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Asian Regional Panel Report Oct 2015 Tokyo
21 October 2015
Click here to download the Asian Regional Panel Report Oct 2015 Tokyo
Report
Asian Panel Meeting
held on
Wednesday 14th October 2015
1000-1500hrs
at the
Imperial Hotel
Tokyo
Approved in Shanghai, 6th April 2016
- INTERTANKO’s Anti-Trust/Competition law Compliance Statement
Prior to the commencement of the meeting, the Chairman advised all participants that the meeting would be held in accordance with INTERTANKO’s Anti-trust Guidelines as follows:
INTERTANKO’s policy is to be firmly committed to maintaining a fair and competitive environment in the world tanker trade, and to adhering to all applicable laws which regulate INTERTANKO’s and its members’ activities in these markets. These laws include the anti-trust/competition laws which the United States, the European Union and many nations of the world have adopted to preserve the free enterprise system, promote competition and protect the public from monopolistic and other restrictive trade practices. INTERTANKO’s activities will be conducted in compliance with its Anti-trust/Competition Law Guidelines.
- Welcome and introductory remarks
INTERTANKO’s Asian Panel Chairman, Mr. Kenneth Koo, welcomed the members of the Asian Panel to Tokyo and thanked the members in Japan and Asia for taking the time to attend and participate in the meeting.
The Chairman thanked Mr. David Koo and acknowledged Mr. Koo’s commitment, energy and enthusiasm which he has injected into the Asian Panel. The Chairman added that he will try to establish continuity from Mr. Koo’s Chairmanship and continue working on realizing his expectations and hopes.
The Chairman requested support and guidance from the Panel members in achieving and realizing his aspirations and expectations. He also thanked the Secretariat for their support concluding that INTERTANKO was not only the global voice of tanker owners but also one of the most important voices in the global maritime industry.
Finally, the Chairman welcomed Dr. Nikolas Tsakos, Chairman of INTERTANKO, to the meeting and thanked Dr. Tsakos for his support and commitment to the Asia region. Dr. Tsakos thanked the Chairman for hosting the meeting in Tokyo, commenting that Japan represented the second largest tanker fleet in the INTERTANKO membership. The members in Japan also represented a considerable wealth of experience and expertise in operating gas tankers and as such would be encouraged to participate in the gas tanker work which INTERTANKO is set to commence.
- Administrative Items
3.1 Minutes
The Panel noted that amendments to the draft Minutes from the previous meeting held in Hong Kong had been included in the Minutes enclosed with the Agenda Notes and approved them without further comment.
3.2 Membership
Mr. Wilkins advised the Panel that the Terms of Reference require two Vice Chairmen. Mr. Hemant Pathania of NYK Ship Management Singapore had been elected as Vice Chairman at the Panel’s previous meeting and as such an additional Vice Chairman was still required.
The Chairman requested the Panel to nominate a Vice Chairman in prior to the next meeting.
- Review of Engagement with INTERTANKO Asia-Pacific Members
The Chairman introduced his vision for the Asian Panel commenting that Asia’s maritime industry is the backbone for all aspects of “maritime” and “shipping” globally and that the Panel should leverage the “uniquely Asian characteristic” which is based on the fact that :
- • Asian shipowners own about 29% of the world tanker fleet;
- • Asia is the centre for manning & training;
- • Asia is the centre for shipbuilding; and,
- • Asia imports a substantial amount of crude oil, products and chemical products.
The Chairman explained that despite this statistical influence, Asian owners punch below their weight as “A Voice”. In addition to collaborating with the Panel members to establish an “Asian Voice” within the tanker industry, the Chairman shared his desire to strengthen the Panel’s voice within INTERTANKO itself which will be used to advise, guide and recommend to INTERTANKO’s Executive Committee and Council on “Asian perspectives” of various commercial and regulatory issues impacting the tanker industry. To achieve this, the Chairman explained that the Panel will need to align its Vision and Objectives with the Vision, Mission and Strategic Work Plan of INTERTANKO.
In terms of the INTERTANKO Mission, the Chairman believed that the Panel should provide the Asian Perspective and Asian Leadership to bolster INTERTANKO’s regional influence. On the Vision for the Tanker Industry, the Chairman added that the Panel’s job is to identify areas for improvement specific to Asian tanker owners.
Turning to INTERTANKO’s members’ goals, the Chairman explained that the Panel’s role is to initiate robust and focused dialogue with refineries within Asia, major Asian shipbuilders, manning agents and maritime training institutes, and the relevant maritime authorities, organizations, associations and special interest groups in Asia. On the latter, the Chairman provided the example of building relations with the China MSA, as reflected elsewhere on the Panel’s agenda for the meeting.
The Chairman explained that there were still significant quality tanker owners in Asia that were not members and that bringing these companies into the Association should also be a role for the Panel and its members.
The Chairman explained that the Regional Panels should champion the Strategic Work Goals within the respective regions that are represented, focusing upon Region-specific perspectives to the 5 Focus Areas and in alignment with mandates and requests from the Executive Committee and Council.
The Chairman also proposed that during the interim between Panel meetings, the Secretariat should keep Panel members informed and promote dialogue on enquiries from members.
The Chairman concluded his remarks on his vision for the Asian Panel by proposing the establishment of a Regional Steering Committee composed of the Region’s Council Members. This would enable Council members to participate in conveying issues and assist the Secretariat in drawing up a Panel meeting Agenda reflecting the Regions issues. Furthermore, it would ensure interaction between Council members and the Regional Panels they represent and assist with accurately conveying recommendations from the Panel to Council.
Dr. Tsakos shared the Chairman’s vision for the Regional Panels and urged the Panel members to provide their advice and guidance on INTERTANKO’s agenda.
Miki-san requested an overview of the membership status across Asia. Mr. Wilkins provided an update on potential members in Singapore, Hong Kong, China, Taiwan and Japan commenting that some of the larger tanker owners had been actively considering membership but that there remained more work to be done.
Dr. Tsakos commented that the Asian ship yards such as Imabari represented an opportunity for expanding INTERTANKO’s Associate Membership numbers.
Capt. Kumar, noting the previous day’s successful seminar, urged INTERTANKO to expand its remit in India and in particular to the training schools and maritime colleges.
Panel members agreed that INTERTANKO should continue to focus efforts in India and the Philippines targeting the seafarers, noting the success of the Seafarer Vetting Seminars.
Ms. Stanzel advised the Panel that Indian membership is managed from INTERTANKO’s London Office by Mr Ajay Gour. Mr. Gour had recently spent 10 days in India seeing all members as well as potential members. As a matter of course, Indian members are also now invited to Asian Panel meetings and copied in on all Panel correspondence.
Mr. Pathania commented that INTERTANKO may wish to consider contacting the Foreign Ship Managers Association (FOSMA) in India to collaborate on any future seminars.
On the issue of better dialogue and communication between the Panel and the Committees, Ms. Stanzel explained that all Committee agendas and minutes are posted on INTERTANKO’s website for all members to access and review. Panel members agreed that it would be useful to know when agendas were posted on the website so that they may provide comments as necessary.
Ms Stanzel commented on the Hellenic Panel arrangement for Council Members to meet the evening prior to the Panel meetings. This was not a formal Steering Committee but worked in a very similar manner. Ms. Stanzel added that on dialogue between Committees and Panels, an annual meeting of the Committee and Panel Chairmen was now established. These meetings would take place alongside the Annual Tanker Event with the last such meeting successfully held in Athens in May.
The Panel supported the Chairman’s proposal of establishing a regional Steering Committee composed of Council members in Asia. The Chairman thanked the Panel for its support and advised that he would propose the idea to the Council when it next meets in London in November.
Furthermore, the Panel encouraged the Secretariat to initiate greater dialogue and communication in between meetings, in particular on leading issues being considered by the various working Committees.
Mr. Wilkins noted that Asian members were generally under represented on the working Committees and encouraged the Panel members to consider participating in these Committees.
- INTERTANKO Update: Managing Director’s Report
Ms. Katharina Stanzel, Managing Director, provided the Panel with an update of the issues currently under consideration by the Executive Committee and Council.
Insert presentation slides and text from KBS.
Ms. Stanzel advised the Panel of the possible establishment of an INTERTANKO Gas Committee. Draft Terms of Reference for such a Committee had been distributed to interested members as well as SIGTTO.
Mr. Pathania commented that this was a welcome initiative in enhancing gas carrier safety.
On considering the current review of INTERTANKO’s membership best practices, some Panel members were of the view that the best practices should be more general in nature and not so regionally specific. For example, the Danish Pilotage Best Practice.
The Panel welcomed the demonstration given by Ms. Stanzel of the Payment Performance System (PPS) and urged the Secretariat to undertake regional workshops to advise all members of this tool.
- Regional Issues
Mr. Wilkins provided the Panel with an update on the four key regional items on the Panel’s agenda and invited comments.
Capt. Rele requested the Secretariat to confirm the extent of the area under consideration in the proposed SE Asia BMP. Mr. Wilkins would revert with the details.
Capt. Patwardhan asked whether the pressure exerted by INTERTANKO and other industry associations was having any impact on the Governments in SE Asia in terms of concrete action to reduce numbers of attacks.
Mr. Wilkins advised that the establishment by Malaysian and Indonesian authorities of the rapid reaction team was to some extent the result of industry and public pressure. However, Capt. Sadhale noted that there had yet to be any incidents to establish the effectiveness of the rapid reaction team. Capt. Sadhale added that the MMEA in Malaysia had been effective in apprehending some of the attackers and had initiated action to prosecute as well.
Mr. Wilkins added to Capt. Sadhale’s remarks on the MMEA, commenting that the MMEA was also working closely with INTERPOL on training courses to effectively assess crime scenes and so facilitate prosecutions.
Mr. Pathania remarked that ReCAAP remained the correct body to approach on the issue but added that there remains very little political will do act.
Panel members also noted that the IFC in Singapore were also collecting data and that many members were reporting into this centre. However, there were various concerns that the IFC were not always providing useful information in return. The Panel urged the secretariat to collect feedback and issues in regards to IFC data collection and open a dialogue with the IFC on the use and sharing of this information from the industry.
On the SE Asia BMP some members expressed concern that the images used would set a particular minimum standard. Giving BMP 4 as an example, it was noted that some of the photographs used show excessive vessel hardening, for example, three layers of razor wire. This photograph has now been interpreted as the minimum standard as opposed to an example. As such it was felt that any photos in the SE Asia BMP should not be taken as the definitive solution or requirement but provided as examples only.
The Chairman expanded on the China Ship Pollution legislation commenting that one solution may be to have an independent auditor to assess the SPROs, in the absence of the MSAs list of approved SPROs. Furthermore, he believed a face-to-face meeting between the Panel members and the SPROs may be beneficial.
On regional PSC matters, some members expressed concern with facilitation payments being demanded in Indonesia. Mr. Wilkins requested that the members provide the details of these incidents to the secretariat for their use in building a case to present to the Tokyo MoU and the Maritime Anti-Corruption Network (MACN).
- Update from INTERTANKO’s Environmental Committee and INTERTANKO Safety, Technical and Engineering Committee (ISTEC)
As part of the desire to ensure the Asian membership are updated and can provide input on the agendas of INTERTANKO working Committees, the secretaries for INTERTANKO Environmental Committee (Tim Wilkins) and INTERTANKO Safety, Technical and Engineering Committee (ISTEC) (Dragos Rauta) provided the Panel members with an overview of the issues being considered and worked on within these two Committees as well as the Bunker sub-Committee and the INTERTANKO Offshore Tanker Committee (IOTC).
The Panel appreciated the two detailed presentations. Capt. Rele welcomed the idea that members may be able to contribute to the work of the Committee through their Working Groups. The Chairman agreed that this was a positive idea and urged members to consider contributing to these Working Groups.
Insert link to presentations.
- INTERTANKO Annual Event 2016
The Panel noted that INTERTANKO’s next Annual General Meeting and Tanker Event is scheduled to take place in Singapore, 25-27 May 2016.
- Date and Place of Next Meeting
The Chairman advised the Panel that he would work with the secretariat to arrange the next meeting in Shanghai in early spring 2016. This would be useful in engaging with China MSA, SPROs and potential members in China.
- Any other business
No further issues were raised by the Panel.
At the close of the meeting, Ms. Stanzel and Mr. Wilkins presented Mr. David Koo with a gift in appreciation and thanks for his successful Chairmanship of the Regional Panel since 2009.
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