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Is this the new normality?
LIKE a prodigal son, an old chestnut returned to the spotlight at the opening session of this year’s Connecticut Maritime Association conference in Stamford.
An unconventional ensemble of opening-day speakers gave voice once again to shipping’s lack of an “image” and the industry’s utter inability to influence politics and policy.
Capt Robert Johnston, vice-chairman of Intertanko, talked up the virtues of trade associations, because such organisations can do what a single shipowner cannot – get some attention among lawmakers. International Chamber of Shipping chairman Spyros Polemis lamented the “out of sight, out of mind” nature of shipping.
Intercargo chairman Nicholas Pappadakis and InterManager chairman Roberto Giorgi threw a spotlight on changing trends in seafaring labour. At appropriate points, owners were asked to “make ships more attractive”; and US law enforcement agencies to stop viewing mariners as “potential illegal immigrants or terrorists”.
These very themes have been voiced at several past CMA gatherings, often in these exact words. And the perennially unanswered questions remain: “Who will bring about the change so eloquently demanded by all? Who will pay for it?”
No, there was no joy in hearing jaded echoes of past CMA conferences all over again. Nonetheless, the return of hackneyed themes is what made this year’s opening session particularly thrilling.
After enduring more than a year of doomsday talk laden with freight rate collapses, penniless banks, idle shipyards, bankrupt companies, blood, gore, and melodrama, could it be that … normal life is back?