FONASBA and ACB have opened registrations for the 12^th Liner Shipping Transportation course which runs from 30^th March to 25^th June. Full details can be found here.

As a result of COVID-19, the 2020 FONASBA Annual Meeting is being held virtually, with the meetings spread across a period of three months, from November 2020 to February 2021.

Whilst the Council Meeting was held as a formal meeting, the plenary meetings of the Standing Committees are being held as webinars and therefore no minutes were taken.

Copies of the papers and presentations given at the Council Meeting and Standing Committee plenary webinars can be found below:

Council Meeting:

Delegate Attendance List

Council Meeting Agendum

President’s Welcome

Minutes of the 2019 Miami Council Meeting

Annual Meeting 2022, Presentation by the Bahrain Shipping Agents Association

ECASBA Brussels Representation

Regional Reports:
Africa
Americas
Asia
Europe
Middle East and South Asia

Finance Report

Articles and By Laws Revision

Election of Officers

Education Report

External Relations Report

Annual Meeting 2021, Presentation by NAVES, Belgium

Council Meeting Minutes

Association Best Practices Committee Plenary Meeting:

Slide Deck

“Inspiring our Future” (Digitalisation and Automation) Committee Plenary Meeting:

Slide Deck

A recording of this webinar can be watched below:

Ship Agent Committee Plenary Webinar

Slide Deck

A recording of this webinar can be watched below

Ship Broker Committee Plenary Webinar

A recording of this webinar can be watched below.

European Committee (ECASBA) Plenary Webinar

A recording of this webinar can be watched below.

Slide Deck

 

Held as part of European Shipping Week 2020, ECASBA’s European seminar took place at the NH Berlaymont Hotel on Wednesday 19th February.

The presentations given at the seminar can be downloaded as .pdf files using the links below.

European Issues Update: The traditional opening presentation summarising the issues currently being addressed by ECASBA, presented by General Manager Jonathan C. Williams FICS

ECASBA Position Papers and Action Plans – presentations on two of the subjects covered by ECASBA’s newly launched position papers:
Customs Action Plan: Presented by Hilde Bruggeman, – coordinator of the ECASBA Customs Working Group
Recognition of Agents: Presented by Jean-Pascal Bidoire, ECASBA Vice Chair

Digitalisation and Innovation, the impact on ship agents:
“Port +”: Presented by Jan van Dooren, this is an introduction to the Antwerp-based port-call optimisation and data sharing facility
“Innovating Together”: Presented by Raoul Tan, an overview of the extensive digitalisation projects being undertaken by the Port of Rotterdam

The European Single Window Projects:
Three presentations by the European Commission:
The EU Single Window Environment for Customs: Presented By Zahouani Saadaoui, Head of Sector, DG-TAXUD
The European Maritime Single Window environment (EMSWe): Presented by Jukka Savo, Policy Officer, DG-MOVE
The Impact of the EMSWe on Customs: Presented by Marco Marsili, Policy Officer, DG-TAXUD

The EMSWe: the industry view: Presented by Capt. Peter Langbein and Bastian Güttner of BSMD, Bremen

 

FONASBA is pleased to announce that it has linked up with the World Customs Organisation to offer company members of its national associations discounted access to the range of customs training courses provided by WCO. Further information can be found via this link:  http://www.fonasba.com/world-customs-organisation-customs-training-courses

Entries are now open for the 2020 Young Ship Agent or Ship Broker Award. Applicants must be aged under 40 at the time of making their entry and be employed by a company that is a member of FONASBA national association or is itself an Associate or Club Member.

As in previous years, candidates are invited to submit a short (one page) synopsis of the subject and coverage of their proposed entry to the Review Committee, this year by 31st March 2020.

The 2020 Award entry criteria, can be found here.  Synopses and entries should be sent to admin@fonasba.com

FONASBA marked its 50th anniversary with the launch at the Miami Annual Meeting of a book entitled “FONASBA, the First Fifty”, which reviews the history of the Federation since its foundation in London in 1969, examines its current role and then looks forward to the next 50 years. It includes contributions from all of FONASBA’s current past Presidents,  the Chairs of its Committees and the winners of the Young Ship Agent and Ship Broker award.

Copies of the book are being presented to all FONASBA member associations and to all the contributors. An electronic copy of the book can be downloaded from Dropbox using this link. Please note that this is an 86mB file so may take a significant time to download.

We are pleased to announce that the winner of the 2019 FONASBA Young Ship Agent or Ship Broker of the Year Award is Stefan Gielen of MSC Belgium, based in Antwerp.

Stefan’s paper, entitled “Crusade towards correct Dangerous Goods declarations – A comprehensive overview of the current document flow” was described by the Award Review Committee Chairman, FONASBA Past President and Honorary Member Gunnar J. Heinonen as being “an excellent, intelligent, informative and forward-looking analysis, spotting and analysing the problems of Dangerous Goods declarations. It was well set out, well referenced and provided much food for thought for the challenges of future development”.

A copy of his paper can be found here.

As is customary, Stefan received his prizes, once again very generously sponsored by BIMCO and ITIC, during the Gala Dinner held at the close of FONASBA’s 50^th Anniversary Annual Meeting in Miami. Pictured below Stefan Gielen, centre left, receives his prizes from, left to right, Education Vice President Capt. Jakov Karmelić, Award Winner and BIMCO Documentary Committee Chair Francis Sarre.

The presentations and minutes from the plenary and Council meetings  held during the 2019 50th Anniversary Annual Meeting in Miami  (1st – 3rd October 2019) are being made available in the Documents Download page in the Members’ Area.

Copies of the papers presented at the 2019 plenary meetings and the minutes can be found below.

Delegate Attendance List

A list of the counties represented, and delegates attending, the 2019 Annual Meeting.

Welcome Address

Coverage of the welcome address to the 2019 Annual Meeting by Rear Admiral Richard Timme, Assistant Commandant for Prevention Policy at the US Coast Guard, can be found here. This link opens in a  separate website.

ECASBA Plenary Meeting

ECASBA Plenary Meeting Minutes 2019

European Update – a summary of recent actions in European maritime sector legislation. Presented by General Manager Jonathan C. Williams FICS, Customs Working Group Coordinator Hilde Bruggeman (Belgium) and Dr. Alexander Geisler (Germany)

2020 European Shipping Week and ECASBA European Seminar – an update on the current arrangements for both events. Presented by General Manager Jonathan C. Williams FICS

ECASBA Position Papers 2019/20 – an introductory presentation on the subject-specific papers developed by ECASBA. Presented by Marco Tak, ECASBA Chair.

Chartering & Documentary Committee Plenary Meeting (henceforth the Ship Brokers’ Committee)

Chartering & Documentary Committee Plenary Minutes 2019

2019 Ship Broker Survey – a presentation on the representation of ship brokers in member associations and the issues being addressed on their behalf. Presented by Mohamed El Mezouar, Committee Vice Chair

BIMCO Documentary Committee Report – an update on work currently being undertaken by the Documentary Committee of BIMCO. Presented by Søren Larsen, Deputy Secretary General.

INTERTANKO Documentary Committee Report – an update on work currently being undertaken by the Documentary Committee of INTERTANKO. Presented by Michele White, INTERTANKO General Counsel.

ITIC Claims Review  2019 – a summary of recent claims against ship brokers and ship agents. Presented by Andrew Jamieson MICS, ITIC Claims Director.

The 2020 Sulphur Cap, the Impact on Freight Rates – a presentation by Sam Eckett, Associate Editor, Freight Markets at S&P Global Platts

Liner & Port Agency Committee Plenary Meeting (henceforth the Ship Agents’ Committee)

The FONASBA/BIMCO Agency Appointment and General Agency Agreements – a summary of the current status of use of the two new documents. Presented by Committee Vice Chair Simone Carlini MICS

The FONASBA Quality Standard 2019 – a report on the associations and companies currently covered by the FONASBA Quality Standard. Presented by General Manager Jonathan C. Williams FICS

The Ship Agent’s Role in Preventing the Trade in Illicit Goods – an introduction to the work of United For Wildlife and Business Action to Stop Counterfeiting and Piracy (BASCAP) and FONASBA’s participation in both. Presented by FONASBA Past President John A. Foord FICS

Crusade towards Dangerous Goods Declarations – a presentation on the findings of his study by Young Agent & Broker Award Winner Stefan Gielen of MSC (Belgium).

The meeting also included a discussion panel entitled “Disruptive Technologies: Challenges and Opportunities for
FONASBA Members”. This opened with an introductory presentation by FONASBA Regional Vice President for Europe Antonio Belmar da Costa, following which Jason Kelly, Executive Vice President of Moran Shipping Agencies moderated a panel comprising Capt. John Konrad, CEO of gCaptain, Capt. Bryan Bender, CEO of Portcall.com, Evangelos Efstathiou, CEO of Skysail Advisors and Adrian Challinor, Founder of Osiris Consultants Ltd.

Host Association Seminar

The host nation seminar for 2019 featured a presentation by the Florida Ports Council that provided an overview of trade and developments at Port Manatee,  Pensacola and Tampa Bay.

Association Best Practices Committee Meeting

Association Best Practices Committee Plenary Meeting Minutes 2019

This newly created committee is dedicated to the exchange of views and best practice in the operation and financing of FONASBA member associations. At its inaugural meeting, FONASBA President Aziz Mantrach set the scene and then introduced the following speakers to present the experiences of their own associations in enhancing income generation:
Cristian Bennet Lira, AMANAC MEXICO
Rui D’Orey, AGEPOR Portugal
Gian-Enzo Duci, FEDERAGENTI Italy
Julio Delfino, Centro de Navegación Argentina

Council Meeting

Council Meeting Minutes 2019

President’s Introduction – a summary of developments across the Federation over the last year. Presented by FONASBA President Aziz Mantrach.

Finance Report – summary extracts from FONASBA’s formal annual accounts. Presented by Executive Vice President and Honorary Treasurer Botond Szalma.

Regional Reports – reports on the current status of membership, the FONASBA Quality Standard, Port Procedures Survey and other membership matters. Presented by the Regional Vice Presidents:
Mohamed Mouselhy – Africa
Javier Dulce – Americas
Takazo Iigaki – Asia
Antonio Belmar da Costa – Europe

Development Issues:
Education – a presentation on FONASBA’s current education and training initiatives. Presented by Education Vice President Capt. Jakov Karmelić.

FONASBA/WCO Customs Training – A short video by Dimitris Politopoulos of the World Customs Organisation to introduce the WCO Academy customs training programme. To view the video on YouTube, click on the thumbnail below.

Revision of the Annual Meeting format – a summary of the results of the survey carried out amongst FONASBA members, May 2019. Presented by General Manager Jonathan C. Williams FICS.

External Relationships: a report on the activities undertaken by FONASBA in conjunction with other international maritime bodies. Presented by General Manager Jonathan C. Williams FICS.

FONASBA Annual Meeting Genoa 2020 – a preview of FONASBA’s 51^st Annual Meeting to be held in Genoa in 2020. Presented by Gian Enzo Duci, President of FEDERAGENTI. Please note this link opens a Prezi file. Executable files may therefore require to be downloaded for this link to function correctly.

FONASBA Annual Meeting 2021 – a video introduction to Antwerp, the host city for the 2021 Annual Meeting. To view the video on YouTube, click on the thumbnail below.

Information on the FONASBA/BIMCO General Agency Agreement, covering long term or multi-port agency appointments, can be found here.