Chairman Chung Tae-soon of Korea Shipowners’ Association (KSA) said, “We’ll devote ourselves to make 2022 the first year we become a global top-three maritime powerhouses and a maritime industry leader.”
In his New Year’s message, KSA Chairman Chung said, “Whether the global economy will be bright or gloomy will depend on whether the new variant of the coronavirus emerges.
Maritime market conditions won’t find it is easy to escape the effects of the pandemic.“ KSA will concentrate its capabilities on importing and exporting cargoes timely, he said.
Chairman Chung promised to build a crisis management system to brace for a ship supply glut, predicted to come in the next two to three years.
“Efforts will be made to not repeat the mistake of wavering, even if crises such as the 1970s oil shocks, the 1997 Asian financial crisis and the 2008 global financial crisis take place again,” he said.
Chairman Chung looked back at last year, when ship and cargo hold ups were exacerbated by the lowered functions of ports, caused by disrupted field work among port and inland transportation crew members, causing the collapse of the global supply chains.
“Twenty super large-sized containerships, ordered under the government’s 5-year plan to rebuild the maritime industry, had been delivered and put into American and European routes on a gradual basis, and efforts to ease the maritime logistics quagmire such as the mobilization of additional ships on major maritime routes came a great boon to Korean exporters,” he said.
Chung extended thanks to government authorities, including the Ministry of Oceans & Fisheries (MOF) and families of the maritime industry for their efforts to rebuild the industry.
KSA will concentrate on efforts to overhaul maritime financing, such as a raise in Korea Ocean Business Corp.’s capital raise and the revamping of tax relief measures. KSA will continue to promote shared growth among shipping companies and consigners, such as one on fair trading of both sides.
Dignitaries, including Chairman Song Young-gil of the Democratic Party Central Electioneering Committee, Chairman Yoon Jae-gap of the Maritime Policy Committee of the Democratic Party Central Electioneering Committee, and Kang Moo-hyun, head of the “Association of 1,000 intellectual People in the Maritime Field,” attend a policy meeting in the maritime sector, which was hosted by the Democratic Party Central Electioneering Committee and the Federation of Korea Maritime Industries at FKMI headquarters in Yeouido, Seoul, on Jan. 11.
Chairman Chung revealed his determination on ESG management, which has become a global trend of the times in the wake of the enforcement of the Act on the Punishment of Serious Disasters, which took effect.
“We’ll do our best to promote welfare of shipping crew members, who have toiled themselves day and night and have Korean and foreign crews vaccinated against the pandemic,” he said.
KSA will follow agreements among labor, management and government to create jobs for shipping crews while devoting itself to raising crewmembers’ pay and nurture manpower, he added.
Lastly, he said, “At this moment when then the new year begin, our new resolution and challenging spirit will be a catalyst to overcome hardships before us and a driving force to make a leap forward toward a maritime industry leader,” Chung called for throwing away all misgivings and taking a step of hope.
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