President's New Year's Message...Working towards continued success

 On behalf of the managing committee of the Shipping Association of Jamaica (SAJ), its members and staff, I take this opportunity to wish all Jamaicans, in particular the stakeholders in the local shipping industry - government agencies, trade unions and our private-sector partners, a prosperous and productive new year.

Despite the challenges of 2010, the stakeholders in the industry remained committed to the development of the Port of Kingston and maintaining its competitiveness in the region.

We survived a critical time in our industry, having endured the global recession which has affected world trade over the last two years. I am proud to say that we are the better for it. Not only did we have to expand our thinking and craft creative methods to remain viable during the harsh economic climate; a number of those methods will also continue to serve us, even after this period passes.

Many successes

During the past year the SAJ, in its efforts to remain relevant, returned to the core function for which it was established - as a labour-hire organisation. We experienced many successes and are putting plans in place to build on these accomplishments, while seeking new opportunities to grow.

One such success is the management of a pool of workers in specialist categories on behalf of the Port Authority of Jamaica (PAJ) and the Kingston Container Terminal (KCT). The SAJ played a supportive role in recruiting, training and deploying workers to the KCT, which assisted the terminal in achieving its mandate of continued growth in transshipment.

Additionally, Kingston Wharves Limited (KWL), embarked on a new project of being the motor transshipment hub of the shipping line, Hoegh, to which the SAJ responded by providing a highly skilled group of workers to enable the port to respond to the challenges of its new business.

The SAJ is encouraged by these achievements and will, in 2011, seek to expand its services in the area of labour hiring. The SAJ intends to achieve this by providing employment solutions to companies, not only in the shipping industry and port operations, but to related sectors that operate in a similar way to the shipping industry.

Enhanced opportunities

The SAJ will also seek to create greater flexibility among its labour force. We are excited by the prospect of dialogue with the unions in this regard, as we are confident that such an initiative will provide enhanced opportunities for the current labour force.

Our vision is to groom and provide the quality worker, who will, in a timely and efficient manner, execute operations geared at transforming the industry.

This will only be possible through continued training of our workforce, for which the SAJ is known. The SAJ has intensified its efforts in this area over the last six years, and continues to make strides. We have participated in an exercise carried out by the HEART Trust/National Training Agency aimed at assessing the SAJ's readiness for the designation of 'approved training organisation'. We remain optimistic that we will achieve this in the very near future.

For us to enjoy any measure of success, all stakeholders must share a common vision and work in partnership. As such, the SAJ will continue to strengthen its partnership with all players in the industry to transform that vision into reality.

I take this opportunity to thank all our partners for their cooperation in 2010. Your continued support is integral to the advancement of the industry.

May the new year bring continued growth and prosperity for all.

Roger Hinds

President

The Shipping

Association of Jamaica