Published in the Singapore Shipping Association, Q2 2016
Extract from ISSUE 50 | WAVES
Youth in Maritime Worldwide Encouraging the next generation into the maritime industry is vital.
In a recent speech at the Connecticut Maritime Association (CMA) conference Esben Poulsson, President of the Singapore Shipping Association stated how important he felt it was to attract new blood into the industry.
“We need to work with our regulators, customers and investors to make shipping the cutting edge, state-of-the-art industry we know it is, so we can attract the right talent to its doors. Tomorrow’s successful enterprises depend on this,” he said. This view is shared not only by industry peers in Singapore, but is universally felt, with societies being set up in maritime hubs across the globe to cater for and to support young professionals
in the maritime industry.
Shipping Professional Network London
Founded in 2007, the Shipping Professional Network London (SPNL) is
a networking platform which aims to promote and connect the next generation
of young shipping professionals. SPNL hosts a number of events throughout the
year including their flagship event at the bi-annual London International Shipping Week (LISW). At LISW 2015, the theme was Showcasing the Next Generation in Shipping, with Board Members from four international youth societies discussing the promotion of the maritime industry as an attractive career path for young high-flyers.
SPNL Chairman, Claudio Chiste, who works at Investec Bank plc in Shipping Finance, summed up the importance of SPNL’s role for youth in the maritime industry as follows:
“The recipe behind SPNL is essentially a ‘professional networking’ platform for and run by young shipping professionals. The real benefit to networking early in your career is that strong relationships take time. They cannot be maintained without regular communication. For young professionals, meeting people early in their careers, when they are typically more junior in their roles, is arguably easier in the sense that the connection is made with the individual rather than the status. People do business with people they like, trust, confide in and feel comfortable around.
“Business is based on trust which is built through personal relationships over time, so it really helps to start early” ~ CLAUDIO cHISTE
With the first international branch launched in Mumbai in 2011, SPNL has grown from strength to strength and now has further international chapters in Hamburg and Copenhagen and regional groups forming across the UK, establishing a strong international presence.
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