Former Abia governor, Orji Kalu to lead world’s biggest shipping body

as World Shipping Association makes its debut

The newly constituted global shipping body, World Ship Owners Association (WSOA), has appointed Orji Uzor Kalu, former governor of Abia State, to head the interim management team of the association, which was born out of the need to establish an international cooperation among players in the maritime industry.

Kalu, who is the Nigerian Forbes billionaire and the President of Slok Group, is expected to lead the association pending the election of substantive officials at the proposed Marine Conference slated for 2017 in Greece.

Other members of the management team include Gabriel Popoviciu, a Romanian Forbes billionaire (Treasurer); Isaac Marshall, director, Strategy and Communications; Thomas Cheng, head of Government and Regulatory Affairs; Al-Fayed Hassan, head of Membership and Partnerships, and Tiffany Richmond, head of Administration and Legal, all serving in acting capacities.

Kalu and his team have the mandate to effectively drive membership and engagement of existing maritime associations across the world towards the inauguration of national and regional secretariats. They are also expected to carry out advocacy visits to the United Nations agencies, African Export-Import Bank, Export-Import Bank of the United States, among others.

In statement signed by Isaac Marshall, director of Strategy and Communications, the association, established in furtherance to the adoption of the agreement of the international maritime roundtable (IMRT) held in Washington DC, USA, on Monday, October 2, 2015, will primarily serve as the universal representative of the shipping industry worldwide towards the development of global maritime business.

According to him, ship owners and players established the new body in the marine business as not just an international trade group but also as a partner to maritime bodies like the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) towards building a sustainable marine platform for global economic growth.

“We are excited to announce the birth of the much-awaited international co-operation among players in the maritime industry. WSOA is now a reality with a resolve to sustain the interests of ship owners and committed to strategic collaboration with partners across the globe to meet the expectations of industry stakeholders,” he said.

Continuing, he said: “The new management team will be coordinating the activities of the global shipping body from Abuja, Nigeria. Membership of the association will attract limitless benefits including business networking, pressure group for the growth of shipping, common mentality, market intelligence, access to industry publications globally, access to policy and decision makers, human capital development, group negotiations on transactions, among others.”