View non-flash version
www.maritimeprofessional.com Maritime Professional 27 T here is little that one can count on in shipping from year to year. The word “change” comes to mind immediately. Another constant is a steady hand at the helm at the International Association of Independent Tanker Owners (INTERTANKO), the voice of the world’s collective tanker market. So, when Joe Angelo replaced long time (10+ years) INTERTANKO stalwart Peter Swift as INTERTANKO Managing Director less than 4 months ago, industry watched closely for any changes in course. But INTERTANKO's new MD is anything but an unknown quantity and he clearly hit the ground running. In April, MarPro caught up with him at his Arlington, VA offices for a SITREP on the world of tankers. Angelo summed up his service thus far by saying, “Just over 100 days into my tenure as MD, I would rather have us be proactive as opposed to be reactive to what hap- pens around us.” Well-known to industry and the regulatory community alike, Angelo previously spent six years at INTERTANKO as Director of Regulatory Affairs and the Americas and also as Deputy Managing Director, starting in 2009. With Katharina Stanzel – coming to INTERTANKO from the IOPC Funds and ITOPF where she was involved in marine pollution claims management – already established as Deputy Managing Director, INTERTANKO leadership remains in good hands. A detailed work plan is already in place, featur- ing what Angelo characterizes as six major work focus areas, further broken down into 25 high priority work items. A quick review of Table 1. below reveals that Angelo, Stanzel and the entire INTERTANKO will have their hands full in the coming months. We asked Angelo to rank the priority items in terms of importance. Reluctant to place more importance on one item over another, he did concede, “These are the major issues and sub-issues that our members want to focus on for 2011. Ranking them – I haven’t done it and I’m not sure it is nec- essary. Having said that, the number one burning issue on the plate of INTERTANKO and probably most of the shipping industry, is piracy.” (See chart of INTERTANKO’s Key Focus Areas on top of page 29). PIRACY, PIRACY, PIRACY As 2011 kicked off, the INTERTANKO Executive Committee decided that a more aggressive role – doing more in terms of addressing piracy – was in order. Angelo fleshed out the INTERTANKO plan, which consists of a two phase approach. “Starting out, we signed a contract with a public relations firm, who helped us establish Phase I and Phase II. Phase I is complete and it consisted of four major elements, kicked off by a March 1st Advertisement in some major glob- al publications.” That AD, Angelo explained, directed readers to a WEB site (www.saveourseafarers.com) which prompts readers to send a letter to their head of government imploring that these governments take on piracy, eliminate motherships and ultimately come up with a solution. By the end of April, the site had recorded more than 40,000 hits and had generat- ed more than 10,000 letters. Phase II, now underway, involves engaging the press, social media outreach, blogs, press releases and finally, seeking to engage a high profile name to take on the cause. Of the final effort, Angelo hopes to have this accomplished in the next 12 months. INTERTANKO remains active in other ways, as I Interview The New Year at INTERTANKO New leadership (Joe Angelo), New Vision(s) – same solidarity at INTERTANKO. by Joseph Keefe Tankers
