World Bunkering > News > Summer 2009 > Chief Executive's Report

Ian Adams

As I am sure all members are aware we at IBIA have, over the last couple of years, spent a considerable amount of time contemplating a revision of our governance. I am very pleased to report that this, in the most part, is moving forward in a very positive way. The new Board, having been elected in February, formally met for the first time at the start of April. At that meeting the Board elected Mike Ball, Gearbulk (UK) Ltd, as the new Vice Chairman. As you will no doubt be aware Chris Fisher was elected Chairman in February and we look forward to working with the new team for the forthcoming year.

The new Board consist of the following members:

• Chris Fisher (Chairman)
• Fritz Fredriksen (Immediate Past Chairman)
• Mike Ball (Vice Chairman)
• Nigel Draffin (Treasurer)
• Trevor Harrison
• Robert Lintott
• Mustafa Muhtaroglu
• Angus Ogilvie
• Alejandro Risler
• John Stirling
• Tim Wilson
• Ian Adams (ex-officio non-voting)

With the next meeting of the Board planned for early July, I am confident that the new structure will benefit the association.

A number of Committees have already either formed, or are in the process of being formed. If any member wishes to participate in these committees please contact the Secretariat, who will pass on your interest to the Committee Chairmen.

The Committees are:

• Convention Committee – Chair – Robin Meech
• Test Precision (Conflict between IMO and EC methodology) – Chair – Nigel Draffin
• In Line Blending and Sampling Issues – Chair – Trevor Harrison
• Education/Qualifications – Chair – Nigel Draffin

Equally, if a member has an area of concern which they wish to be considered by IBIA then please contact the Secretariat, who will pass your concerns on to the Board.

Convention

As listed above, Robin Meech has taken on the task of chairing the 2009 IBIA Convention Committee, entitled “Positioning for Recovery: Strategies and Challenges for the International Bunker Business”. The Convention will be held in Singapore 12-16 October 2009, with the conference element on 14 and 15 October. Training courses and workshops will be held prior to the conference and a golf tournament and an as yet undisclosed event for non-golfers on 16 October. This is the first event in the recent history of the association which has been organised “in-house” and we are confident that as many members as possible will endeavour to attend. Details on registering for the event, along with information about sponsorship opportunities, are given on page 13.

International Maritime Organization (IMO)

Since the last edition of World Bunkering, two meetings have been held at IMO of interest to IBIA members. The Bulk Liquids and Gases subcommittee (BLG) met between 2-6 March and the Greenhouse Gases Working Group (GHG-WG) was held between 9-13 March. At BLG the issue of Material Safety Datasheets (MSDS) was once more up for discussion. IBIA were ably supported by Duncan King, a product stewardship expert from BP, who worked with the drafting group to produce a proposal amending MSC 150(77), which was fully supported by all parties. This will now go to the Maritime Safety Committee 86th session (MSC 86) for final agreement prior to the entry into force on 1 July 2009 of the amendments to SOLAS, to which this relates. The debate at the GHG-WG was somewhat limited in that it only considered the energy efficiency design and operational indices. There is still a fairly large body of concern that the indices do not adequately cover all ship types. This topic will be further discussed at the Marine Environment Protection Committee’s 59th meeting (MEPC 59).

It should be noted that the most significant development at IMO did not take place during these meetings! On the 27 March 2009 the United States and Canada submitted a paper proposing an Emissions Control Area for North America. The paper was submitted for consideration at MEPC 59 which will be held at IMO headquarters 13-17 July 2009. One interesting fact about this submission is that, as yet, Canada has not ratified MARPOL Annex VI. However, the paper does refer to the precedent set when the first SECAs were adopted. At that time not all the countries bordering the proposed SECA had ratified the convention.