ICS held three study sessions in Montreal to help prepare its students for their May 2017 exams:

– “Dry Cargo Chartering” on May 3rd 2017 at the Shipping Federation of Canada office. The session was led by Julian Hung, ICS Canada, East Coast Representative, and was attended by 3 students.

– “Legal Principles of Shipping” & “Shipping Law” on May 8th 2017 at the office of Fednav .The session was led by Richard Desgagnes, maritime lawyer with Brisset Bishop, and was attended by 4 students.

– “Ship Operations & Management” on May 10th 2017 at the office of Fednav. The session was led by Julian Hung, ICS Canada, East Coast Representative, and was attended by 2 students.

The study sessions focused on going through past exam questions. ICS exams were recognised as being quite challenging both in the range of topics addressed and level of detail expected of students. ICS especially appreciates the presence of industry professionals who volunteer their time and effort to guide our students in these study sessions.

ICS offers three qualifications: Foundation Diploma (FD), Advanced Diploma (AD) and Professional Qualifying Exams (PQE). Passing the PQE leads to eligibility for membership in the Institute.

It was a bright, sunny Thursday afternoon on April 27th, 2017 when a combined group of members from the Vancouver Maritime Arbitrators Association and Institute of Chartered Shipbrokers Canada Branch  made their way to the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver for a marvelous presentation called The Standard Club’s Canada Forum. Every two years, Charles Taylor & Co. Limited, acting as managers of The Standard Club Europe Ltd host this gathering, in one or two major North American centres.

This year they started in Montreal, with speakers from Montreal, London, New York, Vancouver and Seattle polishing their theatrical talents to enhance the presentation. Each speaker highlighted the potential impact that might arise out of a fabricated scenario of a major catastrophe involving a collision between a ferry operating between Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and a bulk carrier leaving the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

As the major casualty scenario develops, each of the 10 speakers highlighted insights into allocation of liability, major casualty response, insurance coverage, the role of the P&I club, pollution considerations and loss prevention issues. They also touched on potential local and international governing bodies who may also need to be involved and how specific authorities may have to be appointed and established at any accident or incident, regardless of how large or small.

The Standard Club has been in existence since 1884 and is one of 13 “Clubs” offering insurance and underwriting to ship owners around the world. They boast an impressive clientele of over 10% of global shipping. Every vessel in the water must be insured against potential unforeseen incidents, whether they’re at sea or in port.

A unique part to the event was the panel’s use of electronic polling devices. Each attendee was given a hand held ‘clicker’.  At the end of each individual’s presentation, they would pose a question on the main screen and ask the audience to “choose the correct answer” by selecting the corresponding button on the clicker. From the four or five answers displayed on the screen the crowd was given 10 seconds to make their selection and the results were immediately displayed, showing the correct answer and the percentage of how many got it right. We were told the Vancouver crowd definitely surpassed the results of Montreal!

Immediately following the 3 hour presentation, the magnanimous hosts sponsored a reception allowing for extensive visiting and follow up questions with the presenters. A great opportunity to hear very knowledgeable professionals present an assortment of aspects facing the people and companies operating in the maritime industry.

Presentation material are posted in our Library and can be viewed here.

ICS Canada was extremely pleased to have John Weale of Fednav speak at its lunch event in Montreal on April 19th 2017.

Mr. Weale gave a thoroughly enjoyable talk on off-hire, highlighting many of the keen observations made in his recently published book on the topic. There were also many good questions afterward which prompted nice discussions among those in attendance. We believe everyone came away with a greater appreciation of the complex nature of the issue and how to deal with it.

John Weale’s book can be ordered online through Steamship Mutual.

https://www.steamshipmutual.com/publications/offhirejohnweale.htm

ICS Canada thanks our speaker, the audience and, as usual, the Shipping Federation of Canada for providing us with their boardroom for the event!

The Institute is continually looking at ways to improve the support to Tutorship students to enrich their learning experience.

For the upcoming exams scheduled for May, the Institute is launching a series of online tutorials led by our expert tutors.  At this time, these tutorials are in the testing phase but should they hold positive results, it will only be a matter of time before it is rolled out to all Tutorship students internationally.

The format will be one hour of presentations by the tutor followed by Q&A for the second hour and the delivery platform will be ‘GotoTraining’.

In order to ensure relevance and enable the widest participation, the topics have been carefully selected as shipping industry fundamentals which are meaningful across more than one examination subject.

For interests sake, below is the list of tutorials currently being tested:

Ship types and ship drawings           

Contract of sale: the contract of carriage; parties and key terms              

Maritime geography and trade routes      

Basic economics – supply & demand and economies of scale     

Preparing for exams, revision techniques 

Contract Law  

Laytime      

Bills of Lading     

Basic business accounting and company structures              

Types of charter parties – bareboat, time and voyage                    

Preparing for exams, exam techniques       

We will report back on the outcome of the testing.

ICS and Youth of Shipping organised their first ever Shipping Pub Quiz on March 9th 2017 at Hurley’s Irish Pub in Downtown Montreal.

Over 50 people turned out making up a total of 10 teams. Team names included “Buoys & Girls”, “Tug Life”, “Pier Pressure” ,”The Unpumpables” and “Ship Happens”!!! Companies represented included ship operators Fednav International Limited, Canada Steamship Lines, Rio Tinto Marine and Mediterranean Shipping Company, weather routing company True North Marine and law firms Borden Ladner Gervais, Robinson Sheppard Shapiro and Norton Rose Fulbright .

There were 5 rounds of 10 questions each with the final round worth double points. Topics included the St Lawrence seaway, maritime law and insurance, ship operations & management and famous ships! In the end, “Fish & Ships”, a team from Fednav, triumphed and took home the glory and the trophy!

Thank you to everyone who participated in this event and helped make it a success.We are looking forward to making this the start of a great tradition!!!

ICS Canada held a luncheon talk in Montreal on February 22nd 2017. The topic was “General Average, Salvage, Collisions & Towage – An Introductory Case Study” and was presented by David Colford, Partner at Brisset Bishop. The event was very well attended by professionals from across the shipping industry including shipowning, ship broking, ship agency, towage, maritime law and marine insurance. ICS felt particularly fortunate on this occasion to have not one but four separate topics being combined in a well-constructed realistic scenario.

We hope that everyone who attended came away with a better sense of how actual situations can involve multiple related claims among various parties and how a methodical approach and an awareness of the law can help sort them out.

ICS wishes to thank all attendees for their strong support of this event and the Shipping Federation of Canada for providing a pleasant venue as usual.

On behalf of the Institute of Chartered Shipbrokers, Canada Branch, it is my pleasure to congratulate five students on the successful completion of their exams this past November. Each exam is an important achievement in a student’s goal to complete their studies and as you well know, these exams test the best of your knowledge and understanding of the shipping industry – so well done on your result!

Congratulations for completing the Foundation Diploma (FD):

Mr Peter-Paul Wagenborg

Congratulations for completing the Professional Qualifying Exams (PQE):

Mr Brian Newman

Ms Adelene Kassabian Ms Melissa Gobby

Ms Galina Belokopytova.

With the successful completion of the PQE exams, the Canada Branch is delighted to formally invite graduating students to join the Institute of Chartered Shipbrokers Canada Branch membership. The Institute of Chartered Shipbrokers is the only internationally recognized professional body in the commercial maritime arena and it represents shipbrokers, ship manager and agents throughout the world.  The ICS has 25 branches with more than 4,000 individual Members and Fellows.  Members of the Institute are committed to maintaining the highest professional standards across the shipping industry and as part of a professional body, members enjoy the benefits of an enhanced career in the shipping industry.  I also invite you to view the “Why become a member of the Institute of Chartered Shipbrokers?” video at the Institute of Chartered Shipbrokers  website.

If your studies continue, good luck for your next exam!  April 1, 2017 is the last day to register for the May 2017 exams…don’t miss out!

And congratulations to all students – wishing everyone success for their studies!

Sincerely,

Dena Rantz

Chair, Canada Branch”

The Institute of Chartered Shipbrokers, Canada Branch was pleased to participate in the Institute’s Open Day for Prospective Students on February 2nd 2017. Vancouver and Montreal were among the twenty locations worldwide which held open information sessions to introduce attendees to ICS and its widely-recognised professional development program.

A total of eighteen people consisting of college students and industry professionals showed up on the West Coast and East Coast, keen to understand how ICS could help them take their careers to the next level. Presentations were given to explain ICS qualifications and methods of study available as well as administrative aspects such as cost and duration. The “Why study with ICS?” video gave attendees a better feel for the value of an ICS qualification (http://www.ics.org.uk/ about-us/short-videos ) Samples of ICS textbooks and past exam papers were also provided for review and “Studying with ICS” and “ICS Book Catalogue” brochures were handed out.

Thank you to all those who attended the sessions and to the Chamber of Shipping of British Columbia for hosting in Vancouver and to the Shipping Federation of Canada for hosting in Montreal. For those who were not able to attend, please look out for the next Open Day! Meantime, we encourage you to visit the ICS UK website www.ics.org.uk and the ICS Canada Branch website www.ics-canada.ca to learn more about us and what we have to offer.

Should you have any questions, please contact one of our local board members:

In Vancouver:

Gemma Chinnery, gchinnery@seaspanltd.ca

Kay Afghani, kafghahi@pacificbasin.com

In Montreal:

Julian Hung, jhung@oldics.ics-canada.ca

On November 17th 2016,   the ICS Canada Branch organised Second Annual Conference “Dry Bulk and Commodities”. Speaker line-up featured top industry representatives:

Mark Hennes, Quorum Corp. – Grain Trade;

Casey McCawley, P&H – Grain Trade;

Robin Campbell, Coal Association, Canada – Coal Trade;

Rick Jaccard, TimberWest – Logs;

Peter Amat, Pacific Basin – Handysize and Supramax Market update;

John Kearsey, SSY Canada – Shipping Market update;

Tony Brewster, Marine Petrobulker – Bunker Market update.
The feedback from the speakers, the sponsors and many of the attendees was that we had an event that had the right level of information, all speakers did comprehensive presentations in a professional format.  Conference was attended by representatives from the Port of San Diego, Port of Olympia, Port of Longview, Port of Vancouver, Port of Nanaimo.

We would like to thank Capt. Stephen Brown for his expert facilitation skills, Mr. Daryl Raibl for guiding the Conference through the day.  And a massive thanks to Mr. Peter Amat who brought all  those speakers and sponsors, for which their support and participation was the core the event.  And finally, to Douglas Larsson for his tireless work to get this event organized.

And at the Christmas Pub Night we were able to raise $1,000 to support the Mission to Seafarers. Thank you to Pacific Basin, CTL West Trans and the Port of Vancouver for providing raffle prizes to help support this cause.

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This event would never happen without generous help of our sponsors:

sponsors

Exam study sessions were organized by the Canada Branch in Montreal on November 4th and November 11th, 2016. Sessions were attended by six students who discussed following subjects with industry professionals:

• Ship Management & Operations
• Port Agency
• Ship Sale and Purchase

Special thanks to Capt. Cavit Minic MICS of Atlantic Maritime COA and Peter Pamel of Borden Ladner Gervais LLP,  who led these sessions.

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Each year, the Institute of Chartered Shipbrokers awards top-scoring exam students who successfully passed their ICS exams as recognition for their efforts by the ICS and the industry professionals.  This year, the prize giving ceremony complimented ICS’s annual Controlling Council meetings and was held at the beautifully situated Lord Mayor of London’s Mansion House.  In attendance was the Lord Mayor of London, Jeffrey Evans, who is fittingly a London shipbroker and a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Shipbrokers (FICS).

It truly was an elegant and memorable event in celebration of our brightest students.

I was privileged to have been able to present Gemma Chinnery of Seaspan Corporation with one of her two prizes earned that evening:  Gemma was awarded the Kennedy Marr award to Logistics and Multi Modal Transport for achieving the highest marks in PQE’s, and the Tutorship Pieter Van Gelder award for Liner Trades for achieving the highest marks in PQE’s.

Congratulations to Gemma on all of her hard work and welcome to the ICS Membership!

Dena Rantz, ICS Canada Branch Chair

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The Canada Branch was pleased to have been able to host an ‘Open Night’ educational evening in both Vancouver and Montreal.

Although attendance was light, with a total of nine potential students, the quality and the interest of the attendees lead us to believe that an education outreach event is valuable in our region.

The events highlighted a brief background on ICS and its activities with more detail on the courses and exams. Backstopping this information with the ICS UK and ICS Canada websites in addition to showcasing the ICS textbooks. A highlight was the “why study with ICS” video.

We were particularly lucky to have had past students and members join the Student Liaison Directors to help facilitate a great discussion.

A special thanks to the Chamber of Shipping of British Columbia and the Shipping Federation of Canada for the meeting room space to host these events.  We continue to be successful due to the support from our strategic relationships in the industry.

With the success of this event, the Canada Branch will consider adding an educational outreach for future dates.

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ICS Canada Branch held annual meeting on June 16th, 2016.

During Annual General Meeting the Board of Directors updated Members on the work completed during reporting period. It was noted that Branch is in good financial position, showing healthy profit for the year 2016. There was further grow of the Branch Membership in the last year. At the end of meeting Members elected new Board of Directors.

Full Chairman’s Report 2016

Following Annual General Meeting, held in Vancouver BC on June 16th, ICS Members and professionals from the industry gathered for socializing and networking at the Mahony and Sons Irish Pub. There were about 40 attendees representing major shipping companies doing business in Vancouver.

An ICS luncheon talk was held in Montreal on June 8th 2016. The topic was “The Reform of the UK Marine Insurance Act 2015”. We were very happy to have as our speaker, Vanessa Rochester from Norton Rose Fulbright Canada, who was a wonderful guide to the important and complex topic of marine insurance law.
Among the key points emphasised were how the law is catching up with practice, how disclosure will become a more co-operative activity and the question of how the law will play out in the courts. Many examples, analogies and cases were given. Attendees participated actively with a number of questions and comments .
We hope that many were inspired to learn more about the topic afterwards!

On Friday May 27^th, members, students, and friends of the ICS Canada Branch were given a tour of the Port of Vancouver’s newly opened Discovery Centre. The Port also showcased their operations centre, and an overview of the Port’s activities was presented to attendees.

This field trip provided an excellent networking opportunity, and a chance for industry professionals to learn more about Port operations.

The ICS Canada Branch would like to extend a thank you to the Port of Vancouver for hosting.

On May 19th, 2016 ICS Canada Branch held Summer Pub Night for Young Professionals. About 30 attendees gathered at The Distillery Bar + Kitchen in Vancouver to network, meet industry professionals and share experience from the recent examination session.

To prepare local students for the upcoming ICS exams in April 2016, study sessions were organised in Montreal from March 30th through April 15th 2016.

The sessions were held over two-hour lunch periods were led by local specialists and held at various shipping company offices:

– “Shipping Business” conducted by Julian Hung, from ICS Canada Branch, held at Fednav’s office

– “Shipping Finance” conducted by Alex Tounissidis of Canfornav, held at Canadian Steamship Lines’ office

– “Dry Cargo Chartering” conducted by James Wereley of Gibson’s Canadian & Global, held at Gibson’s office

– “Legal Principles” conducted by Jean-Marie Fontaine from Borden Ladner Gervais, held at Canfornav’s office

Session leaders guided the students through past exam questions. In particular, they gave advice on how to read the questions and formulate answers and highlighted key concepts and suggested examples for each question topic. ICS hopes that the students came away from the sessions feeling better prepared.

Thank you to our study session leaders and company office hosts and good luck to our students!!!

Challenges facing shipping industry were discussed at the seminar held by ICS Canada Branch together with British Columbia Chamber of Shipping in Vancouver, BC on February 4^th, 2016. Presentation was made by Captain Stephen Brown.

Among matters covered were the tonnage oversupply, challenges faced by the carriers operating at low freight rates, influence of the geopolitical turbulence on the industry as well as some local issues related to development of the new terminals. Particular attention was paid to the environmental projects on the BC Coast, public concerns over the increase of the seaborne trade on the coast.

Event was well attended with all 60 seats sold out.

Full set of the presentation slides is available in our library

 The ICS Canada Branch ended the year with its annual Christmas Pub in Montreal on November 26th 2015.

We were happy to have a great turnout including representatives of major shipowners, charterers, brokers, maritime lawyers, marine insurers and educational institutions.

ICS Canada Branch East Coast Representative Julian Hung thanked all those who helped make ICS a success in Montreal this year including students who took exams, members of the industry who spoke at luncheon talks and all those who turned out for various events. New ICS members Capt Cavit Minic of Atlantic Maritime COA Inc. and Razvan Nemes of Rio Tinto Marine were also presented with their membership certificates to rousing applause. Donations were also raised for the Mariners House.

We wish all our colleagues in the maritime industry a very happy holiday and look forward to seeing more of you in the new year!

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