New Chairman of INTERTANKO Appointed
INTERTANKO’s Council met this week as part of the Association’s Houston Tanker Event. With the retirement of INTERTANKO’s Chairman Stephen Van Dyck, the Association’s Council confirmed the appointment of Nick Fistes as the new Chairman of INTERTANKO.
Fistes expressed his thanks to Van Dyck from ExCom and Council, from the Secretariat, from INTERTANKO’s members and associate members, from the tanker industry as a whole. With Van Dyck at the helm, INTERTANKO has flourished, grown and gained strength. Over the last three years, deadweight in INTERTANKO has risen by one third and the number of ships by one fifth, from 229 members with 2,198 tankers of 165m deadweight in January 2004 to 260 members with 2,650 tankers of over 220 m deadweight in January this year. In 2006 alone INTERTANKO gained 20 new full members with 181 tankers of 14.2m deadweight.
Van Dyck’s vision of a respected industry committed to continuous improvement and proactively shaping its own future became an industry vision. “His vitality, energy and commitment set an example to us all -- and make him a hard act to follow,” said Fistes. “My personal thanks and appreciation go to him for his hard work and his achievements, leaving me an organisation that is ready to reach even higher. When we all work together, forgetting our personal agendas and striving for the common good, we can achieve any target, even those challenges that appear impossible to achieve on one’s own.”
Fistes set out his vision for his chairmanship of INTERTANKO. This encompasses a) membership involvement; b) the human element; c) industry image; d) expansion of the Poseidon Challenge.