Chamber of Shipping forms new Harbour Towage panel

The new Panel will be the foremost industry forum for the development of policy on all port towage issues. All current members of the BTA will be invited to join the Panel, along with any members of the Chamber of Shipping with an interest in this area.

The Harbour Towage Panel will also see a change in secretariat services that have been provided for the BTA by the Chamber of Shipping. For the last nine years David Asprey, Head of Policy at the Chamber, has filled the role. He has now retired and master mariner Captain Saurabh Sachdeva has been appointed as the new secretary.

The Panel will be chaired by the current BTA Chairman Mark Malone and will offer all BTA members direct access to the Chamber’s support, expertise and lobbying activities. Key topics moving forward will be overcoming the challenges of towage endorsements, the Maritime Labour Convention implementation, and training requirements and capitalisation for offshore renewable installations.

Chairman Mark Malone said, ‘The BTA will continue to operate as an independent body, under the current constitution, with a separate Board, President and the Chairman. However, the establishment of the new panel will enable closer collaborative working between the two organisations which will benefit both our memberships.’

He added, ‘All of the BTA members and the technical committee in particular, would like to thank David Asprey for his amazing commitment over the years, an invaluable contribution that has made BTA a much stronger entity. The BTA Board welcomes the appointment of Captain Saurabh Sachdeva. As an ex-seafarer he has a real understanding of the issues that matter to our members and impressive expertise in key areas as a result of his previous committee work in the Chamber. We all look forward to this, the next step in representing the interests of this important sector.’