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

IBIA Annual Convention

Ian Adams

The Annual Convention this year was held in Singapore at the Rasa Sentosa Resort by Shangri-La. Despite a slow start to the bookings, we were eventually filled to capacity with the attendance exceeding the originally contracted level by almost 30%! It was also the highest attendance at an IBIA Convention this century. Pricing was set at an extremely competitive level (alternatively read low!). Members should be aware this was the first time IBIA had run the entire Convention internally and the feedback so far has been hugely encouraging.

There is a report later in this edition which will deal with the content of the Convention so I shall limit myself to saying three things. The programme of speakers was exceptional, for which I would like to congratulate the programme committee for doing an excellent job. In particular, I would like to thank the committee chairman, Robin Meech, for his efforts. I would also like to congratulate my team, Anne Chambers and Chong Kam Wah for the incredible amount of work they put in, both in the preparation of the Convention and during the event to ensure it ran smoothly. Finally, my thanks go to the sponsors whose support was also greatly appreciated.

On my return home I could not help but notice while watching the Brazilian Grand Prix that IBIA shared its Platinum sponsor with the Grand Prix! Petrobras were our Platinum sponsor and were joined by Chemoil and Multiservice as Gold Sponsors. A full list of sponsors will also appear later in the magazine. At the end of the Convention we announced that the 2010 IBIA Annual Convention will be in Connecticut, USA. I would urge ALL members to consider attending. In Singapore one comment I received was how truly international the delegates were. I hope this will prove to be the case in future years also. The IBIA Annual Convention is about more than just location; it is about the opportunity to network with other likeminded individuals in this specialised industry and association of ours. I look forward to seeing a record attendance in Connecticut!

Board Elections

In the last edition of World Bunkering, and also by e-mail, you, the members, have been asked to nominate candidates for the Board Elections in February. The nominations are now closed and I am pleased to announce that we have received nine nominations for the three vacancies. It is also extremely pleasing to note that the nominees are from Asia, Europe and both North and South America. This reflects the expansion of the Association further afield and I for one welcome this fact. The process now is that the Board Development Committee (BDC) will assess each of the candidates against a number of criteria and if necessary contact the candidates to ask them some questions before arriving at a recommendation to the membership. I can assure you that this will not be an easy task as the nominations we have received are very strong.

IBIA Annual Dinner

Having finished with the Annual Convention it is now time to turn our thoughts to February and the Annual Dinner. By now tickets have already sold out for this popular event. The size of the venue does mean that we are limited on the number of guests we can admit. In addition to this, the issue of security rears its ugly head. Once again this year we have to tighten up on security, as last year, having eased it slightly, we experienced a few problems. I look forward to seeing you all in London.

And Finally …

This is the final edition before the festive season and New Year. I would like to take this opportunity to wish all our members and their families well for the future.