New President For SAJ

Kim Clarke, managing director of the Maritime and Transport Group, is the new president of the Shipping Association of Jamaica (SAJ).

Clarke, who previously served as vice-president, was unanimously elected president at the 74th annual general meeting of the SAJ held last Friday at the association's Fourth Avenue offices. He succeeds Roger Hinds who did not seek re-election.

A second-generation family member to serve on the Managing Committee (MC) of the SAJ, Clarke and his father, the late Hylton Clarke, were the first father/son team to sit on the committee simultaneously.

Clarke serves the industry in various capacities. He is a director of Kingston Wharves Limited and Newport Fersan Jamaica Limited, chairman of Amalgamated Stevedores Limited, and managing director of Boat Services Ltd.

The SAJ's AGM also saw the election of the association's first female vice-president, Denise Lyn Fatt, managing director of Freight Handlers Limited. Lyn Fatt previously served as chairman of the SAJ's Agents Committee.

The elections also saw two new members joining the MC - William Brown, managing director for Lannaman and Morris Shipping Limited and Captain Diedrich Suendermann, general manager of Carib Star Shipping Limited.

The new members join a team of eminent shipping executives who have led the SAJ. They are Roger Hinds, immediate past president and chief executive officer of Transocean Shipping Limited; Michael Bernard, director, Shipping Services Stevedoring Limited; Grantley Stephenson, chairman and CEO of Kingston Wharves Limited; Harry Maragh, chairman and CEO of Lannaman and Morris Group; Corah Ann Robertson-Sylvester, chief executive officer, Seaboard Jamaica Limited; Joseph Lowe, director, Maritime and Transport Services; and Trevor Riley, general manager of the SAJ.

In passing on the baton, Hinds thanked the members of the association for their support during his four years as president. "I am happy for the level of support received from the members of the association. We have an excellent team in place and the future of this organisation is very bright," Hinds said.

The newly elected Clarke thanked the members for the confidence expressed in electing him president. "I will advance the interests of the membership of the association, building on the foundation of past presidents," Clarke said.

"I look forward to the support of the membership. We have a lot to contribute. In order to do so, we the members must maintain unity in order to meet resolutely the demands of industry," he added.

Clarke noted that among his goals as president is to spearhead the completion of the rehabilitation of the road network in the Newport West community, improved security for the business district, furtherance of the plans to establish a port community system, working with the relevant government agencies to realise the vision of establishing logistics parks and creating a safer path for pedestrians entering the shipping community.

Full Caption: Kim Clarke (right), newly elected president of the Shipping Association of Jamaica (SAJ), and Denise Lyn Fatt (second right), first female vice-president of the SAJ, share a light moment with Roger Hinds (centre), immediate past president of the SAJ, and new members of the managing committee of the SAJ: William Brown (left), managing director of Lannaman and Morris Shipping Limited, and Captain Diedrich Suendermann, general manager of Carib Star Shipping Limited.