UK shipping industry to speak with One Voice

The chairmanship of One Voice will rotate between the three sectors making up the grouping (business services, ports and shipping) with Richard Everitt, chairman of the UK Major Ports Group, taking the role for the first six months. The day-to-day secretariat will be undertaken by the Chamber of Shipping. One Voice will speak as a single group on agreed issues, either through the chairman of the day or through the individual member organisation that is most concerned with the issue.

The participating organisations will initially include the Baltic Exchange, the British Ports Association, the Chamber of Shipping, the Federation Council of the Institute of Chartered Shipbrokers, Maritime London and the UK Major Ports Group. Others may be invited to join in due course.

“The aim is to achieve greater influence and simplify relationships with UK Government, MPs, officials, other UK maritime-related sectors, international organisations and associations, and other relevant points of influence,” said Martin Watson, president of the Chamber of Shipping. “The UK Government openly states that it sometimes has difficulty identifying whose voice should be considered truly representative on some specific sectoral and cross-sectoral issues.”