Caribbean Shipping Association focuses on challenges to regional shipping

"SHIPPING IN general and shipping lines in particular have been faced with challenges on the scale of today's commercial environment. Container freight rates are lower today than at any time in the last two decades, and shippers and consignees alike are more conscious than ever of the commercial power they possess."

So said David Harding president of the Caribbean Shipping Association (CSA) as he addressed the first general meeting of the CSA for the year 2000 in Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands recently.

Mr. Harding continued, "the successful shipping line must therefore sell its service even more vigorously than before but not by offering cheaper rates, as that is now an industry norm ­ the lines must secure cargo volume through added value service, the creation of more long term carriage contracts and a strong and committed sales force".

He said shipping agents will be challenged to provide greater and more effective marketing in their respective territories.

Opportunity

The president said CSA meetings provided an opportunity for shipping luminaries to gather and share ideas and plans, and in that way chart a course for the shipping industry towards a brighter future built on sustained development. He noted the success of the Caribbean Shipping Association in working with such agencies as Caribbean/Latin American Action, the International Maritime Organisation and the Organisation of American States Permanent Technical Committee on Ports. This interaction he said is facilitating the examination of wider issues and discovery of broad based solutions beneficial to all.

He announced that the CSA was unanimously accepted as a permanent observer to the ACS Maritime Transport Special Committee.

Admitting that a myriad of challenges confront the maritime industry, Mr. Harding asked the question "what would life be without challenges?". He closed his welcome address by charging CSA members to be committed to finding solutions to challenges.

Thomas Jefferson, O.B.E., Chairman of the Board of the Port Authority of Cayman Islands, in officially opening the meeting, extended a warm Caymanian welcome to all delegates and best wishes to the Caribbean Shipping Association. He stated that the Cayman Port Authority currently has an operating revenue of 10.6 million CI, adding well over half a million dollars a year to the government coffers.

In noting that one of the major presentations to the port owners/operators group was titled '

Standardised Port Statistics' he commended the efforts being made by the CSA in striving to achieve standardisation of port statistics, saying that by "standardising the means of statistical record keeping in the Caribbean we can further share in the combined wealth of information and expertise we already enjoy".

Mr. Grantley Stephenson, president of the Shipping Association of Jamaica, led the Jamaican delegation that attended the CSA meeting.

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