World Bunkering > News > Summer 2011 > Chief Executive's Report

Ian Adams

Board Elections

At the AGM held on Monday 21 February the Board Election results were announced. There were three vacancies this year due to the retirement of Chris Fisher (Brookes Bell), Angus Ogilvie (Cockett Marine Oil Ltd) and John Stirling (DNVPS) at the end of their terms of office. Only John was eligible to stand for another term. The result of the election was that Eugenia Benavides (Organizacion Terpel S.A.), Paul Dyke (Oak International Ltd) and John Stirling (DNVPS) were elected to serve on the Board for three years commencing 1 April 2011.

Annual Dinner

This year’s Annual Dinner exceeded all expectations. To have an attendance of almost 1,000 people is impressive and extremely pleasing from our perspective. I would like to thank all the attendees for respecting the formal part of the evening and look forward to next year being even better attended. The feedback has been really positive regarding the new venue and we intend to return to the Grosvenor House again next year, date to be confirmed in due course.

Annual Convention

Our attention now turns to the Annual Convention which is being held in Barcelona. This is the first time since 2006 that the IBIA Annual Convention has been held in Europe. It is IBIA’s policy to rotate the location around the world, utilising the three main time zones of Europe/Middle East/Africa (EMEA), the Americas and the Far East. The last EMEA Convention was in Cape Town, South Africa in 2008. The programme is currently being developed and we would welcome any input from the membership regarding content. Remember the conference is for your benefit and so if there is something you feel needs to be addressed then please let us know.

The conference will provide the membership with the opportunity to debate issues which affect the industry and will also afford you the chance to invoke a vote to guide the association in its policy. No other conference that you will attend can give you the opportunity to actually influence policy makers, whether that is at a European or global scale. This concept was introduced last year at the IBIA Convention in Stamford and will be an enduring theme in this and subsequent events. IBIA’s Convention, along with the Annual Dinner, enable us to maintain relatively low membership fees while continuing to represent our members at the highest level of regulation.

IBIA is uniquely placed to provide that representation so please support the event and make your views known. We have a number of very important issues already on the agenda, with some highly respected figures who will speak. Unfortunately, the venue can only hold 300 people so it is important to book early in order to avoid disappointment. I sincerely look forward to seeing as many members there as possible as this is the only way that we can ensure that the policies which emerge from the debates are genuinely representative of the membership.

International Maritime Organization (IMO)

At the time of writing we were preparing to attend an Intersessional meeting of the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) working group (WG) of the Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) at IMO. This meeting was due to discuss the proposals regarding Market Based Measures (MBM) which are currently under consideration. Last year’s Convention guided IBIA regarding this issue and we shall maintain a neutral position at this time. However, we will also keep the membership informed of developments.

Chairman

I would like to finish by welcoming our new Chairman. Robert ‘Bob’ Lintott, who assumed the Chairmanship for the ensuing year on 1 April. I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate him on taking up the post; I look forward to an enjoyable working relationship for the good of the Association and I feel sure that Bob will be a great ambassador for the organisation. I would also like to record my thanks to our outgoing Chairman, Mike Ball, who has had a great year and whose support has been greatly appreciated by the Secretariat. Whilst Mike may not be Chairman anymore he will remain on the Board for a further year as Immediate Past Chairman, where his skills will continue to be utilised, not least of all in Chairing the Board Development Committee.