The shipping industry has always been a resilient one, no matter what obstacles challenge the industry; it has steered its way through the trials and made the most of every situation. Being part of this resilient industry,
YoungShip Sri Lanka which entered its ninth year of existence this year, has been able to overcome the challenges posed by the global pandemic and continued to be active during this period and provide value to its membership.
After the YoungShip’s 2021 AGM, the committee was very optimistic about the COVID situation in Sri Lanka and expected the situation to improve in comparison to 2020. Enthusiasm was high for a very eventful and engaging year with the global vaccine rollout.
The committee planned a very active events calendar for 2021; however, the situation and country regulations made it impossible to action the physical events planned and the committee had to in a very short period of time adjust its activities to be hosted virtually.
With majority of the membership working from home and workplaces operating virtually, YoungShip took this opportunity to further grow its online presence and increase its activities on the newly launched social media pages.
YoungShip was able to launch its YouTube channel with videos on International Women’s Day, International Seafarers Day and the very successful panel discussion – ‘New Normal in Shipping, Are Current Shipping Trends here to stay?’
YoungShip also conducted a virtual games and networking event for its members called ‘The Connect’ in September 2021 and assisted CASA (Ceylon Association of Shipping Agents) to conduct the successful CASA YoungShip Virtual Pub Quiz in November 2021.
As the situation in the country improved gradually, YoungShip was able to conduct a physical Pub Quiz adhering to all COVID guidelines issued by authorities in January 2022 that was well-participated and appreciated by the membership.
The new YoungShip Executive Committee was appointed at the recent Annual General Meeting held on 11 February. The Executive Committee comprises of individuals from various segments of the maritime and shipping industry coming together, showing promise for an eventful and educational year ahead, whilst striving to empower the youth of the industry.
YoungShip Sri Lanka has also taken a proactive step to be the association representing the youth of the shipping industry with the addition of the Associate Member category, allowing for individuals working in non CASA Member companies to join YoungShip (any individual currently working in a company associated to the Maritime industry) thereby greatly increasing its representation within the Shipping industry.
The Executive Committee for the year 2022 comprises a group of committed, enthusiastic young professionals. The 12-member Executive Committee is as follows:
Office bearers:
Chairman – Rishantha Mendis (Prudential Shipping)
Vice Chair – Maleena Awn (Meridian Maritime Services Ltd.)
Secretary – Nirmal Dissanayake (Eastern Maritime (Colombo) Ltd.)
Treasurer – Prashan Fernando (Panama Shipping Ltd.)
Assistant Secretary – Aruni Wijepala (Hayleys Energy Services Lanka Ltd.)
Assistant Treasurer – Sunera Wijesekara (Eastern Maritime (Colombo) Ltd.)
Immediate Past Chair – Jehan Rodrigo (Mackinnon Mackenzie & Co. (Sh) Ltd.)
Members of the Executive Committee:
Shane De Alwis (Hapag Lloyd Lanka Ltd.)
Shehan Perera (Sri Lanka Shipping Company Ltd.)
Imaad Hameem (Evergreen Shipping Agency Lanka Ltd.)
Patali Karunarathne (Ceyline Agencies Ltd.)
Dineth Rajapakse (McLarens Ltd.)
YoungShip Sri Lanka’s plans for the forthcoming year include the YoungShip Open Quiz 2022, many networking nights, pub quizzes, seminars/workshops with industry speakers/panellists, CSR initiatives to name a few of the projects in the pipeline.
