press release, the  third edition of Hong Kong's Maritime Week oragnised by the Hong Kong Maritime and Port Board (HKMPB) with co-organisers, the Hong Kong Shipowners Association and the Hong Kong Maritime Museum, runs from 18 to 24 November and features over 50 events comprising both industry and outreach.Officiating at the opening ceremony of the HKMW 2018, the Chairman of the HKMPB and Secretary for Transport and Housing, Frank Chan Fan, said, "Maritime, trading and logistics have all along been the pillar industry of Hong Kong.

Award to be presented March 14, 2018 at the conclusion of the CMA’s Shipping 2018 Annual Conference and Exposition. Ms. Sabrina S. M. Chao, Executive Chairman of Wah Kwong Maritime Transport Holdings Ltd. has been named as the Connecticut Maritime Association (CMA) Commodore for the year 2018. Ms. Chao follows a long succession of influential maritime industry leaders as Commodore. The 2018 Commodore Award will be presented on March 14, 2018 at the Gala Dinner marking the conclusion of the annual Connecticut Maritime Association conference and trade exposition, at the Hilton Hotel in Stamford, Connecticut, USA. The Award is given each year to a person in the international maritime industry who has contributed to the growth and development of the industry.

The Board of Directors of the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) has appointed Martin Cresswell, Technical Director of the Hong Kong Shipowners Association, as the new Chairman of the ICS Marine Committee. He succeeds Peter Bond (Cyprus Shipping Chamber) who recently stood down following four years of service as Chairman of ICS’s principal technical committee. “The Marine Committee is very much the engine room of ICS, overseeing the work of the many ICS technical committees and the development of policy positions which we represent at IMO meetings…

BIMCO today presented three awards to recognise and celebrate excellence in the global shipping industry among both companies and individuals in the industry – following BIMCO’s conference in Shanghai. This year the importance of leadership, innovation and pioneering business strategy in shipping were clearly recognised by the judges in the choice of winners. BIMCO President Philippe Louis-Dreyfus chose to give the BIMCO President’s Award to the Tung family from Hong Kong, who run OOCL among other companies. The award celebrates an individual, family or company who has made a significant contribution to shipping and the maritime industry. The award was received by CC Tung, on behalf of the family.

IMO to decide whether to introduce rules in 2020, or 2025; EU, China already pushing for stricter regulation. The global shipping industry is bracing for a key regulatory decision that could mark a milestone in reducing maritime pollution, but which could nearly double fuel costs in a sector already reeling from its worst downturn in decades. The shipping industry is by far the world's biggest emitter of sulphur, with the SOx content in heavy fuel oil up to 3,500 times higher than the latest European diesel standards for vehicles. To combat such pollution, the International Maritime Organization's (IMO) Marine Environment Protection Committee will meet in London on Oct.

The owners of Five Stars Fujian have at last paid for much-needed supplies to the Hong Kong vessel, which has been detained by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority since August 12, reports local media. The Five Stars Fujian has been detained off the port of Gladstone in  by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority after inspectors found the company had breached the Maritime Labour Convention over the insufficient food and unpaid wages for the Chinese crew. Local Australian media and Great Britain's Guardian newspaper reported earlier this week that the capsesize class coal carrier, has been sitting in the middle of the Great Barrier Reef for the past month with supplies diminishing and salaries going unpaid.

The Hong Kong Shipowners Association (HKSOA) on Thursday called on the city's authorities to provide assistance to the crew of a Hong Kong-flagged coal ship off the east coast of Australia that is running out of food and fuel. Local Australian media and Great Britain's Guardian newspaper reported this week that the Five Stars Fujian, a 180,000 deadweight tonne capsesize class coal carrier, has been sitting in the middle of the Great Barrier Reef for the past month with supplies diminishing and salaries going unpaid. The HKSOA said in a statement that the ship was under detention by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA), off the port of Gladstone, for breaches of the Maritime Labour Convention relating to lack of provisions and unpaid wages.

Following a long illness George Chao, a shipping legend in Hong Kong and president of Wah Kwong Maritime Transport, died, aged 76, in hospital. WAH Kwong Maritime Transport Holdings, established 64 years ago, is now one of the largest privately owned shipowners in Hong Kong. George Chao is one of four sons of T.Y. Chao, the founder of Wah Kwong, and father of Sabrina Chao, the current chairman of the company. The Chao family represents one of the most prominent of Hong Kong’s shipping dynasties. Wah Kwong is a founding member of the Hong Kong Shipowners Association (HKSOA). As with most other founding members, the company’s heritage can be traced back to the mainland.

For many in shipping, the Brexit was unexpected. Many believe that Brexit’s impact on the shipping industry will be more or less neutral. The UK Chamber of Shipping remained neutral on the question of Britain's departure during the runup to the vote. It issued a statement emphasizing the industry's importance in all events. "We are still an island nation that has to make its way in the world through buying and selling, and the shipping industry is here for that purpose . . . shipping moves 95 percent of the UK's international trade and we don't see that changing," the organization said. The chamber highlighted a series of key policy areas that will need attention from the government before the UK leaves.

The total port cargo throughput of Hong Kong has seen a sharp decrease of 13.8% in 2015, amounting to 256.6 million tonnes, according to the Hong Kong Census and Statistics Department. It is the biggest year-on-year drop in the past 10 years. Further statistics from the department shows that year-on-year decrease in port cargo throughput were also recorded in 2009 and 2012, falling 6.3 percent and 2.9 percent respectively, when the world economy was hit by financial tsunami and Europe's debt crisis. Within this total, inward and outward port cargo decreased by 7.5% and 17.4% respectively. The seasonally adjusted series enables more meaningful shorter-term comparison to be made for discerning possible variations in trends.

China's growing military presence in the South China Sea has drawn warnings from the United States that Beijing is seeking to exert control over one of the world's most important sea lanes, but so far the shipping industry seems less concerned. Beijing has been increasingly assertive in staking its claim to almost the whole of the sea, though which trillions of dollars of trade passes each year. This month China landed its first test flights on a new 3,000 metre (10,000 ft) runway it has built on a reef in the Spratly Islands, drawing protests from Vietnam and the Philippines which have overlapping claims in the area. Despite the diplomatic tensions, merchant shipping says operations are, as yet, unaffected.

London International Shipping Week 2015 (LISW15) is pleased to announce the line up, so far, of high level government and industry speakers for the official LISW15 Conference being held at the Grosvenor House Hotel on London’s Park Lane, on Thursday 10th September. The conference will begin with Jeremy Penn, Chairman of the LISW15 Steering Group and Chief Executive of The Baltic Exchange, formally welcoming everyone to the event before handing over to The Rt Honourable The Lord Mayor of the City of London, Alderman Alan Yarrow who will then address the Conference alongside a Senior UK Government Minister. This session will focus on World…

DNV GL was recognized for its leadership and ability to innovate when it received both the “Classification Society” and the “Innovation Award” at the 2014 Lloyd’s List Asia Awards held on 30 October. This is the second year in a row that DNV GL has won the award for best Classification Society. “We are delighted and proud to receive these awards. They acknowledge the meaningful commitments DNV GL staff around the world have made over the past year. We remain dedicated to expanding our presence in Asia with deep technical competence and innovative solutions that assist our customers to become safer, smarter and greener,” said Steen Lund, Regional Manager for DNV GL Maritime South East Asia & Pacific, who accepted the Classification Award on behalf of DNV GL.

Leading shipping services group, Clarkson PLC, says that James Hughes-Hallett will join the Board as a Non-Executive Director with immediate effect and will take over as Chairman from 1 January 2015 when Bob Benton will retire from the Board. Clarksons explain that James Hughes-Hallett brings a wealth of experience in the world of shipping, transportation, offshore and global trade, having worked for the Swire group since 1976. He is currently chairman of John Swire & Sons Limited, a Non-Executive Director of Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd, Swire Pacific Ltd and Swire Properties Ltd. He is a Director of Steamships Trading Co Ltd and is Chairman of United States Cold Storage Inc.

Shipping industry “big hitters” will be out in force for this year’s ICS Shipping Conference, being held by the International Chamber of Shipping at the British Library, London, on Wednesday September 11. Proceedings will be overseen by ICS Chairman, Masamichi Morooka. This year’s ICS event is being held in conjunction with the inaugural London International Shipping Week, which will see the worldwide maritime community gather in the U.K. capital for a multitude of events and meetings from September 9-13.

The United Kingdom Hydrographic Office (UKHO) brings to HK its free-attendance workshop on ECDIS regulations and procedures. This free workshop will present the "Admiralty Guide to policy and procedures for the operational use of ECDIS" and will provide expert guidance on the regulatory requirements governing the adoption of ECDIS, as well as the onboard safety management systems and bridge procedures required to fulfill SOLAS carriage obligations. These workshops will benefit anyone involved in managing the integration of ECDIS into their ships, including managers, owners, ship personnel, regulators and auditors. Following on from the UKHO’s highly regarded Digital Integration Workshops…

A coalition of shipping companies wants the Pearl River Delta cleaned up and turned into a low emission zone. The call, from the Hong Kong Liner Shipping Association (HKLSA) and the Hong Kong Shipowners’ Association (HKSA) in conjunction with 17 shipping companies came along with a renewed, one-year pledge from the shipping companies to burn only low-sulfur fuels while berthed in Hong Kong, reports the China Daily. The coalition wants low sulfur emissions mandated by laws by January 2014. But in the meantime, the coalition is also recommending that authorities provide incentives, such as a 50 percent cut in port fees for vessels that come into voluntary compliance, prior to the January 2014 deadline. The alliance wants to increase its reach, beyond Hong Kong however.

At the 150th Annual Meeting of the Members of ABS, three industry leaders were elected to the ABS Council. Following the Annual Meeting, the ABS Council met and elected industry leaders to both its Marine and Offshore Technical Committees. Individuals serving on the ABS Council and the Technical Committees help guide the class society in fulfilling its mission of promoting the security of life, property and the natural environment. “Classification represents the concept of self-regulation for the marine and offshore industry,” said ABS President and CEO Christopher J. Wiernicki.