1 May 2023

Singapore

Press Releaseon ASA International Shipping Forum (ISF) 2023
held on 26 April 2023
"Blue and Safe Shipping"
26 April 2023 marked a very special day for the Asian Shipowners' Association(ASA) as it held its very first ASA International Shipping Forum (ISF). ISF had
successfully conveyed Asian Shipowners’ voices to the international shipping
community and noting the result of ISF 2023, ASA will be considering more ofsuch occasions in future to express Asian voices.
ASA would like to take this opportunity to express our sincere gratitude to all theguests, sponsors, overseas delegates and participants for the ASA ISF.
The ASA ISF was held at the Marina Bay Sands (MBS) in Singapore, in conjunction
with the Singapore Maritime Week 2023 and it received a full house attendance of150 audiences including more than half of the participants from overseas. The
theme of the ISF was “Blue and Safe Shipping”
ASA was extremely honoured to have the Chief Executive of Maritime and Port
Authority of Singapore, Mr Teo Eng Dih, to be the Guest of Honour. During his
opening remarks, he emphasised the importance of achieving common prosperity,
mutual trust and cooperation in shipping.

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The next VIP whom attended the ASA ISF would be the Secretary-General of theInternational Maritime Organization (IMO), Mr Kitack Lim, sharing with everyone on
IMO’s Direction towards Decarbonisation. Mr Lim reiterated the urgency for theshipping industry to move towards decarbonisation.

With the insightful presentation from the Secretary General of International Chamberof Shipping (ICS), Mr Guy Platten, the audiences had many takeaways from the ICS
perspective on Net Zero Carbon Emissions by 2050. He mentioned that the threepillar approaches to net zero carbon emissions would be (1) global economic
measure – “Fund & Reward Proposal”. (2) Clean Energy Marine Hubs Initiative. (3)Seafarers – ensuring a just and equitable transition.

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Next, there was Mr Koh Eng Kiong, Director, Research & Projects from Global
Centre for Maritime Decarbonisation (GCMD). He highlighted the mission of GCMD
was to help maritime industry eliminate GHG emissions by shaping standards,
deploying solutions, financing projects and fostering collaboration across sectors.

Eng Rafael Cigarruista, General Director of the Panama Maritime Authority (PMA),
shared in the forum about their expectation and future, as a county and fleet
regulator, how they are moving towards a Blue Maritime Industry. He alsomentioned that Panama was one of the first countries to designate seafarers as
essential workers at the onset of pandemic and committed to ensuring the safety oflife at sea and shipboard operations.

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The sixth speaker was Dr Song Kanghyun, Senior Vice President of Korean Register
representing the Association of Asian Classification Societies (ACS). Dr Song
shared his insights on how to respond to IMO GHG Regulations from ACS
perspective.

The final presentation was done by Mr Keiji Tomoda, Vice President of Japanese
Shipowners’ Association (JSA) and Chairman of ASA Shipping Policy Committee(SPC). He stressed the importance and value of ASA while sharing his insights onchallenges towards the next phase of circular economy and sustainable supply
chain: practices in Asia. He reiterated the importance of human resources and could
never be replaced by artificial intelligence.

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The ASA ISF also included 2 panel discussions held under the Chatham House
Rule. The first session was on Blue Shipping to review on the IMO CII Framework.
It was moderated by Ms Caroline Yang, Chairperson of ASA Safe Navigation andEnvironment Committee (SNEC) and President of Singapore Shipping Association(SSA). The panellists included Dr Song Kanghyun, Senior Vice President of Korean
Register representing ACS, Mr Soren Larsen, Deputy Secretary General of BIMCO
and Mr Wong Kai Cheong, Senior Technical Manager from the INTERTANKO.

The second session was on Safe Shipping to discuss how the shipping industry canenhance mutual relationships with the government agencies on sharing informationfor safety at sea. It was moderated by Captain Geoffrey John Pearson, General
Manger of BW Group. The panellists included Mr Krishnaswamy Natarajan,
Executive Director of ReCAAP ISC, LTC Daniel Ng, Deputy Head of Information
Fusion Centre (IFC) and Captain Peng Chu Xing, Deputy General Manager ofPacific International Lines (PIL).

5ASA would like to thank all the sponsors of the ASA ISF for making this happened!

For media enquiries, kindly contact:
Dylan Ow
Technical Manager
Asian Shipowners’ Association (ASA)
Tel : (+65) 6325 4737
Email : information@asa.org.sg
Website : www.asianshipowners.org
Editor’s Note:
The Asian Shipowners’ Association (ASA) is a voluntary organization of the shipowner associations of Australia,China, Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea and the Federation of ASEAN Shipowners’ Associations
comprising shipping associations of ASEAN countries. The aims of the ASA are to promote the interests of Asianshipowners. Between annual ASA meetings, the ongoing work is carried out by five Standing Committees: TheSeafarers Committee (SC), the Ship Insurance and Liability Committee (SILC), the Safe Navigation andEnvironment Committee (SNEC), the Shipping Policy Committee (SPC), and the Ship Recycling Committee (SRC).
It has been estimated that ASA shipowners and managers control and operate around 50% of the world's cargo
carrying fleet.

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