The Asian Shippers' Council (ASC) annual meeting hosted by Sri Lanka provided an ideal opportunity for the country to market our shipping industry in a positive manner. It also enabled the country to realize its full potential as a key international gateway for shipping said, Chairman Sri Lanka Shippers' Council, Randolph Perera.

"We believe that outmoded, outdated and out of touch century-old cartel system should be abolished and this will bring substantial benefits to all countries in Asia. Over the last four decades, we have played a significant role and contributed to the shippers and the shipping sector in a very pragmatic and positive way", he said.

"We have some differences with shipping lines and to date continue to lobby our position to overcome the shortcomings of the industry. We have been key players of regional shippers' movements and we were one of the key parties supporting the formation of the ASC in 2004", he said.

Considering the global trade expansion and complexities, we feel that it is of utmost importance that the ASC has to be strengthened in the coming years and to work very closely with our colleagues in the Global Shippers' Forum to eliminate anti-competitive trade practices and to promote fair trade and transparency in the shipping industry, he said.

In today's context, the shipping industry is more complex than ever before and our scope of work is expanding in the trade and security and of late the threat of piracy.

We hope that the Colombo meeting will be a platform for Asian Shippers to work closely among themselves and educate the Governments to introduce regulatory reforms to face the 21st century challenges in the shipping industry and to eliminate trade barriers that obstruct fair trade and pricing mechanisms, he said.

ASC was set up in 2004 to bring shippers across this vast and dynamic region in to a single platform.

It has 20 Shippers' Councils within the ASC organized in five geographical regions, namely China the Indian sub-continent, North East Asia, Oceania and South East Asia. ASC is also the Asian component of the Global Shippers' Forum, which represents the major trading regions of the world.
(DN24082009)