Singapore: Asia now accounts for more than one in two merchant ships afloat, its importance never greater, and growing day by day. The Asian Shipowners’ Forum (ASF), founded originally in 1992 and given a permanent headquarters in Singapore in 2007, is the voice of this vital part of world shipping, headed up by Japanese national Yuichi Sonoda.
Arguably quiet on the international stage compared to its fleet size, the Asian voice in world shipping is growing, argues Sonoda in today’s Maritime CEO interview. “The ASF strives to promote the interests of the Asian shipping industry and to project the voice of Asian shipowners’ voice to the international community,” Sonoda says.
In addition to the representation of shipping organisations, the ASF strongly encourages top executives of the shipping industry, Sonoda says, to also participate actively in the pertinent international forums in order to foster a stronger Asian voice.
The key issues that the ASF is closely monitoring at the moment are developments in Chinese VAT, EU ship recycling regulations, regulations pertaining to greenhouse gas emissions,the ballast water convention as well as piracy and armed robbery, in particular across West Africa and certain areas in Asia.

 [07/01/14]
