Shipping Organisations

BIMCO is the world’s largest direct-membership organisation for shipowners, charterers, shipbrokers and agents.   In total, around 60% of the world’s merchant fleet is a BIMCO member, measured by tonnage (weight of the unloaded ships).  With around 1900 member companies across 120 countries – from the largest shipowners in the world to small local port agents and law firms, BIMCO represents a wide range of maritime companies and organisations.

SEA-LNG has worked collaboratively with BIMCO to assist in the development of standard terms and conditions for contracts involving LNG as a marine fuel.

The Baltic Ports Organization is a regional ports organization inspiring and supporting its members while cooperating pro-actively with relevant partners. BPO was established on October 10, 1991, in Copenhagen, with an aim to facilitate cooperation among the ports and to monitor and improve the possibilities for shipping in the Baltic Sea region.

Established in 1975, Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) is the world’s largest cruise industry trade association, providing a unified voice and leading authority of the global cruise community. CLIA supports policies and practices that foster a safe, secure, healthy and sustainable cruise ship environment and is dedicated to promoting the cruise travel experience.

The European Community Shipowners’ Associations (ECSA) was founded in 1965 as “Comité des Associations d’Armateurs des Communautés Européennes (CAACE)”.  ECSA is a trade association representing the national shipowners’ associations of the EU and Norway.   European shipowners control 40% of the global commercial fleet, contribute 147 billion EUR to the EU’s GDP and provide 2.1 million Europeans with careers both onboard and ashore.

IAPH comprises some 200 Regular Members – leading ports in 90 countries, who are public port authorities, private port operators, government agencies responsible for ports. Surveys conducted in the past years show that, combining all IAPH member ports, they handle over 60% of the world sea-borne trade in metric ton and over 80% of world container traffic in TEU.

In addition, nearly 150 shipping, stevedoring and warehousing businesses, national and regional port associations, port research and training institutes, and manufacturers of port-related products are represented as Associate members.

Formed in 1992, IBIA has a worldwide membership across the bunker industry value chain, including ship owners, bunker suppliers, traders, brokers, testing and surveyor companies, credit reporting companies, lawyers, port authorities & journalists.  It provides an international forum to address the issues and concerns of all sectors of the international bunker industry.

ICS is the principal global trade international trade association for shipowners, concerned with all regulatory, operational and legal issues, as well as employment affairs.  The membership of the ICS comprises national shipowners’ associations representing all sectors and trades from 37 countries, covering more than 80% of the world merchant fleet.

SEA-LNG maintains regular dialogue with the ICS and was the lead sponsor at their most recent annual conference.

INTERTANKO (the International Association of Independent Tanker Owners) is a trade association that has served as the voice for independent tanker owners since 1970, representing the interests of its Members at national, regional and international levels.  The organisation champions an industry dedicated to support global energy networks by delivering safe, efficient and environmentally sound transport services.

The Poseidon Principles establish a framework for assessing and disclosing the climate alignment of ship finance portfolios.  They set a benchmark for what it means to be a responsible bank in the maritime sector and provide actionable guidance on how to achieve this.  The Poseidon Principles are consistent with the policies and ambitions of the International Maritime Organization, including its ambition for greenhouse gas emissions to peak as soon as possible and to reduce shipping’s total annual GHG emissions by at least 50% by 2050.

SEA-LNG Board Member Paul Taylor is Vice Chairman of the Poseidon Principles.

The World Shipping Council provides a coordinated voice for the liner shipping industry in its work with policymakers and other industry groups with an interest in international transportation.  The nineteen members of the World Shipping Council members operate approximately 90 percent of the global liner ship capacity, providing approximately 400 regularly scheduled services linking the continents of the world.  Collectively, these services transport about 60 percent of the value of global seaborne trade, about 160 million TEU (Twenty-foot Equivalent Units = one 20’ container) and more than US$ 4 trillion worth of goods annually.  Liner shipping is primarily container and car-carrier vessels which sail to regular, usually weekly, timetables between defined ports.