From the CSA president, Juan Carlos Croston

Looking forward with hope and confidence

Be proud of yourself, take a deep breath and enter 2021 with hope and confidence.

We look back on 2020 as a year that tested our mettle and we can take heart that we stayed the course.

I thank all members of the Caribbean Shipping Association (CSA) and our partners in shipping and allied industries for your perseverance and exemplary efforts during 2020. We kept connected and united and this was facilitated by our industry’s digital transformation that has been encouraged and assisted by the CSA over the years.

Also, because our communication and reporting were regular and vibrant, we were able to make our voice heard and contribute to action being taken on a number of crucial issues. Included among these were: the safe repatriation of seafarers; appropriate arrangements for crew change, and the need for greater harmonization of laws and regulations to ensure safe movement of vessels, crew, passengers and cargo.

We were also able to host a successful virtual Annual General Meeting in 2020, the year of the CSA’s 50th Anniversary. Your strong support and attendance at our AGM and your participation in our Webinars throughout the year helped to galvanize our organization into a strong force based on our shared vision of an efficient, viable Caribbean and Latin American shipping industry.

As I write, vaccines are being administered in some countries and may reach ours by the time you read this. I want to encourage everyone who is offered the vaccine to take it so that we can end this pandemic and resume our lives in a safer, healthier and more productive environment. Plans are in high gear for our Caribbean Shipping Executives’ Conference (CSEC) in May and for our AGM in October. CSEC comes fairly early in the year and so we plan to have a blended staging of that event to include virtual meetings and some face-to-face discussions with health protocols observed.

Remembering Harry

I must pause here to remember our dear friend “Harry” Maragh, Past President of the Shipping Association of Jamaica, who recently departed this life. His support for the CSA was exemplary; he served as a CSA Council Member and he rarely missed any of our annual meetings, accompanied by his charming wife, Charmaine. We will miss Harry’s wise counsel and warm smile, but we also celebrate his life of tremendous contribution to the development of regional shipping, in both the cargo and cruise sectors.

We will keep you informed of all developments regarding our CSA events, and look forward to your continued support and participation as together we step boldly into 2021, knowing that this will be the year we conquer the pandemic.

Let us stay safe, positive and united.

Juan Carlos Croston
President
Caribbean Shipping Association