It was a super-packed luxury dining room at the Dockside last Friday (06 December 2024) for Shipping Australia’s 2024 Christmas Luncheon!
We were honoured and privileged that our guest speaker this year was Senator the Hon Bridget McKenzie, who gave an important and insightful policy speech to our guests. Thank you Senator.
Shipping Australia CEO, Captain Melwyn Noronha, addressed guests with a short reflection on the state of the sector over the last year.
“Whenever the industry gathers, it is apt to reflect on some of its achievements. In the last 12 months alone, we have seen a lot of progression in many substantial areas. These include advances in the prevention of marine pollution, a boost in ship recycling, a renewed effort to tackle invasive species, and action in the area of maritime decarbonisation. We at Shipping Australia are optimistic about the future of our sector. We are looking to the horizon as we continue to navigate towards a better, brighter, and ever-cleaner industry,” he told guests to a round of applause.
Capt. Noronha thanked our generous sponsors, without whose support events such as our NSW Christmas Luncheon simply could not take place.
Our kind sponsors were ONESTOP, AMS Group and Linx Port Services.
Capt. Noronha personally thanked the CEO of OneStop, Sam Askin, the CEO of AMS Group, Glen Marshall, and the General Manager of Linx Port Services, Steve Hoare, for their support.
We also welcomed – and thanked – Clint Evans, who has ably fulfilled the role of Chair of Shipping Australia for the last two years and who is now standing down from that role in a planned, rotating, succession.
We especially acknowledged and thanked Mr. Eddy Declercq, one of Shipping Australia’s long-standing directors, who will be retiring later this month. Eddy has been in the shipping industry for more than 40 years, of which, a large portion has been as Managing Director with OOCL. He has been a Director of Shipping Australia since 2008….that’s a good 16 years !!!!
As traditional, there was a comedic entertainer who had guests roaring in laughter. We won’t say more, as the details and essential nature of that entertainer ought to remain known only to the persons in the room. If you know, you know!
Shipping Australia’s Mehrangiz Shahbakhsh took to the stage to welcome guests and to thank everyone who attended our regular NSW State Committee Meetings. She ran the traditional Lucky Door raffle and the prizes consisted of a range of Christmas Hampers from Hamper Emporium, several electronic appliances, and even a pair of tickets for the Andrew-Lloyd-Webber musical masterpiece: Jesus Christ, Superstar!
Unfortunately, we did it again this year. We accidentally gave entry and admittance to a roving pest with a camera.
The pesky photographer was all around the venue both inside and out, snapping many posed and many candid pictures.
Did you catch the attention of our photographer’s lens?
Have a look below and find out!
If you want to download a picture, just click on the image and it will open up in a larger size. You can right-click and select “Save image as…” to save the image.
