Home / Events & News / Upcoming Events / ICS Canada – Chair Report
As I see through my final year as the Canada Branch Chair, I am once again proud to be able to report that the Canada Branch has a dedicated and resourceful Board of Directors. The Canada Branch continues to strengthen its local maritime community relationships while focusing on our commitment to adding value for ICS members and students.
As announced at the 2023 AGM, the Canada Branch has now operationalized Free Entry to ICS Members and Students to attend all ICS events. In review of the practical impact of this initiative, the Board found that Members were overwhelmingly in favour of this tangible benefit and importantly, this incentive has seen the number of lapsed annual membership subscriptions decrease. The Canada Branch believes this is the most impactful way that we can give back to our Membership community and will therefore continue with it in the years ahead.
The Nineth Annual Dry Bulk & Commodities Conference was held on November 16th at the Marriott Pinnacle Hotel. A wide-ranging agenda heard from speakers discuss the current state of the grain, potash and dry bulk markets. Panel discussions continue to be a highlight with this years focus on a wide range of shipping strategies to reduce carbon emissions. For the first time, the Canada Branch made a targeted effort to encourage more student participation by offering student sponsorship to faculty connections at UBC and BCIT. Student attendee reflections on their Conference experience are included in the newly released Summer 2024 Newsletter. Thanks to Shelby Raeburn for making these connections. Thanks to Bernie Jones for stepping into the facilitator role for this year. And a special note of thanks to Peter Amat who is year-after-year instrumental in the success of this event.
Networking events continue to be a steady point of connection for the Canada Branch. Montreal co-hosted a Pub Night on November 8th that attracted more than 50 guests. Vancouver held a Young Persons Networking Event on January 25th which saw 45 attendees, about 15 of which were post-secondary students or people with experience looking to join the maritime industry in Vancouver. And most recently, we hosted a kick off to Summer Pub Night that saw our room at full capacity for this pre-AGM event. Special thanks to Shelby Raeburn and Hugo Brent who have been the driving force behind keeping our local calendar alive and exciting.
ICS education continues to hold the course for student enrollment numbers. The ICS Global Open Day was held September 19th and welcomed about 10 participants during the session. The Canada Branch again offered November and May examinations in Vancouver, Montreal and Toronto. This last November, two ICS East Coast student were awarded top marks for their examination papers. On a sad note, recent changes to the Chamber of Shipping administration has seen the retirement of Carol Jensen, whose long-time ICS support has been appreciated over her almost 30 year tenure. We wish her the best of luck. Also of note, the East Coast Director role change has shone a spotlight on the administration of the examination process. It is therefore, the Board of Directors focus to understand the current process to ensure that it is visible and supported going forward. Appreciation to Julian Hung, Amin Kawr, Shelby Raeburn and Alicia Sakai for their support of the student exam requirements.
ICS students and student recognition has been a noted priority for the Canada Branch Board as we look to provide more support of our students in a meaningful and impactful way. Therefore, the Board continues to develop a framework to engage our students who may need financial assistance, and we can likely expect to announce more information in the coming months.
I am pleased to report that the Canada Branch is again in excellent financial standing. As of May 31, 2024, we had annual income of CAD$ 3,942, and now hold a balance of more than CAD$ 126,000 in investment and savings accounts. This past year we saw a significant drop in annual income due to a higher-than-expected cost for the Dry Bulk & Commodities Conference expenses due to the change from the Vancouver Trade & Convention Centre. But we are excited to announce that the 2024 Conference will see us return to our regular venue. Thanks to Jenniffer Hernandez and Karl Wang for their financial stewardship. This year the Board has also created a Financial Advisor role that will look to take a direct interest in the ICS Canada Branch’s significant funds to ensure we safeguard them. Thanks to Kay Afghani for taking up this valuable position.
A huge thank you to Andriy Tereshchenko for his dedicated service of our website needs. With the ability to register ICS Members and non-Members for events, we have modernized and streamlined this important external facing process. I am pleased to see this development in support of the Canada Branch’s future.
The East Coast continues to hold steady as a location with almost 50% of the ICS Canada Branch Members. Recognition for Jane Han, as the incoming East Coast Director for filling a role that is vitally important to our Branches success. We look forward to a re-invigorated effort to engage with our East Coast Members.
Controlling Council 2023 was held in Athens, Greece. Controlling Council is an excellent opportunity to bring together the ICS global network of Branches into a forum that highlights networking, sharing of best practices and developing and moving forward projects to better the Institute. A special thank you to Jane Han for her attendance to represent the Canada Branch.
To conclude, I am sad to announce the departure of Johan Hasch but want to highlight that his during his short tenure as Communications director, he was instrumental in the maturation of the West Coast and East Coast email list. With the adoption of MailChimp as our email distribution platform, we expect to increase the ease with which we look to communicate with our ICS Member and non-Members. Thank you to Tom Day as Secretary and Peter Swanson as Director for their continued support of the Canada Branch Board.
Finally, I wanted to thank the Chamber of Shipping for the support of the ICS. We are very fortunate to have a dedicated resource to ensure that all of these activities come together. Thank you to Alicia, Jenniffer and Thomas as the summer intern for their assistance whenever needed. And thank you to all of the Canada Branch board members, departing and new. We have an amazing opportunity to make impact and that’s what makes me excited for another positive year to come!
Sincerely,
Dena Rantz, Chair
ICS Canada Branch
25 June 2024
