Increasing role of youth in maritime and shipping industry: LASO signs MoU with YoungShip Sri Lanka

From left: LASO Treasurer Anushka Weeraratne, LASO General Secretary Keshani Jayasekara, LASO Vice President Shanil Perera, LASO President Surindha de Abrew, YoungShip Chairman Rishantha Mendis, YoungShip Secretary Nirmal Dissanayake, YoungShip Exco Member Shehan Perera, and YoungShip Immediate Past Chair Jehan Rodrigo 

In a bold move to further improve the standards of the maritime and shipping industry in Sri Lanka, Lanka Association of Ship Owners (LASO) has signed a key initiative signifies the two organisations’ commitment to working towards advancing the future of the industry by creating a younger, more inclusive, and collaborative professional atmosphere that allows young maritime professionals to actively participate in the industry early on in their careers by providing a range of professional hands-on experience and training opportunities.

Recognised as the apex organisation that represents the Sri Lankan ship owners to the world, LASO signed the MoU to support YoungShip Sri Lanka – a non-profit organisation founded with the mission to support young members of the maritime and shipping industry – to help represent themselves as the premiere youth forum of the LASO organisation in Sri Lanka.

The collaboration between LASO and YoungShip provides opportunities for knowledge sharing between youth and experienced professionals, event planning and organisation, and engagement in critical projects related to the maritime and shipping industry. The partnership is expected to ensure that younger leadership can leverage innovation, creativity, technology and fresh perspectives to inject a brand-new thought pattern to further ongoing established processes to improve industry’s current best practices.

Established in 1998, the mission of LASO is to create an avenue for Sri Lankan Ship Owners whilst aiming to institutionalise and professionalise the trade operations. Relatively, its younger counterpart, YoungShip Sri Lanka, which was established in 2013, is recognised as the Sri Lankan branch of YoungShip International – a world-renowned professional non-profit organisation for young people working within the global maritime industry. 

The youth organisation welcomes members (between the age of 20 to 40) from all areas of the industry (from students to established professionals) who share the passion and belief that young people are the most significant constituents to ensuring growth and ongoing success for the industry. Through this venture, the parties are confident that the move will uplift more youth professionals involved in the maritime and shipping industry.