New CSA President Croston targets institutional and membership development
“AS WE strengthen each other, so too will our institution grow in strength,” stated Juan Carlos Croston, new president of the Caribbean Shipping Association (CSA), in his inaugural address at the CSA’s 48th Annual General Meeting at the Ruiz Plaza in Panama City on October 10, 2018.
The CSA president expressed his commitment to broaden and deepen the regional organisation’s scope of partnership and cooperation with other institutions such as the International Maritime Organization, the Maritime Technology Cooperation Centres, the Organization of American States, CARICOM and Organization of Eastern Caribbean States in order to “tackle the burning issues of advanced training, environmentally friendly practices, digitalisation of maritime shipping and institutional cooperation for capacity building”.
In thanking the outgoing CSA president, David Jean Marie, for his successful tenure of office, Croston noted that the financial health of the organisation meant that it will be able to do more in the areas of training and development, youth involvement in the industry, along with membership engagement and collaboration. The new president said that those are ‘areas of vital necessity for the CSA as an institution, for its members, and for the Region’.
The three day Annual General Meeting of the CSA was attended by 340 participants from the private and public maritime sectors, along with the training and research institutions involved in the Caribbean shipping industry. Topics discussed at the regional conference included: pursuing and promoting environmentally friendly practices; digitalisation of maritime shipping and cooperation for capacity building.
The CSA is the voice of the Caribbean shipping industry and was established in 1971 to facilitate the development of an efficient, viable Caribbean shipping industry. Conferences hosted by the CSA provide a forum where matters relevant to the growth and development of Caribbean shipping are discussed.