Institute of Chartered Shipbrokers holds 21st AGM

Seated from left: Immediate Past Chairmen Manjula Agalawatta, Secretary Shimron Samson, Chairman Kingsley Abeywickrama and Vice Chairman Kalinga Seneviratne Standing from left: Committee Member Anuradha Fernando, Treasurer Charindha Grero, Committee Member Primal Peris and Education Officer Shamalee Peramasiri 

• Annual Awards Ceremony slated for 25 March 2022 along with the customer service awards

The Institute of Chartered Shipbrokers, Sri Lanka branch held its 21st Annual General Meeting recently at the Sinhalese Sports Club, Colombo 7 well attended by its members whilst maintaining the health protocols. 

Whilst addressing the membership, Chairman Kingsley Abeywickrema informed the membership that despite all the odds due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the institute was able to commence the second lecture program for the first time in a year commencing June 2021 so that the students could get the advantage of registering once a year, follow lectures and sit for exams twice in a year instead of once as in the past. In addition, the institute was able to hold the exams as scheduled to benefit the students so they could get the through the exams and complete the program within the short period of time.

Having noticed that there are knowledge gaps in the industry, the institute successfully carried out a series of useful webinars under the topics: “Effective handling of perishable (reefer) cargo” on 12 May 2021; “Effective handling of dangerous goods & mitigating risk” on 4 August 2021;  and “Effective handling of project and out of gauge cargo” on 11 November 2021.

Webinars were conducted by experts in the industry from various sectors backed by practical examples covering sea, land, and air transportation.

ICS Sri Lanka celebrated Sri Lanka’s first ever National Logistics Day on 16 August 2021 in a unique way by creating and releasing a music video appreciating and saluting the service of un-sung heroes in maritime and logistics sectors.  

The institute celebrated World Maritime Day on 29 September 2021 by releasing another video in appreciation of all seafarers in the world, going by IMO’s theme “Seafarers: At the core of shipping future” for the year 2021.

The Chairman also informed the membership that plans are afoot to hold the Annual Awards Ceremony on 25 March 2022 along with the customer service awards. ICS Sri Lanka conducts annual independent surveys with customers of three segments namely container liner shipping agents, container depot operators and non-vessel operating common carrier agents. The institute’s objective of facilitating such surveys and awards is to enhance the standards of maritime sector related services here in Sri Lanka. ICS Sri Lanka works very closely with the three main industry associations who represent the three segments namely Ceylon Association of Shipping Agents (CASA), Association of Inland Container Depot Operators (ACDO) and Sri Lanka Association of NVOCC Agents (SLANA). 

The whole shipping and logistics industry looks forward to this annual flagship event and awards that have been raising bar of customer service standards every year. The Chairman thanked the general membership for placing their trust and confidence in him by electing him as the Chairman and the executive committee of the Institute at the 20th AGM for the two-year period from 2020 to 2022. He also thanked their corporate partner South Asia Gateway Terminals (SAGT) and other sponsors for their continual support towards ICS Sri Lanka branch in order to bolster the maritime industry through training, education and by creating higher service standards. 

The ICS Sri Lanka Executive Committee comprises of: Kingsley Abeywickrama (Chairman), Kalinga Seneviratne (Vice Chairman), Sharmalee Premasiri (Education Officer), Charindha Grero (Treasurer), Shimron Samson (Secretary) and Anuradha Fernando (member).