Surge In Bid For ISSA Quality Standard Approval

Over 20 Members have been approved by the ISSA Quality Standard 2010 in the first two months of this year - more than the total number for the whole of last year.

The figure underpins the determination of the International Shipsuppliers & Services Association to improve the quality of global ship supply.

The ISSA Quality Standard was devised to set the minimum standard bench-mark for the ship supply industry that ISSA Members should strive to achieve and an updated Standard came into effect on 1st January this year to take into account a number of fresh initiatives. These included catering standards onboard ship and many environmental considerations such as avoiding the use of excessive packaging and better control of the disposal of toxic and carcinogenic material in port.

ISSA President Jens Olsen said: "These figures are excellent news because they really show a significant increase and interest in the ISSA Quality Standard. One of the reasons I believe may be encouraging increased membership is that in the new Standard we have included things we did not have from the very beginning. More and more companies need to be audited and we hope we will be able to build even further on our membership growth."

He said efforts to improve the quality of ship supply worldwide would be driven home further at the ISSA56 Annual Convention, being held on a cruise ferry between Copenhagen and Oslo from 27-29 May.

It is the first time the Convention has been held at sea and it is also a departure from its usual autumn calendar slot. Not only that, it is the first Convention following the new ISSA formation on 1st January, 2011 which saw the nine Executive Committee members become the new ISSA Executive Board and the setting up of the ISSA Assembly. The Assembly is made up of one representative from each of ISSA's national associations plus the Assembly Member for Associate Membership.

On the Convention agenda, as usual, will be elections onto the ISSA Executive Board. This year there will be four places up for election, three of these due to the rotation system and one due to the retirement of Hennig Engels who, up until last year, was also chairman of the national association in Germany.

"This is the first time we have ever held our Convention at sea and we hope this exciting change of location is going to be met with interest from all parties," said Mr Olsen.